Early Monday morning, Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fl) tweeted: “I am proud to announce that my bill clawing back misused funds to UNRWA has passed the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The notion that UNRWA serves American interests is a joke. Let’s get this across the finish line.”
A veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom, Mast lost both his legs while serving as a US Army explosive ordnance disposal technician in Afghanistan in 2010.
I am proud to announce that my bill clawing back misused funds to UNRWA has passed the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
The notion that UNRWA serves American interests is a joke. Let’s get this across the finish line. pic.twitter.com/xnwJopFni6
— Rep. Brian Mast (@RepBrianMast) July 15, 2024
On May 7, Mast and Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) introduced a bipartisan bill to direct the Secretary of State to recover any federal funds that have been disbursed to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
“For way too long, UNRWA has masqueraded as a relief organization, while in reality serving as an incubator for Palestinian terrorists,” Mast charged, adding, “Intelligence reports indicate that as many as ten percent of UNRWA workers have direct links to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihadists. It’s ludicrous that our hard-earned American tax dollars were going to fund this crap. The State Department needs to do everything it can to recoup this money.”
Mast’s press release contended that UNRWA employees have been accused of taking part in the October 7 Hamas atrocities, the deadliest attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust. “The federal government froze funding for UNRWA earlier this year, but the agency had already received $121 million in American tax dollars. In March, Congress passed legislation to defund UNRWA until 2025.”
On July 10, Mast wrote:
There is no denying that UNRWA has given aid and comfort to Hamas time, after time, after time. At this point, any American tax dollar that goes to UNRWA is going straight into the hands of Hamas. Yet, Democrats say that UNRWA is doing “God’s work.” Is it God’s work to teach Palestinians to hate Jews and launch rockets into Israel? Is it God’s work to rape and slaughter innocent civilians?
I called out this ludicrousness today as the House Foreign Affairs Committee considered my bill mandating the State Department to do everything it can to recoup the money it sent to UNRWA. When confronted with the reality of UNRWA’s crimes, House Democrats decided to bury their hands in the sand. That’s a slap in the face to the American taxpayer.
There is something absolutely wrong with our government if a member of the US House of Representatives is not interested in where YOUR tax dollars are going abroad. I’m fighting this moronic groupthink.
On June 12, Congressman Mast secured the inclusion of language within the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), prohibiting American tax dollars from going to build or rebuild anything within the Gaza Strip.
“Any group that takes control of the Gaza Strip following this war will have ties to terrorism and be opposed to the existence of our ally – Israel,” said Mast. “Given this reality, even one penny of American tax dollars used to build or rebuild infrastructure in Gaza will just be going to subsidize the next attack on Israel. Our tax dollars should be going to support our allies, not terrorist entities holding American citizens hostage.”
The House of Representatives unanimously approved including Congressman Mast’s prohibition on rebuilding Gaza within the NDAA.
