Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) on Tuesday submitted his HR 7122, a.k.a. Stop Support for UNRWA Act of 2024, for a House vote. It states with refreshing clarity:
“The United States may not make any voluntary or involuntary contributions to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (referred to in this Act as “UNRWA”), to any successor or related entity, or to the regular budget of the United Nations for the support of UNRWA or a successor entity.”
On Monday, Israeli intelligence revealed that more than 450 Gazan terrorists, mainly Hamas members, were and still are employed by UNRWA, which is tasked with providing humanitarian aid and educational services to the Arabs in the Palestinian Authority and Gaza (Report: Over 450 UNRWA Teachers Participated in Oct. 7 Massacre). This latest revelation followed several earlier ones, which have led the US, the UK, and 14 other countries to suspend their contributions to the morally corrupt agency (‘Palestinians’ Facing their Next Nakba: No More Cash Handouts).
Nevertheless, The Biden administration reassured the “Palestinians” that it won’t let UNRWA run out of money. The US covers about a third of UNRWA’s budget.
In mid-February, US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said, “We’re going to wait to see what the assessments show, and then we’ll make a decision on how to move forward, but let me be clear – we will find a way to ensure that we continue to provide humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people.”
US RED TAPE CHOKING UNRWA
Currently, the US is attempting to transfer some $1 billion in aid to Gaza through a supplemental bill in Congress, but UNRWA Director of Washington Representative Office Bill Deere complained in an NPR interview that the bill features “four pages of certifications and requirements and inspector general involvement before any US funds can go to Gaza,” all of them intended to make sure his group will not see a dime.
UNRWA says it will run out of money by the end of March, but the agency does not seem to be gaining the sympathy of Republican lawmakers, led by Chris Smith. What to do, what to do?
On Monday, the Qatar-funded publication Middle East Eye reported that the Biden administration has been trying to circumvent Congress by trying to convince other countries to support UNRWA. According to MEE, the Turks told the Americans they would gladly send flour to Gaza, but not cash.
Spain and Portugal have increased their contributions to UNRWA by a few million euros, but this doesn’t come even close to filling the hole in the agency’s budget left by the US.
State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters this week, “We will redirect funding for UNRWA to other partners to provide assistance in Gaza,” such as the World Food Program, and UNICEF.
“This is a process we’re going to continue to work through with appropriate regional interlocutors and other donor countries as well,” Patel said, adding, “We believe that we can continue to do important work through other NGOs and other partners. And simultaneously, we’ll continue to have conversations with donor countries about supporting UNRWA and ways that they can continue doing their work in the region.”
When he submitted his bill in committee on February 7, Rep. Smith said:
“UNRWA is the most corrupt, antisemitic, and hate-promoting agency of the United Nations,” said Smith, the Chairman of the House Global Human Rights and International Organizations Subcommittee.
“Every day, UNRWA radicalizes Palestinian children with seething antisemitic hate—it is a child soldier factory,” said Smith, who has chaired or co-chaired three hearings over the past nine months on UNRWA’s rampant antisemitism and its hand-in-glove cooperation with Hamas and other foreign terrorist organizations.”
Marcus Sheff, the Chief Executive Officer of the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education, testified at Smith’s hearing that his institute “has for many years documented the contents of textbooks in the Palestinian school system, including in the Gaza Strip. These textbooks profoundly influence millions of young, impressionable minds. Time and again, we have warned that today’s Palestinian textbooks are producing the terrorists of tomorrow. Sadly, and tragically, on October 7, our worst fears came true.”
None of that amounts to a hill of beans in the eyes of the Biden administration which is ratcheting up its anti-Israeli diatribes with every “uncommitted” vote in the primaries in the Midwest’s swing states.
