Jason Greenblatt
Jason GreenblattFLASH90

US Special Envoy Jason Greenblatt praised New Zealand for suspending their donations to UNRWA following reports of serious ethics violations and corruption at the agency.

"Good on New Zealand joining Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland in suspending money to UNRWA while corruption investigation is ongoing. UNRWA is a failed system & Palestinians deserve better. More UNRWA donor countries should pay attention," Greenblatt wrote on Twitter Thursday.

New Zealand announced yesterday that it would suspend its aid to UNRWA, which provides assistance to the descendants of Palestinian Arab refugees.

The funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency is on hold until the release of the October report by the U.N. Office of Internal Oversight Services on allegations against the agency including misconduct, corruption, links to terror groups, perpetuation of the Israeli-Arab conflict and anti-Semitism.

“We expect UNRWA to cooperate fully with the investigation under way and to report back on the investigation’s findings and recommendations,” the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in a statement. “The Ministry will review the findings of the UN OIOS report once the investigation is complete and, after that point, will provide advice to the Minister of Foreign Affairs on future funding.”

New Zealand joined Belgium and Switzerland, which suspended their aid to UNRWA last month in light of the investigations.