Led by Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) and Senator James Risch (R-ID), nearly 40 Republican Senators and House members co-sponsored legislation introduced on Friday that would end the US government’s funding of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency Accountability and Transparency Act seeks to end the use of American taxpayer dollars flowing to UNRWA which the bill’s sponsors noted has a “rampant history of anti-Israel and antisemitic propaganda and activity.”
“UNRWA’s lengthy and detailed history of promoting antisemitism, violence, and terrorism through ‘educational’ materials, and its continued ties to Hamas, should completely disqualify this corrupt entity from receiving any US taxpayer funding,” Roy said.
“UNRWA has failed to meet previous commitments to stop its hostility towards Israel, and it is an obstacle to peace. Israel is one of our greatest allies and closest friends; we cannot say we truly stand with them while helping prop up a corrupt organization like this. If our actions do not match our words, then our word means nothing.”
Roy pointed out that the Trump Administration cut off US funding to UNRWA in 2018 but the Biden administration reversed the decision. He accused the White House of being “reckless” in its decision to “funnel millions of dollars into this corrupt organization.”
Risch, the ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, slammed UNRWA for employing people with ties to Hamas, adding that continued US funding of the organization as it now stands was “unacceptable.”
“More than 70 years [after its creation], the organization has employed individuals affiliated with Hamas, a US designated foreign terrorist organization (FTO), and its schools have been used to promote antisemitism and store Hamas weapons,” he said. “It is unacceptable that US taxpayer dollars are being used to fund this agency, which is why I've introduced legislation to cease US contributions to UNRWA unless the administration can certify without a doubt that the agency has no affiliation with US designation FTOs and does not support antisemitic rhetoric.”
Risch stressed that “the American people deserve better, and I look forward to working with my colleagues on holding both the administration and UNRWA accountable until meaningful reforms are made."
The bill stipulates that unless UNRWA conducts “serious reforms” – including an external audit and refraining from hiring anyone linked to US-designated terrorist entities or anyone who promotes anti-Israel, antisemitic or anti-American rhetoric – the US Secretary of State would be mandated to not release any funds to the organization.
The Biden administration would also need to certify that no UNRWA infrastructure is being used by terrorist organizations, such as Hamas; that UNRWA schools, textbooks and educational materials no longer contain antisemitic, anti-Israel or anti-American rhetoric; and that UNRWA no longer is affiliated with financial institutions that the US government has designated or suspects are complicit in funding terrorism.