JNS
“Your administration has become UNRWA’s most prominent apologist and best advocate,” the Republican stated in a scathing letter.
U.S. Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) last week called on the Biden administration to cut all funds to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, long accused of ties to Hamas and even having terrorists on its payroll.
“The Biden-Harris administration’s support for UNRWA threatens American national security and enables continued violence while American hostages remain in Gaza,” wrote Cotton in a highly critical letter addressed to President Joe Biden.
Despite Congress passing a bill in March that bars U.S. funds to UNRWA, “Your administration continues to ignore both legislative intent and plain common sense,” the letter continued.
“Your administration has become UNRWA’s most prominent apologist and best advocate,” wrote Cotton.
The letter raised a list of UNRWA links to terrorism, including Hamas weapons stashes found in UNRWA facilities, an Israeli hostage revealing he had been captive in an UNRWA employee’s house and a passport belonging to an UNRWA teacher found on Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s body after he was eliminated on Oct. 16.
“You must end your support for those who abet terrorism. I call on you to use your authority under Executive Order 13224 to designate UNRWA as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity, allowing the U.S. to impose sanctions and block UNRWA assets,” Cotton concluded.
In a related move, Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and 27 other Republican senators introduced legislation last week that would cut off U.S. funding to the United Nations and its subsidiary agencies if they downgrade Israel’s status.
“Reports indicate that the Palestinian Authority will attempt to downgrade Israel’s status at the United Nations” following a U.N. General Assembly vote in May, the 28 senators wrote. That vote saw Palestinians gain new rights within their existing non-member “permanent observer” status, which is short of full U.N. membership.
Titled the “Stand with Israel Act,” the bill would forbid the federal government from disbursing funds to “the United Nations or any of its funds, programs, specialized agencies or other related entities” if the global body “expels, downgrades or suspends membership, or otherwise restricts the participation of Israel.”
The United States is the largest contributor to the world body, giving it and its agencies $18 billion in 2022—about one-third of the total U.N. budget.
Following the host of allegations against UNRWA, Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, told JNS that the U.N. agency “doesn’t have an intelligence or police unit to investigate every staff member.”
Fateh Sherif Abu el-Amin, the principal of one of UNRWA’s schools and also the head of a teacher’s union, was confirmed as a Hamas commander in Lebanon after he was killed in an Israeli airstrike.
“Fateh Sherif was indeed an UNRWA employee. As soon as UNRWA received information about his possible involvement with Hamas at a senior level, he was immediately put on administrative leave without pay. This was back in March,” Dujarric said in response to a question from JNS at a press briefing.
