Lawmakers introduce new law to make organization responsible for supporting Hamas attack in Israel.
Members of Congress are taking action against a United Nations agency that has been under scrutiny for its ties to Hamas, the terror group operating in Gaza.
Reps. Brian Mast from Florida and Josh Gottheimer from New Jersey have introduced a bipartisan legislation that aims to reclaim American tax dollars that were provided to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
This move comes in response to reports that several UNRWA employees were found to have links to Hamas, with at least a dozen individuals allegedly assisting the terror group in an attack on Israeli border communities.
The attack resulted in more than 1,200 casualties and over 200 hostages being taken by Hamas. In light of these allegations, the Biden administration announced a halt on further funding to UNRWA on January 26.
However, prior to this freeze, $121 million had already been transferred to the agency. Mast and Gottheimer’s legislation seeks to recover this amount for the United States.
The U.S. government has been actively working to distance itself from UNRWA, in alignment with efforts by other nations to disassociate from the agency.
Earlier this year, U.S. intelligence reported that some UNRWA employees likely participated in the October 7 attack, but could not confirm broader connections between the agency and Hamas.
In March, Israel disclosed a dossier naming 12 UNRWA employees who were implicated in aiding Hamas during the attack. Three individuals were suspected of involvement in the hostage-taking.
In response to the allegations, UNRWA terminated the employment of the accused individuals. However, the agency faced significant backlash and lost substantial funding from donors following the revelations.
The dossier contained evidence suggesting that a considerable number of UNRWA employees, including teachers, principals, relief workers, and healthcare staff, had affiliations with Hamas.
Furthermore, excerpts from UNRWA’s school textbooks were included in the report, highlighting content that allegedly promoted martyrdom and contained anti-Semitic themes. Maps provided to students depicted a unified Palestine with no distinction between Israel and Palestinian territories.
Subsequently, Congress passed a bill to suspend funding to UNRWA until 2025, and several other governments followed suit in cutting financial ties with the agency.
These recent developments reflect a broader trend of scrutiny towards UNRWA, which dates back to actions taken during the Trump administration to address concerns regarding the agency’s operations.
