The United Nations Relief Works Agency didn’t suddenly begin a campaign of hate against Israel – that has been decades in the making – but UNRWA made headlines in late January when it was revealed by Israeli intelligence reports that 12 of its employees were direct participants in the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas terrorists against Israeli citizens.
Nine of the 12 – including seven teachers – worked in education services. The other three were humanitarian aid warehouse managers.
The U.S. was UNRWA’s largest donor in 2022, gifting $344 million in taxpayer funds, according to UNRWA.
UNRWA relies on humanitarian aid to operate 278 schools in Gaza.
“They teach children each and every day to hate Jewish men and women and children, that the only good Jew is a dead Jew. It’s right there in their teaching materials,” Rep. Chris Smith, the bill’s author, said on Washington Watch Monday.
“The UNRWA schools, which we pay for and are the major donor by far, are doing this nefarious teaching of anti-Semitism suicide bombers. They have pep rallies where they laud suicide bombers, and you wonder why a kid, by the time he's 13, has an AK-47 in hand to kill Jewish people. Well, because he's been taught,” the New Jersey Republican told show host Tony Perkins.
Former President Donald Trump ended U.S. funding for UNRWA but it was quickly restored by Joe Biden.
In announcing its decision to pull UNRWA funding, the Trump administration said it would engage the United Nations and other governments about “new models and new approaches” to assist the Palestinians.
Smith’s bill was reviewed in committee Tuesday and could reach the floor “ASAP,” he said.
“My bill would totally defund UNRWA. It says they could not get so much as a dime of U.S. taxpayer funding,” Smith said.
H.R. 7122, entitled the “Stop Support for United Nations Relief and Works Agency Act of 2024,” declares, “The United States may not make any voluntary or involuntary contributions to (UNRWA), to any successor or related entity or to the regular budget of the United Nations for support of UNRWA or a successor entity.”
A 2018 report by UN Watch cited a United Nations internal audit that found UNRWA as an organization was particularly vulnerable to “misappropriation, graft and corruption.”
Recent reports of UNRWA filling high-level positions with senior Hamas members, such as Suhail al-Hindi, and Hamas terrorist rockets being stored in UNRWA schools, demonstrate that UNRWA’s lack of oversight continues to be a problem, the Geneva-based non-governmental organization wrote then.
Giving to UNRWA is giving to Hamas, Smith says
Aid to UNRWA is the equivalent of aid to Hamas, Smith told Washington Watch.
“They're corrupt. They steal," he pointedly said. "They use the money for bad things like tunnels, but they also, most importantly, train children and poison the minds of little children, little Palestinian kids, to hate Jews.”
Smith said he has “solid” support from Speaker Mike Johnson and House Republicans.
“Speaker Johnson is very much aligned with this," Smith relayed. "He agrees 1,000% that we’ve got to find some venue other than UNRWA, a totally corrupt and anti-Semitic organization, to give our money to. We care about humanitarian assistance, but who you give it to matters.”
