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FIRST ON FOX: A Republican congressman has launched laws that might completely ban the United States from funding UNRWA, a United Nations company that has funneled tons of of thousands and thousands in support meant to assist Palestinians in Gaza however has come underneath fireplace for its ties to Hamas.
New Jersey GOP Congressman Chris Smith has launched a bill, referred to as the ‘‘Stop Support for 5 United Nations Relief and Works Agency Act of 2024’’, that might reduce off U.S. funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees within the Near East.
The United States might not make any voluntary or 9 involuntary contributions to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees within the Near East 2 (referred to on this Act as ‘‘UNRWA’’), to any successor or associated entity, or to the common price range of the United Nations for the assist of UNRWA or a successor entity,” the bill states.
The Biden administration has sent hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to UNRWA, reversing a Trump decision to cut funding to the group, which it says is an effort to provide humanitarian aid while critics say the group is “successfully a department of Hamas.”
L- Hamas militants R – President Biden (Getty Images)
Those ties to Hamas have come into focus in recent weeks after Israel provided the Biden administration with a new dossier containing information about how staffers for a United Nations agency assisted or supported the Hamas terror attacks on Oct. 7.
The Biden administration announced last week it has briefly paused “further” funding to UNRWA in response to the dossier. Germany, Italy, Australia, Finland, Netherlands and Switzerland have also joined the boycott following the accusations, which have already resulted in the termination of multiple staffers.
On Monday, White House national security spokesman John Kirby urged the general public not to write off UNRWA’s humanitarian efforts as an entire.
“But you’ve got bought 13,000 UNRWA staff,” Kirby said. “You have 13,000 of them in Gaza alone, and as I mentioned final week, let’s not impugn the great work of a complete company due to the potential dangerous actions right here by a small quantity.”
New Jersey Republican Rep. Chris Smith, senior member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs (Rep. Chris Smith’s Office)
UNRWA has faced scrutiny in recent years even before the Hamas attack from critics who say the group has not done enough to prevent aid from reaching the hands of Hamas terrorists. UNRWA locations have reportedly housed Hamas activities and spread Hamas propaganda in schools.
UN Watch reported earlier this year that UNRWA schools were complicit in teaching children to hate Jewish people and glorify terrorism. UN Watch reported that UNRWA has acknowledged that teachers “mistakenly” produced and distributed inciting material but promised in 2021 that it no longer circulates such material.
UNRWA acknowledged in 2014, and condemned, Hamas missiles that were found at one of its schools in Gaza twice in one week.
“UNRWA strongly and unequivocally condemns the group or teams answerable for this flagrant violation of the inviolability of its premises underneath worldwide legislation,” the group said at the time.
HOUSE COMMITTEE TO LAUNCH INVESTIGATION INTO UN AGENCY FOR ALLEGED ‘TROUBLING CONNECTION’ TO HAMAS
UNRWA distributes flour to Palestinian refugees on November 22, 2023 (Ahmad Hasaballah/Getty Images)
The New York Post reported this week that roughly 10% of UNRWA staffers have hyperlinks to Hamas.
“The United Nations—and UNRWA particularly—is certainly the world’s foremost legitimizer of antisemitism, together with in its most virulent and violent kinds,” Rep. Smith, the Chair of the House Global Human Rights and International Organizations, told Fox News Digital in a statement.
“UNRWA—which gives schooling in hatred of Jews by means of their textbooks, curricula, summer season camps, and official media—has contributed to the perversity we noticed carried out by Hamas throughout its October 7 terror assault,” Smith added.
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“We want a complete, fact-based method to UNRWA that stops all funding and circumstances future funding on an entire head-to-toe reform and restructuring of UNRWA.”
Smith is about to host a joint subcommittee listening to on Tuesday at 2 p.m. with the aim of “inspecting the mission and failures” of UNRWA.
“The monstrous and genocidal atrocities we have now seen pouring out of Gaza since October 7 are antisemitic hate crimes—the logical consequence of the unbridled antisemitism fomented and enabled by UNRWA,” Smith mentioned.
Fox News Digital reached out to UNRWA and the White House for remark however didn’t obtain a response.
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