House GOP introduces bill to ban all future funding to Hamas-tied UN agency

Aid was suspended last week from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) following the revelations that not only did employees participate in the Oct. 7 atrocities but that over 1,000 agency employees, approximately 10 percent, had ties to Palestinian terror groups, including Hamas.

On Thursday, House Republicans introduced legislation to permanently cut funding to the UNRWA after it was revealed that agency employees were involved in the Oct. 7 massacre of over 1,200 people in Israel and the kidnapping of over 250 more.

According to the Washington Free Beacon, the move is an effort to prevent the Biden administration from refunding the organization after aid was suspended last week following the revelations that not only did employees participate in the Oct. 7 atrocities but that over 1,000 agency employees, approximately 10 percent, had ties to Palestinian terror groups, including Hamas.

House Foreign Affairs and Armed Services Committee member Rep. Ronny Jackson (R- TX) sponsored the bill, which mandates that "no federal funds may be used to provide funding directly or indirectly" to UNRWA.

The bill is called the Uncovering UNRWA’s Terrorist Crimes Act and is cosponsored by the chair of the House Republican Conference Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY).

The US has reportedly provided over $1 billion to the agency since 2021 and the legislation aims to permanently ban funding of UNRWA.

Rep. Brian Mast is sponsoring legislation (R-FL) to disband UNRWA and require that the federal government advocate to do so at the UN.

The bills would also force the White House to reveal how much money President Joe Biden has given the agency since former President Donald Trump defunded it when he was in the Oval Office.

At least 10 countries, including the US, suspended aid to UNRWA last week after the agency’s ties to terror were revealed.

However, Mast suspects that even though the funding was halted, that the White House waited to enact the ban until the most recent payment of millions of US taxpayer funds was sent earlier this month.

Mast, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Tuesday during a hearing on UNRWA’s ties to terror, "It does appear as though they may have waited to make this announcement until after they allowed for a disbursement of tens of millions of dollars to go out to UNRWA on or before Jan. 24, and if that’s the case it should be considered outrageous."