Members of Congress, including Reps. Brian Mast and Josh Gottheimer, are introducing legislation that would demand the U.S. State Department do everything possible to return American tax dollars that went to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). The move comes amid reports that the agency may have assisted the Hamas terror group, with intelligence reports suggesting that up to 10% of UNRWA workers have direct links to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihadists. The bipartisan bill aims to recoup the $121 million that was transferred to UNRWA before the Biden administration announced a freeze on additional taxpayer dollars going to the agency.
Allegations have surfaced that at least a dozen UNRWA employees joined or assisted Hamas terrorists during their overnight attack on Israeli border communities on Oct. 7, resulting in more than 1,200 deaths and over 200 hostages taken by Hamas. The Biden administration, in response to these reports, halted further taxpayer funding to UNRWA, but had already transferred $121 million to the agency just days before the freeze. The bipartisan bill introduced by Mast and Gottheimer seeks to recoup that sum, as part of a broader effort by the U.S. and other countries to distance themselves from the agency.
In February, U.S. intelligence indicated that some UNRWA employees likely participated in the attack carried out by Hamas, though it could not verify broader Israeli allegations of ties between the agency and the terror group. Subsequently, in March, the Israeli government shared a dossier with its allies naming 12 UNRWA employees with ties to and involvement in the attack. The agency fired these employees, but faced a loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in funding from donors after the dossier was shared. The dossier also included allegations of widespread connections between UNRWA employees and Hamas, including teachers, school principals, relief workers, and members of UNRWA’s health services.
The dossier also revealed that approximately 1,200 UNRWA employees had connections to Hamas, including 17% of teachers and 20% of school principals and deputy principals. Furthermore, excerpts from textbooks used in UNRWA’s curriculum were said to glorify martyrdom and include antisemitic tropes. Maps in the textbooks depict a singular land labeled as Palestine, encompassing both Israel and the Palestinian territories. In response to these revelations, Congress passed legislation to defund UNRWA until 2025, and other governments also cut financial ties with the agency. This action follows similar moves made by former President Trump during his time in office.
Overall, the bipartisan legislation introduced by Mast and Gottheimer aims to hold the State Department accountable for the use of American tax dollars that may have supported UNRWA’s ties to Hamas. The move comes after reports that a significant number of UNRWA employees had links to the terror group and were involved in violent attacks on Israeli communities. The U.S. government, along with other countries, is taking steps to distance themselves from the agency and ensure that taxpayer funds are not inadvertently supporting terrorism in the region.
