{"id":14714,"date":"2024-01-27T00:46:17","date_gmt":"2024-01-27T00:46:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/01\/27\/biden-admin-cuts-funding-to-controversial-un-agency-amid-allegations-members-assisted-in-hamas-massacre\/"},"modified":"2024-01-27T00:46:17","modified_gmt":"2024-01-27T00:46:17","slug":"biden-admin-cuts-funding-to-controversial-un-agency-amid-allegations-members-assisted-in-hamas-massacre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/01\/27\/biden-admin-cuts-funding-to-controversial-un-agency-amid-allegations-members-assisted-in-hamas-massacre\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden admin cuts funding to controversial UN agency amid allegations members assisted in Hamas massacre"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The United States has temporarily paused \u2018additional\u2019 funding for a key United Nations agency in the Gaza Strip over allegations that some of its members were \u2018involved\u2019 in the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack in Israel.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018UNRWA can read the Beltway press well enough to know that Congress is moving to cut off U.S. funding,\u2019 Richard Goldberg, former National Security Council (NSC) advisor during the Trump Administration, told Fox News Digital.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018This is a PR move designed to preempt congressional action. It does nothing to change the fact that UNRWA is complicit in Hamas war crimes and remains a key obstacle to peace,\u2019 Goldberg, currently a senior advisor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, added.<\/p>\n

Twelve United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestine Refugees in the Near East employees were allegedly \u2018involved\u2019 in the attack, and the U.S. funding will resume subject to an investigation from the United Nations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

UNRWA, citing information provided by Israeli authorities, terminated the contract with the accused employees on Friday and announced an investigation \u2018to protect the agency\u2019s ability to deliver humanitarian assistance\u2019 and \u2018establish the truth without delay,\u2019 Reuters reported.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The U.S. State Department in a press release said that Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with U.N. Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres regarding the investigation, which will be \u2018comprehensive and independent.\u2019 The U.S. insisted that it must see \u2018complete accountability for anyone who participated in the heinous attacks of Oct. 7.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant praised the U.S. decision as \u2018an important step in holding UNRWA accountable.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018At least a dozen UNRWA employees participated in the horrific attack conducted on Oct. 7: These are \u2018humanitarian workers,\u2019 with salaries paid for by international donations, with blood on their hands,\u2019 Gallant said in a press release following the State Department\u2019s announcement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018Major changes need to take place so that international efforts, funds, and humanitarian initiatives don\u2019t fuel Hamas terrorism and the murder of Israelis,\u2019 Gallant wrote. \u2018Terrorism under the guise of humanitarian work is a disgrace to the U.N. and the principles it claims to represent.\u2019<\/p>\n

The decision follows growing allegations that started in Dec. 2023 when an Israeli citizen taken hostage by Hamas said upon release that they had remained captive in the attic of a UNRWA teacher. Another hostage claimed that a Gazan doctor \u2013 allegedly a pediatrician \u2013 helped hold another hostage captive for Hamas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

UNRWA pushed back on the claim, calling it \u2018unsubstantiated\u2019 after the Israeli journalist did not immediately respond to their requests for additional information, saying\u00a0in an official statement, \u2018UNRWA and other entities in the United Nations have asked the journalist to provide more information on what we consider to be a very serious allegation. Despite repeated demands, the journalist has not responded,\u2019 it was claimed.<\/p>\n

UNRWA has faced several allegations, including corruption and directly helping Hamas, as\u00a0documented in an X community note.\u00a0Reuters reported on a former headmaster at a UNRWA\u00a0school who helped build rockets for Islamic Jihad while employed by the agency, as well as posts from several UNRWA teachers and administrators celebrating the Oct. 7 attack.<\/p>\n

The State Department under former President Trump cut ties with UNRWA in 2018, but President Biden resumed the relationship shortly after taking office. He continued to improve spending for the organization, with funds exceeding $1 billion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Blinken also visited UNRWA HQ in November following his visit to Jordan during a visit to the Middle East. During that visit he praised the organization\u2019s humanitarian work in Gaza even as reports of UNRWA workers\u2019 involvement in the Hamas attack swirled.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The House Foreign Affairs Committee announced around Christmas 2023 that it would launch its own investigation into UNRWA and the alleged ties to Hamas: Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., insisted that there was \u2018extensive evidence of a troubling connection between UNRWA and Hamas, and it is far deeper than was known.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

Goldberg compared the recent decision to that of the Biden administration\u2019s approach to the Iran assets following the Hamas attack, with many pressuring the White House to refreeze assets for Tehran due to its direct ties to the terrorist group.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018This looks a lot like the administration\u2019s response to outcries over the $6 billion for Iran after Oct. 7,\u2019 Goldberg argued. \u2018In the face of imminent legislation, the administration claimed it had frozen the money \u2013 but no law exists to enforce that temporary freeze.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Here, too, I fear the administration wants to get ahead of Congress prohibiting the aid in law, only to turn the spigot on once the supplemental has passed,\u2019 he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fox News Digital\u2019s Adam Sabes contributed to this report.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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