Frozen US spending for the UN in Gaza is minimal, the State Department says
The State Department on Tuesday downplayed the significance of its decision to suspend funding for the main U.N. aid agency in Gaza, explaining that it had already provided virtually all the money Congress appropriated for that purpose and that the Biden administration hoped the issue could be resolved. fast.
More than 99 percent of the U.S. dollars approved by Congress for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) have been sent to the organization, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Tuesday.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has “temporarily” stopped funding Friday following accusations by Israel that a dozen UNRWA staff took part in the October 7 Hamas attacks, some of whom held hostages in Gaza. At least seventeen other donor countries have also suspended their funding to the agency. according to the UN Watch group.
Human rights groups and progressive Democrats in Congress have denounced the move, saying it will deprive innocent Palestinians of much-needed aid. But Mr. Miller said the State Department had sent all but $300,000 of the roughly $121 million budgeted for UNRWA to the organization, suggesting that the short-term impact of U.S. action in Gaza will be small are.
U.S. officials suggested the real question is how much more money Congress will be willing to approve for an agency that many Republicans condemn for what they call anti-Israel bias and Hamas sympathies. Witnesses underline this uncertainty a House subcommittee hearing on Tuesday denounced UNRWA and called for its restructuring or replacement.
The Israeli government says at least 12 of the organization's employees took part in the October 7 Hamas attack, and that UNRWA employs as many as 1,300 Hamas members. Israel estimates that about 1,200 people were killed in the attack; another 240 people were taken hostage.
On Monday, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said the United States had not independently confirmed the allegations but found them “highly credible.”
Before the Israeli accusations, the State Department had planned to schedule the next payment to UNRWA in early summer, although a prolonged budget impasse in Congress makes it unclear when a new State Department budget could be approved. And even then, the money must have the support of Republicans who were hostile to UNRWA even before its alleged ties to the attack in Israel came to light.
Before new money approved by Congress reaches UNRWA, the State Department must end the announced pause on the organization's funding. Mr. Miller said the timing of that “will depend on the investigation that UNRWA does, that the United Nations does, and whatever steps they take.” He said Biden administration officials hoped this could happen “soon” because “we strongly support the work that UNRWA is doing.” We think it is crucial.”
His comments came amid anger over donor countries' decision to suspend their support for UNRWA. In a statement on Monday, Amnesty International Secretary General Agnès Callamard said it was “shocking and even inhuman”, that governments, including the United States, had cut off their funding. She noted that the dozens of workers who were laid off were part of UNRWA's staff of 30,000 people. (According to UNRWA, at least 152 agency personnel were killed during the Israeli military operation in Gaza.)
And several progressives condemned the Biden administration's move, including Vermont independent Bernie Sanders said in a statement on Tuesday that “we cannot allow millions to suffer because of the actions of twelve people. The US and other countries must restore funding to prevent this humanitarian catastrophe.”
Although the amount the United States is withholding is only a small portion of UNRWA's annual budget, about $1.2 billion, agency officials warn that the freeze on funding by numerous donor countries is collectively hampering the group's humanitarian work. could threaten. The United States has been UNRWA's largest donor in most years, but other donors collectively provide the majority of the organization's annual budget.
In mid-October, President Biden also announced $100 million in emergency aid for the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. the White House said in a statement would be provided “through trusted partners, including UN agencies” and international non-governmental organizations.
In Washington, the issue of UNRWA funding has taken on partisan overtones. Republicans have for years echoed Israeli complaints that UNRWA employees sympathize with Palestinian militants and have allowed weapons to be stored in their facilities. (UNRWA has denied many such allegations over the years.)
President Trump cut off all US funding for UNRWA in 2018. Nikki Haley, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations who appeared on Fox News on Tuesday and is challenging Mr. Trump for the Republican presidential nomination, was credited with convincing him. “I know UNRWA well,” she said, arguing that schools affiliated with the organization teach “terrorist hatred against Israelis.”
“For years, there has been extensive evidence that UNRWA is not a neutral arbiter, and that its anti-Israel bias is widespread and systemic,” said House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas. said in a statement last week. “Yet the Biden administration inexplicably started funding the organization again in 2021.”
Mr Blinken became involved in the thorny issue just before the Hamas attacks. Last fall, Republicans temporarily blocked $75 million in food aid budgeted for UNRWA in Gaza. Amid warnings of mass hunger, Mr. Blinken bypassed the Republican grip and released the money.
The State Department did not publicly announce the action, but a U.S. branch of UNRWA did thanked Mr Blinken on social media on October 3. Hamas militants broke Gaza's border fence with Israel four days later.