Democrat Vermont Sen. Peter Welch reintroduced the bill on Friday, regaining Congressional funds on October 7, 2023 to a UN agency that hired terrorists who took part in the attack on Israel.
Welch’s bill cites the agency’s role as Gaza’s biggest aid provider and restores contributions to the UN Relief and Labour Agency for Palestinian refugees in the Near East. The US has not contributed to UNRWA after the Biden administration suspended funds to the agency in January 2024 following Israel’s accusations that at least 12 agency employees were involved in the Hamas attack. (Related: Senate Dems will eventually land on issues supporting state management, parental rights)
Unrwa fired nine employees in August 2024 after realising he had taken part in the attack on October 7th. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has it I said Unrwa staff with ties to Hamas said, “We have to be accountable.”
UNRWA’s humanitarian work will help maintain one of the most unstable regions in the world.
So, together with colleagues, I introduced the bill to restore funding to UNRWA so that organizations can resume work to combat hunger and disease.
– Senator Peter Welch (@senpeterwelch) March 7, 2025
Welch’s bill faces a sudden hurdle to become a given law that is widely given Opposition From President Donald Trump, Senate Republicans and Democrats to funding UNWRA over agency ties with Hamas.
Trump signed Presidential Order Excluding UNRWA’s funding on February 3rd, the president also Cut off Congressional funding to UNRWA during his first term in August 2018.
“UNRWA has been infiltrated by members of a group that has long been designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the Secretary of State (the Executive Director), and UNRWA employees reportedly were involved in Hamas’ attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023,” Trump wrote in an executive order.
The United Nations-designated US ambassador Elise Stefanik has pledged to crack down on Unrwa. phone The agency is the “Prohama Stellarist Front Group.”
“As the United Nations ambassador of the United Nations, we can promise not only to completely dismantle unrwa, but to completely dismantle it,” Stefanik said in a speech to the anti-resolution league’s “Never Is Now” summit on Tuesday.
meeting Prohibited A new contribution to UNRWA by including languages ​​that fund the FY24 Appropriations Act, passed on March 25, 2025, and March 2024, and signed into law by former President Joe Biden. The United States has historically been UNRWA’s biggest donor, and in 2023 it has funded about 30% of the agency’s budget (approximately $370 million). According to To the Parliamentary Research Service.
Previously Welch It was introduced Although UNRWA’s Emergency Funding Repair Act was in November 2024, the bill was not taken up by the Democratic-controlled Senate. Democrat Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Massie Fuyrono of Hawaii, Jeff Merck of Oregon, and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont Co-host bill.
More than 100 Israelis sued UNRWA on October 7, 2023, claiming that they “deliberately provided material support to Hamas in Gaza.”
Welch vote They restricted offensive weapons sales to Israel in November, and voted against the Defense Budget Package in April 2024. Quote Include military aid to Israel in the state’s war against Hamas.
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