FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Caroline Tabler or Patrick McCann (202) 224-2353
February 1, 2024
Cotton, Cruz, Schmitt: UNRWA Should Not Receive Another Dime of U.S. Funding
Washington, D.C. — Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas), Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), and Senator Eric Schmitt (R-Missouri) today introduced the Defund United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) Act, legislation that will prevent any American funding from going to the agency.
The senators’ legislation follows reports that members of UNRWA participated in Hamas’s terrorist attack on Israel on October 7. After the reports, the United States suspended funding to the UN agency pending an investigation.
“We now know that funding UNRWA is funding Hamas. The fact that the administration attempted to release millions of dollars to go to UNRWA before suspending funding temporarily makes this legislation necessary to ensure the Biden administration doesn’t send another dime of taxpayer money to this organization that has terrorists as members,” said Senator Cotton.
“UNRWA provided and continues to provide support for terrorism by Hamas and other Palestinian groups. That support facilitated Hamas’s October 7 terrorist attack, in which dozens of Americans and over a thousand Israelis were killed or kidnapped. The organization is an acute threat to the national security of the United States. Nevertheless, the Biden administration has been pathologically obsessed with undermining Israel and sending resources to UNRWA, and they will no doubt end their ‘pause’ in funding as soon as they possibly can. I’m proud to co-sponsor this legislation, which would permanently end the disgraceful and dangerous policy of funding UNRWA," said Senator Cruz.
Text of the legislation may be found here.
The Defund UNRWA Act would:
