A United States security bill that would reduce financing to the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees is raising alarm, as right advocates claimed that the ongoing effort to dismantle the agency is gaining steam amid Israel's war on Gaza.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has been leading the humanitarian aid efforts in Gaza, where Israel's military bombardment killed over 27,708 Palestinians and caused wide-scale destruction since October 7.
US Funding for UNWRA Blocked in Senate
Palestinians protest against freezing funding for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, following a major controversy after Israel's accusations that 12 staff members were involved in Hamas's October 7 attack, during a rally held outside the main UNRWA offices in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank on February 7, 2024.
The proposed $118 billion bill, a draft of which (PDF) was blocked on Wednesday in the US Senate, includes a provision prohibiting Washington from providing funds to UNRWA.
Seth Binder, the advocacy director at the Middle East Democracy Center, said that this would apply to humanitarian aid included in the bill and any previously approved funds for UNRWA that have not yet been disbursed, totaling about $300,000.
"It's unclear ... where and how this specific provision may become law if it ever is able to," Binder told Al Jazeera. "But it is concerning nonetheless just given recent developments."
UNRWA came under renewed investigation last month following the Israeli government's accusation that approximately twelve of UNRWA's roughly 13,000 employees were involved in Hamas's attack on southern Israel on October 7, which killed 1,139 people.
Furthermore, UNRWA promptly fired the staff in question and declared that it was launching an investigation into the claims, which it described as "shocking" and "serious." UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also has appointed an independent panel to investigate.
Israel has not yet offered proof for its claims, but the US and several other countries swiftly stopped funding the agency as a result. UNRWA is dependent on government funding to continue operating in the occupied Palestinian territories, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon.
Ethan Mayer-Rich said at the Arab Center Washington DC that the Senate bill, which has Biden's backing, represented growing bipartisan acceptance of what previously were Republican-driven attempts to limit UNRWA.
He told Al Jazeera that they were seeing a pretty quick departure from what used to be a split down party lines. He added that it was reckless, and he thinks that history is going to see the US as complicit in what is unquestionably an incredibly tragic and dire situation.
Mayer-rich claimed that they have seen an endorsement by the highest level of office and that it is okay for Democrats to call into question UNRWA's mandate and the necessity of its mission, which has long been a Republican-guided effort. He continued that this is a message that will have a durable impact on the way that Democrats are talking about UNRWA and the necessary services it provides.
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Republicans Seeks To Disband UNRWA
Meanwhile, Republicans have used the accusations against UNRWA to reinvigorate their years-long attempt to deter the agency in defiance of those cautions. "This is something that they've long been trying to do, and they've really seized the moment," Mayer-Rich said.
According to a tally by the Arab Center Washington DC, Republicans in Congress have introduced at least seven bills meant to defund or dissolve UNRWA since Israel's accusations were made public.
Republican lawmakers held a weekly subcommittee meeting titled "UNRWA Exposed: Examining the Agency's Mission and Failures." A group of about two dozen Republican senators had demanded that "an immediate and permanent prohibition" be incorporated into any legislation on US funding for UNRWA.
They said "the United States must permanently stop all contributions to UNRWA" on January 31.
Less than six years have passed since US aid to UNRWA was terminated by former Republican President Donald Trump in 2018, who claimed that Washington was bearing a "disproportionate share of the burden of UNRWA's costs."
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