Bipartisan bill introduced in US Senate would redirect UNRWA funding to alternative agencies such as UNICEF, World Food Program.

The US Senate has introduced a bipartisan bill which would redirect future aid to Gaza not to UNWRA, the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees, but to alternative agencies such as UNICE and World Foof Program.

The Biden administration supports the bill, signifying public consideration of UNWRA alternatives for the first time.

The proposed legislation follows recent decisions by the US, the EU, Canada, the UK, France, Japan, Germany, Austria, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Romania to suspend aid to UNRWA, in light of Israeli evidence that UNRWA staff participated in the October 7 attack by Hamas terrorists on  Israel, and that around 10% of UNRWA’s 12,000 staff in Gaza have links to terror groups.

The bill covers a wide range of appropriations, including funding for border measures and overall aid to Israel and Ukraine. Significantly though, the legislation stipulates that UNRWA would be barred from receiving funds made available by the bill. The funds that would have been directed to UNRWA in the future are instead slated to be distributed to alternative aid organizations that can effectively utilize the resources.

Elaborating on a potential reallocation of funds, State Department Deputy Press Secretary Vedant Patel announced this week: “We will redirect funding for UNRWA to other partners to provide assistance in Gaza. Some of the examples I gave are WFP, UNICEF, and other NGOs. This is a process we will continue to work through with appropriate regional interlocutors and other donor countries as well.”

The bill is supported by a cross-party group of Republicans and Democrats.

Although considerable doubts remain as to whether the bill will be approved by Congress, it nonetheless represents a shift in attitude over the role played by UNRWA.

Last week, a  joint US House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee hearing examined UNRWA’s failures. During the hearing, Marcus Sheff, CEO of IMPACT-se, the  Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se), an international research and policy organization that monitors and analyzes education around the world, who highlighted how UNRWA’s hate-filled educational program is one of the driving forces behind the indoctrination of Palestinian children by teachers and staff in the agency’s schools.