GOP lawmaker introduces bill to ‘stop all’ taxpayer funds to UNRWA

FIRST ON FOX: A Republican congressman has introduced legislation that would permanently ban the United States from funding UNRWA, a United Nations agency that has funneled hundreds of millions in aid meant to help Palestinians in Gaza but has come under fire for its ties to Hamas.

New Jersey GOP Congressman Chris Smith has introduced a bill, known as the ‘‘Stop Support for 5 United Nations Relief and Works Agency Act of 2024’’, that would cut off U.S. funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.

The United States may not make any voluntary or 9 involuntary contributions to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East 2 (referred to in this Act as ‘‘UNRWA’’), to any successor or related entity, or to the regular budget of the United Nations for the support of UNRWA or a successor entity,”  the bill states.

The Biden administration has sent hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to UNRWA, reversing a Trump decision to cut funding to the group, which it says is an effort to provide humanitarian aid while critics say the group is “effectively a branch of Hamas.”

UN CALLS ON COUNTRIES TO RESUME UNRWA FUNDING DESPITE REPORT EMPLOYEES PARTICIPATED IN OCT 7 MASSACRE

Those ties to Hamas have come into focus in recent weeks after Israel  provided the Biden administration with a new dossier containing information about how staffers for a United Nations agency assisted or supported the Hamas terror attacks on Oct. 7.

The Biden…