Congress passed a one-year ban on UNRWA funds as several Western countries have resumed funding the U.N. agency aiding Palestinian refugees.

The U.S. government will defund the United Nations agency that aids Palestinians through next year — even as 1.1 million people in Gaza face threats of famine in coming months — on the basis of flimsy allegations by Israel against a tiny minority of the agency’s staff that have yet to be proven.

The bill also contains a long-standing provision that would limit aid to the Palestinian Authority, which governs the occupied West Bank, if “the Palestinians initiate an International Criminal Court (ICC) judicially authorized investigation, or actively supports such an investigation, that subjects Israeli nationals to an investigation for alleged crimes against Palestinians.”

After a late-night vote, the Senate sent the bill to President Joe Biden to sign it into law on Saturday.

  • cosmicrookie@lemmy.world
    0·
    8 months ago

    The U.S. first suspended aid to UNRWA in late January, when the Israeli government leveled allegations that 12 of the agency’s 30,000 employees — or 0.04 percent — were involved in Hamas’s attacks on October 7

    This triggered many other nations to defund UNRWA but many of them have resumed funding since

  • S_204@lemm.ee
    0·
    8 months ago

    The US has withdrawn funding over previous concerns. So has Canada. It seems like nothing’s changed other than the increased complicity with the various members participating in the attack in October.

    This organization’s existence needs to be looked at, the UNHCR is the organization for global refugees, one group doesn’t need their own agency. How does this one group have more employees than the group that handles the rest of the world? Nothing about UNRWA makes sense other than corruption and perpetuating the purported refugee crises. Bella Hadid is a refugee by their terms, she was born a millionaire. C’mon now. Get UNHCR there to start helping people ASAP.

  • merthyr1831@lemmy.world
    0·
    8 months ago

    Yet countless people on reddit, lemmy, and the wider internet seem to think that Biden is the last humanitarian on earth who cares about the Palestinians and that Trump would be worse

    • BearGun@ttrpg.network
      0·
      8 months ago

      I mean, Trump would probably be worse. Biden is real bad, he’s mostly supported Israel through the genocide. On the other hand, Trump has literally said “you’ve got to finish the problem” (palestinians being the problem), not to mention a slew of pro-israel and anti-palestinian decisions when he was president (read about them here if you wish).

      So yes, I agree with the first part of your comment, the last - not so much.