Senate Vote to Cut UNRWA Funding Is Cruel and Unusual Punishment

The Senate passed a bill, on February 13, that cuts off all funding to the main provider of aid to Palestinians in Gaza and provides an additional $14 billion to Israel as they launch an assault on Rafah—a strip of land the size of an airport that over 1 million Palestinians have been herded into—and continues to deprive them of food and aid.

Targeting of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, or UNRWA, started after Israel accused 12 members out of over 30,000 of involvement in the October 7 Hamas attack. This accusation came hours after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued their historic decision on January 26, ordering Israel to stop killing Palestinians and to “take immediate steps” to bring in humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Despite the unverified accusations, UNRWA immediately terminated the accused members and called for an investigation of the matter. Later it was reported that the allegations were based in part on interrogations of detained Palestinian “militants” by Shin Bet and Israeli military intelligence, both of which were found by Human Rights Watch to be engaged in systemic torture and ill treatment of detainees.

As an agency created specifically for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA has long been subject to Israeli accusations and smear campaigns to delegitimize the Palestinian plight.

In response to the allegations, as if on cue, the U.S. suspended their funding to UNRWA, then Canada, Australia, Japan, and several European countries followed suit. UNRWA employs over 30,000 people and responded swiftly and adequately to the allegation, yet the U.S. and their allies are collectively punishing the organization in this critical moment on the basis of accusations.

If the timing and coordination of the response seem pre-planned, it’s because they were. An article in The Times of Israel on December 29 reported a three-step plan by Israel to remove UNRWA from Gaza, citing a classified Foreign Ministry report. The first step was to “create a comprehensive report on alleged UNRWA cooperation with Hamas.” This is exactly what happened now, and Israel managed to pressure countries to blindly follow its plan.

The decision to stop funding UNRWA by its largest donors at a time when Palestinians are facing starvation, thirst, and disease as a direct result of Israel’s indiscriminate bombing campaign and the cutting off of water, food, electricity, and aid is cruel and unusual punishment. The U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres called on countries not to cut off funding, saying that 2 million people in Gaza depended on UNRWA’s “critical aid” for their daily survival, and warned current funding would not allow it to meet all needs in February.

While the Biden administration rushed to entirely halt funding to UNRWA before an investigation was conducted, it has ignored documented evidence of war crimes committed by Israel, continuing to supply them with arms and funding, even bypassing Congress to do so. President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken have acknowledged that Israel is killing too many civilians, yet they continue to refuse to even call for a cease-fire, something the majority of Americans support.

The Biden administration wholeheartedly supported UNRWA during this conflict, highlighting the absurdity of these allegations and their seemingly being prepared in response to the ICJ ruling. State Deptartment Spokesman Matthew Miller commended their “invaluable work,” mentioning that “over 100 UNRWA staff members have been killed doing this lifesaving work,” just nine days before the ICJ ruling. In November, Blinken also proclaimed his emphatic support for UNRWA’s “extraordinary life saving work.”

As an agency created specifically for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA has long been subject to Israeli accusations and smear campaigns to delegitimize the Palestinian plight. In 2014 a prominent Israeli TV network had to retract a report accusing UNRWA of using an ambulance to transport “militants” after the agency presented evidence refuting the allegation. Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the past has called for UNRWA to be “dismantled.” And on January 4, Noga Arbell, a former Israeli official, called for the destruction of UNRWA during a discussion in the Israeli parliament. In the first three months of Israel’s bombing campaign they targeted many UNRWA installations, directly hitting 70; they also killed over 100 of UNRWA’s staff, 350 people living in its shelters, and injured over 1,200.

In the past we expected the U.S. to show leadership or at least act impartially in these situations, but what we see now is the Biden administration blindly following the demands of the Netenyahu government. Norway has become one of the few voices of reason in the Western world on this issue. Maybe we should listen to them.

“We must distinguish between what individuals may have done and what UNRWA stands for,” Espen Barth Eide, the Norwegian foreign minister, said in a statement. “The people of Gaza urgently need humanitarian assistance and must not pay the price for the actions of others.”