{"id":132198,"date":"2026-07-16T17:05:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T15:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=132198"},"modified":"2026-07-16T06:41:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T04:41:00","slug":"19-05-121","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=132198","title":{"rendered":"Bipartisan House bill calling for UNRWA to be permanently dismantled, replaced \u2018long overdue,\u2019 experts say"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/a>Bipartisan House bill calling for UNRWA to be permanently dismantled, replaced \u2018long overdue,\u2019 experts say<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n

Rikki Zagelbaum<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cThis is not a case of a few bad apples,\u201d Yoni Tobin, senior policy analyst at JINSA, told JNS. \u201cIt\u2019s a case of a rotten tree.\u201d<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n

The U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) building in Rafah, the southern Gaza Strip, Nov. 29, 2021. Photo by Abed Rahim Khatib\/Flash90.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

A new bipartisan bill introduced by Reps. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) and Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) to permanently dismantle and replace the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, some of whose members participated directly in the Oct. 7 attacks, is long overdue, experts told JNS.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s trying to put the administration\u2019s words into action,\u201d Yoni Tobin, senior policy analyst at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, told JNS on Tuesday, when\u00a0the bill<\/u><\/a><\/span>\u00a0was introduced.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt sort of lays out a roadmap for how to actually create not only a pathway to dismantle UNRWA but to replace it,\u201d he said. \u201cTo ensure that there is an entity that does what UNRWA was supposed to do all these years but didn\u2019t do.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Replace UNRWA with Real Humanitarian Assistance Act would require the U.S. secretary of state to submit, within 180 days, a \u201ccomprehensive strategy, coordinated with international partners and allies,\u201d for dismantling the agency, which the U.N. General Assembly created in December 1949 to assist Palestinian refugees.<\/span><\/p>\n

UNRWA has no mandate to resettle refugees or pursue other permanent solutions to their status, and its registry has only grown since the agency\u2019s founding because it continues to classify refugees and their descendants as \u201crefugees\u201d in perpetuity.<\/span><\/p>\n

The plan would include a detailed timeline to wind the agency down, identify the governmental or nongovernmental entities that would assume its responsibilities and outline funding and transition plans.<\/span><\/p>\n

The U.S. secretary of state would be required to begin implementing the plan within one year of submitting the strategy.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cUNRWA has repeatedly failed to meet the basic standards of accountability and neutrality that the international community should expect from any humanitarian organization,\u201d Lawler stated. \u201cCredible reports have exposed serious failures within the agency, including employees with ties to terrorist organizations and educational materials that promote antisemitism and incite violence.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He added that dismantling the organization would not interrupt \u201chumanitarian aid\u201d to those who need it, while preventing the strengthening of \u201corganizations that undermine peace and security.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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\nThe former offices of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in Jerusalem, Jan. 20, 2026. Photo by Yonatan Sindel\/Flash90.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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A June report from the U.S. Agency for International Development\u2019s Office of Inspector General stated that its investigation had resulted in suspension or debarment referrals for more than 100 current or former UNRWA staff members who participated in the Oct. 7 attacks or had ties to the terrorist group.<\/span><\/p>\n

The individuals included school principals, teachers, security personnel, attendants, psychosocial counselors and medical professionals.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDemocrats and Republicans agree. We can\u2019t keep funneling money through an organization that teaches kids to hate and employs Hamas terrorists involved in the Oct. 7 attack,\u201d Gottheimer stated.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why our bill requires a responsible, phased transition to replace UNRWA with accountable partners and makes sure aid reaches the people who need it,\u201d he stated. \u201cAid should feed families, not fund terror.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Several Jewish organizations have supported the legislation, including AIPAC, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and Christians United for Israel Action Fund.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tobin told JNS that the U.S.-led Board of Peace has already adopted a policy of ensuring that UNRWA has no place in Gaza\u2019s future. The legislation, he said, lays out a plan for \u201chow to actually make that come to fruition.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere needs to be some plan, some action item, while we have this window of opportunity,\u201d he said, \u201cwhile the United States is actively seeking the dismantlement of UNRWA as formal government policy, while Congress is receptive to the idea, while Hamas is militarily weak and while we have momentum with the Board of Peace.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Since 2000, the United States has provided more than $5.2 billion to UNRWA, \u201cand in return, it\u2019s gotten a hostile, rogue agency that is an obstacle to peace in Gaza,\u201d according to Tobin.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen news broke in January 2024 that nearly a dozen UNRWA personnel participated in Hamas\u2019s Oct. 7 massacre, it was shocking but not surprising,\u201d he said. \u201cUNRWA\u2019s many structural problems for decades have included a very cozy relationship with terrorists in Gaza, many of whom had infiltrated the agency.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not a case of a few bad apples,\u201d he told JNS. \u201cIt\u2019s a case of a rotten tree.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

David May, a senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told JNS that the agency \u201cis dedicated to preserving the Palestinians as refugees and political pawns to be wielded against Israel, not to resettling them and encouraging them to move past the conflict.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cUNRWA is a drain on donors and an obstacle to peace\u201d that has \u201csold Palestinians the fantasy of erasing the State of Israel by moving there en masse\u201d for decades, he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis desire to prolong the refugee crisis stems partly from institutional inertia,\u201d he said. \u201cUNRWA is focused exclusively on Palestinians, and creating solutions would lead to its dissolution.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The agency must be dismantled, \u201cbut this must be done gradually, as the bill recommends,\u201d May told JNS. \u201cVital UNRWA responsibilities can and should be transferred to competent agencies that aren\u2019t saddled by UNRWA\u2019s corruption and baggage.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Trump administration barred federal agencies from providing funding to UNRWA through an executive order in February 2025. Cutting off U.S. funding alone, however, is insufficient, Tobin said, because a future administration could reverse the policy and UNRWA can continue raising money from other countries.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor UNRWA to really be taken out of the equation in Gaza, which is long overdue, the United States needs to get its partners on board and ensure that funding isn\u2019t coming to UNRWA from any source,\u201d he told JNS.<\/span><\/p>\n

The agency is \u201cnot a distinct entity from Hamas,\u201d but rather has \u201cbeen co-opted by Hamas,\u201d Tobin said. Intelligence estimates suggest that about half of UNRWA\u2019s 12,000 employees in Gaza have family members with terrorist ties and that another 1,000 employees are under U.S. investigation for alleged involvement in terrorism, he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re looking at an organization like UNRWA, with decades and decades of evidence that are publicly available for anyone to see of its deep rot, which goes beyond terrorism, it extends into deep corruption and just plainly being an ineffectual organization,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look at some of the test scores and metrics coming out of Gaza schools from the early 2000s, not long after Hamas took power in Gaza, you\u2019ll see that most kids in Gaza, as a result of UNRWA\u2019s miseducation of them, lacked the basic ability to do math, read and write,\u201d he told JNS.<\/span><\/p>\n

UNRWA is concerned with two things, according to Tobin, \u201cself-preservation and sheltering or enabling terrorism and terrorists.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cUNRWA has been sheltering Hamas for years, and it\u2019s time to end that,\u201d he told JNS.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Bipartisan House bill calling for UNRWA to be permanently dismantled, replaced \u2018long overdue,\u2019 experts say Rikki Zagelbaum \u201cThis is not a case of a few bad apples,\u201d Yoni Tobin, senior policy analyst at JINSA, told JNS. \u201cIt\u2019s a case of a rotten tree.\u201d The U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) building in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[33,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132198"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=132198"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":132219,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132198\/revisions\/132219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=132198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=132198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=132198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}