A bill authored by New Jersey Rep. Chris Smith (R-Manchester) prohibiting U.S. funds from going towards the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) cleared the House Foreign Affairs Committee yesterday, putting it on track for an eventual vote on the House floor.
Two weeks ago, the Biden administration paused aid to UNRWA after Israel accused UNRWA employees of assisting Hamas’s October 7 attacks. Smith, though, said that a pause doesn’t go far enough; his bill would indefinitely prevent any U.S. funds from going towards the agency, which is officially tasked with assisting Palestinian refugees.
“It is a simple, clean bill that would go a long way to solve a terrible problem: UNRWA, the most corrupt, antisemitic, terror-complicit agency – perhaps ever, and certainly at the United Nations,” Smith said in the Foreign Affairs Committee yesterday. “[Biden’s funding pause] misses the point about UNRWA… That’s the tip of the iceberg, and it’s an antisemitic organization from top to bottom.”
After several Democratic amendments to soften the bill were voted down, the committee approved Smith’s bill on a 30-19 vote, with all Republicans and three Democrats voting in favor. Besides Smith, two other New Jersey representatives serve on the committee; Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield) supported the bill, while Rep. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown) opposed it.
This is far from Smith’s first time agitating against UNRWA. Back in 2003, he tried to shift funds away from UNRWA via a State Department authorization bill that was passed by the House but dropped by the Senate, and just last week, Smith co-chaired a hearing on UNRWA’s alleged involvement in October 7 attacks.
Smith did make an amendment to his own bill yesterday establishing that it does not preclude U.S. aid from going towards Palestinian relief agencies that are not involved in terrorism or violence.
“The evidence is in and it’s time to cut all US funding to UNRWA – and to make it permanent,” Smith said in a statement today. “We can and must find an alternative.”