J Street Welcomes Bill to Reverse Congressional Funding Freeze on UNRWA Humanitarian Aid

J Street welcomes today’s introduction of the UNRWA Emergency Restoration Act of 2024 introduced by Representatives Carson, Jayapal, and Schakowsky and supported by 60 original cosponsors.

This legislation would restore vital US funding for UNRWA to prevent “further erosion of the civilian conditions in Gaza,” which remains in the “strategic and moral interests of the United States.” With resources slashed, the agency has struggled in recent months to prevent polio and other diseases, and provide humanitarian aid and essential services that the devastated families of Gaza so desperately need after nearly a full year of war.

“We should restore funding, as all our major allies have, and stop playing politics with Palestinian welfare and Israel’s security,” said J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami. “As UNRWA’s largest donor and Israel’s key security guarantor, the United States has a special obligation to address this crisis.”

The congressional funding freeze went into effect in March 2024 after allegations that several UNRWA employees were involved in the October 7 attacks. The agency took swift action and terminated the accused employees, made substantial efforts to cooperate with Israeli authorities and is working to strengthen mechanisms to ensure compliance with UNRWA’s principles of humanitarian neutrality.

UN Secretary-General Guterres additionally launched an internal investigation and an outside, independent and transparent review was also conducted, led by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna. While reforms are undoubtedly needed at the agency and donor countries need to cooperate with UNRWA to tighten security vetting, this important work can proceed even as the agency’s vital work continues.

“Aid workers with ties to terrorists are abhorrent. They should always be rooted out and held to account. But they are the exception. Punishing children and an entire civilian population for the purported sins of a few is not only wrong – it’s immensely dangerous,” said J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami. “Fully cutting off a key source of humanitarian assistance doesn’t make Israel safer. It risks doing the exact opposite by deepening the desperation and deprivation that breeds terrorists.”

Despite a years-long campaign by the Israeli-right to defund and dismantle UNRWA, Israel’s own security experts have asserted that cutting off this aid will only weaken Israel’s security, not strengthen it. Israeli, American and international officials have repeatedly said that UNRWA is the only organization with the infrastructure and resources capable of distributing the humanitarian assistance civilians in Gaza need at this moment.

UNRWA and its staff of 17,000 teachers, doctors, nurses and relief workers in Gaza and the West Bank provide essential services to 2.6 million Palestinians. In Gaza, the agency supports over 100 emergency shelters and coordinates emergency food, water and medical supplies – including vaccinations and hygiene supplies to prevent disease outbreaks. In peacetime, it operates 278 schools that educate over 290,000 students, as well as 22 hospitals and clinics. In the West Bank, UNRWA operates 96 schools for 46,000 students and 43 hospitals and clinics. More than 3 million Palestinian refugees are also registered to receive UNRWA’s critical support in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.