{"id":2209125,"date":"2024-03-29T12:18:02","date_gmt":"2024-03-29T16:18:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-admin-coordinates-with-unrwa-after-congress-banned-taxpayer-dollars-state-department-says\/"},"modified":"2024-03-29T12:18:34","modified_gmt":"2024-03-29T16:18:34","slug":"biden-admin-coordinates-with-unrwa-after-congress-banned-taxpayer-dollars-state-department-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-admin-coordinates-with-unrwa-after-congress-banned-taxpayer-dollars-state-department-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden Administration Collaborates with UNRWA Despite Congressional Ban on Taxpayer Funds, Confirms State Department"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbiden-admin-coordinates-with-unrwa-after-congress-banned-taxpayer-dollars-state-department-says%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2209125&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The summary discusses how the \u2063Biden administration is supporting UNRWA \u2064despite Congress&#8217;s ban on \u200dfunding. The State Department acknowledges UNRWA&#8217;s humanitarian \u2064role in\u200d Gaza, although some employees were involved \u200bin a Hamas attack. While \u2063the U.S. has \u2063paused funding, it continues to coordinate\u200c with other donors to address Gaza&#8217;s humanitarian needs.\u2063 The summary highlights \u200cthe Biden administration&#8217;s support for UNRWA, the State Department&#8217;s recognition\u200d of UNRWA&#8217;s humanitarian efforts, and the coordination with other donors to address Gaza&#8217;s needs despite the funding pause imposed by Congress. It also mentions the involvement of some UNRWA employees in a Hamas attack \u200dand the ongoing efforts to address \u2063Gaza&#8217;s humanitarian situation.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<h2>Cotton: &#8216;Biden administration is trying to flout Congress\u2019s ban on UNRWA funding&#8217;<\/h2>\n<figure><figcaption> \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\tA UNRWA office in the Gaza Strip (Said Khatib\/AFP via Getty Images)\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>The Biden administration continues to diplomatically support the United Nations\u2019 chief Palestinian aid organization and is working behind the scenes with several nations to support its work in the Gaza Strip, even after Congress barred the American government from awarding taxpayer dollars to the group, the State Department told the <em>Washington Free Beacon<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>A State Department spokesman praised the &#8220;critical role&#8221; the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) &#8220;plays in the delivery of humanitarian assistance in Gaza,&#8221; and said the United States is coordinating with countries that have not paused funding for the group following revelations that its employees participated in Hamas\u2019s Oct. 7 attack on Israel.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We continue to coordinate with other donors, both those that have suspended funding and those continuing to fund UNRWA, as we continue to work to address the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza,&#8221; the State Department spokesman said. &#8220;While we will continue to provide funding to organizations like the World Food Programme, we will be looking to other donors to continue to provide critical funding to UNRWA as long as our funding remains paused.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Biden administration paused millions in taxpayer funding to UNRWA in January, after it became clear that at least a dozen of the aid group\u2019s employees participated in Hamas\u2019s Oct. 7 terror strike on Israel. Israel estimates that at least 10 percent of UNRWA\u2019s workforce is affiliated with the terror group. Congress <a href=\"https:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/us-bans-unrwa-funding-until-at-least-2025-while-leaving-room-for-flexibility\/\">extended<\/a> the funding pause earlier this month, barring the United States from restarting aid for at least a year.<\/p>\n<p>Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.), a critic of UNRWA, said the Biden administration is trying to circumvent Congress\u2019s ban on UNRWA funding.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It\u2019s troubling the Biden administration is trying to flout Congress\u2019s ban on UNRWA funding by urging other countries to continue supporting an organization that employed known terrorists,&#8221; Cotton told the <em>Free Beacon<\/em>. &#8220;We should be supporting Israel in its fight to eliminate Hamas for good, not resupplying terrorists.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Biden administration\u2019s diplomatic support for UNRWA appears to have motivated several countries to resume funding. Japan <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/economy\/2024\/3\/29\/japan-to-resume-funding-to-unrwa-following-sweden-finland-and-canada\">announced<\/a> on Friday it will resume aid to UNRWA, while France <a href=\"https:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/france-to-resume-unrwa-funding-while-ensuring-right-conditions-are-met\/\">confirmed<\/a> the same on Thursday. Sweden, Finland, and Canada also recently reversed their funding moratorium.<\/p>\n<p>The State Department would &#8220;not publicly discuss content of our private diplomatic conversations&#8221; surrounding UNRWA, but told the <em>Free Beacon<\/em> that &#8220;funding for Palestinian civilians is a team effort.&#8221;\t<\/p>\n<p>Pressed on the issue during Thursday\u2019s press briefing, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the United States must find other ways to support UNRWA\u2019s work after Congress banned funding until 2025.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We have always made clear that we support the work that UNRWA does, and we have always made clear that it\u2019s important that that work not be interrupted, even though we were\u2014we thought it was appropriate on behalf of the United States to suspend our funding,&#8221; Miller said. &#8220;Now, of course, that funding has been blocked going forward. So we have engaged with other countries about different ways to ensure that the delivery of humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people is not interrupted, that it continues.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cotton accuses Biden admin of bypassing Congress&#8217;s UNRWA funding ban. Despite the ban, Biden&#8217;s team aids UNRWA in Gaza, backed by global support<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":117,"featured_media":2209126,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/rsz_gettyimages-1158653466.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[544],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2209125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-free-beacon"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/rsz_gettyimages-1158653466.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2209125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/117"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2209125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2209125\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2209126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2209125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2209125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2209125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}