{"id":2631149,"date":"2026-07-17T12:03:01","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T16:03:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/house-members-introduce-bill-to-nix-un-agency-that-supports-palestinians\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T12:08:04","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T16:08:04","slug":"house-members-introduce-bill-to-nix-un-agency-that-supports-palestinians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/house-members-introduce-bill-to-nix-un-agency-that-supports-palestinians\/","title":{"rendered":"House members introduce bill to nix UN agency that supports Palestinians"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/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%2Fhouse-members-introduce-bill-to-nix-un-agency-that-supports-palestinians%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=2631149&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>Reps. Mike Lawler (R-NY) and Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) proposed a bill called the &#8220;replace UNRWA with Real Humanitarian Assistance Act&#8221; to dismantle the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and shift its responsibilities to regional governments. The bill aims to address longstanding criticisms of UNRWA, including its alleged recruitment of personnel linked to terrorist groups and its perceived role in maintaining Palestinian dependency and resentment. UN Watch, an NGO monitoring the agency, argues that UNRWA is beyond reform due to its failures and resistance to accountability measures, notably concerning issues like incitement and promotion of terrorism.<\/p>\n<p>The proposal suggests that in countries like Jordan, where many Palestinians reside, assets and services currently managed by UNRWA could be transferred to national authorities, such as the Jordanian Ministry of Education, maintaining existing resources but removing UNRWA\u2019s framework. Gaza presents a more complex challenge due to Hamas\u2019s control, but the West Bank, managed by the Palestinian Authority, is seen as a perhaps viable alternative for assuming some responsibilities, despite concerns about governance issues.<\/p>\n<p>The critics, including hillel neuer of UN Watch, argue that UNRWA\u2019s structure perpetuates conflict and that reforms have consistently failed, advocating rather for regional governments to take over aid efforts. Neuer believes that shifting humanitarian aid to local authorities could help break the cycle of violence and dependency, despite acknowledging political complexities and the problematic nature of Palestinian governance. The overarching goal is to reform or replace UNRWA to foster greater self-reliance among Palestinians and reduce the agency\u2019s influence, which critics see as entrenching the status quo of conflict.  <\/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<article class=\"fn-body\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Reps. <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/4625293\/lawler-trump-tps-haiti\/\" type=\"post\" id=\"4625293\">Mike Lawler<\/a> (R-NY) and Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) introduced a bill to dismantle the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East and redistribute its humanitarian responsibilities to regional governments.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Replace UNRWA with Real Humanitarian Assistance Act provides one of the most actionable plans to follow through on the advocacy of the agency\u2019s longstanding critics, who have documented its propensity for enlisting local personnel tied to <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/terrorism\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"103\">terrorist<\/a> groups. Among UNRWA\u2019s biggest critics has been UN Watch, a non-governmental organization dedicated to monitoring the failures of the United Nations. The bill introduced on Tuesday advocates the same path that Hillel Neuer, the executive director of UN Watch, has laid out to dismantle the agency while finding proper substitutes for the humanitarian needs it covers.<\/p>\n<section class=\"explore-more-section\" id=\"wex-recommended-widget\">\n<div class=\"magazine-container single\">\n<h1 class=\"magazine-title mt-2\">Recommended Stories<\/h1>\n<p>             <i class=\"fa-solid fa-play icon\"><\/i>         <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-grid\">\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4652929\/house-bill-gottheimer-lawler-dismantle-unrwa\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Bipartisan House members introduce bill to dismantle UN agency that supports Palestinian refugee relief<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4652067\/zelensky-backlash-firing-defense-minister-fedorov\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Zelensky faces backlash after firing popular defense minister<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4651337\/houthis-involved-broader-conflict-us-escalates-iran-war\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Houthis encouraged to shut down Red Sea shipping if US escalates Iran war<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019ve been the lead organization monitoring UNRWA in the past 10 years, and we\u2019ve concluded, based on hundreds of pages of in-depth reports, that the agency is beyond reform,\u201d he told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-1\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-1\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-15\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-1\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cFor about eight, nine years, we were calling for major reform. We asked them not to hire teachers who glorify Adolf Hitler on a regular basis, not to hire teachers and employees who openly promote <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/hamas\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"218\">Hamas<\/a> terrorist attacks on a regular basis on their social media, and presumably in the classrooms as well,\u201d Neuer said. \u201cAnd the response from UNRWA was denial. They attacked us. They defamed us. Everything but addressing the issue.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> contacted UNRWA for comment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Through UNRWA\u2019s resistance to the attacks against it, Neuer argued, it has become apparent that the agency is impossible to reform, and that \u201cthe entire raison d\u2019\u00eatre of the agency as it exists today is to keep Palestinians in a state of dependency and to perpetuate resentment, grievance, war, and terrorism.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-2\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-2\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-16\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-2\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">UNRWA manages over 5 million Palestinian refugees across several different countries, making any talk of dismantling the agency entirely too daunting for many international observers. Neuer said the exact solution would vary from place to place, but it would mostly involve respective governments nationalizing UNRWA assets operating in their territory. The easiest case would be <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/jordan\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"2623\">Jordan<\/a>, where some 2 million Palestinians live.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe obvious thing there is whatever money \u2026 that the Europeans, for example, want to give for these individuals, rather than give it to UNRWA \u2014 which every dollar spent under UNRWA is under the framework of telling the beneficiaries that your mission in life is to dismantle Israel \u2014 they should just change the name \u2026 instead of saying the \u2018UNRWA school in Jordan,\u2019 it\u2019ll say the the \u2018Jordanian Ministry of Education School.\u2019 And you can have the same teachers and the same budget, but it\u2019s no longer under the UNWRA framework. So that\u2019s an easy situation,\u201d Neuer said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/gaza\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"217\">Gaza<\/a> would be the most complicated to get a proper replacement given Hamas\u2019s tight control over the strip, but he was confident in an easy solution in the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/west-bank\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"1969\">West Bank<\/a>. Though ceding that the Palestinian Authority is \u201cextremely problematic\u201d and \u201cnot Boy Scouts,\u201d he believes it represents the best case for taking over UNRWA\u2019s assets.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-3\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-3\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-17\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-3\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere\u2019s some chaos there, but in the long term, Palestinians should rule themselves. They\u2019re not uniquely deficient people,\u201d he said, calling them \u201cvery resourceful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSadly, we saw it in a very negative way \u2014 they spent two decades turning all of Gaza into hundreds of miles of terror tunnels and created a massive invasion campaign,\u201d Neuer added. \u201cThey have resources. The ideology is twisted. So if you have the right values, they can run their own schools.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/investigations\/4650585\/aoc-palestinian-activist-refugee-camps-hamas-strongholds\/\" type=\"post\" id=\"4650585\">AOC PAID PRO-PALESTINIAN ACTIVIST WHO FUNDRAISED FOR REFUGEE CAMPS SUSPECTED OF BEING HAMAS STRONGHOLDS<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-4\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-4\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-25\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-4\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By Neuer\u2019s logic, even if the PA weren\u2019t to live up to ideological expectations, transferring the humanitarian responsibilities to them would be far preferable to relying on the U.N., as it would reverse the \u201cperverse logic\u201d that feeds the cycle of bitterness and violence between Israelis and Palestinians.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe PA has significant problems, but every dollar that goes for UNRWA, it\u2019s not just the money; it\u2019s the legitimacy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-5\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-5\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-26\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-5\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lawmakers propose replacing UNRWA with regional aid programs<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2653,"featured_media":2631150,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/WB.World_.121824.webp?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[4402,32402,4762,32726],"class_list":["post-2631149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-congress","tag-international-relations","tag-legislation","tag-middle-east"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/WB.World_.121824.webp?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2631149","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\/2653"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2631149"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2631149\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2631152,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2631149\/revisions\/2631152"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2631150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2631149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2631149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2631149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}