US to permanently halt funding to UN terror arm
President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order on Tuesday halting funding for UNRWA indefinitely, according to Politico.
The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has been operating as a vehicle for Islamic terror in Israel. In December, the New York Times reported that at least 24 senior UNRWA staff were recently discovered to be members of Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) while acting as educators in UNRWA schools in Gaza.
Approximately 10% of UNRWA’s 13,000 Gazan employees are known to have ties to Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad, with nearly half having relatives in the terror groups. Former UNRWA union chief Suhail al-Hindi occupies a senior leadership role in Hamas.
In August, the UN acknowledged the participation of at least nine UNRWA personnel in the October 7th massacre; they were eventually dismissed. In September, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) killed Fatah Sharif Abu al-Amin, a UNRWA employee who was serving as the head of Hamas in Lebanon. Two weeks earlier, the IDF had attacked a Hamas command center housed in a school in central Gaza. Among those killed were three Hamas operatives who were employed by UNRWA.
UNRWA’s involvement also extended to the abductions. Israeli hostages who were rescued from Gaza reported being held by a UNRWA employee. Another UNRWA employee was filmed carrying the dead body of an Israeli before bringing it to Gaza on October 7th.
Between UNRWA’s employment of terrorists and its success in ensuring the delivery of copious “humanitarian aid” — which falls directly under Hamas control — the UN has been one of the largest sponsors of terrorism in Israel. Although its title refers only to “Palestine,” the agency also operates in Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan with a $1.6 billion annual budget.
The US was the largest contributor to UNRWA until the Biden administration paused funding in January 2024 due to its involvement in the October 7th attack. Funding was set to resume in March 2025, but Trump is now permanently halting contributions to UNRWA.
UNRWA’s collaboration with Islamic extremist groups — mostly through schools and “humanitarian aid” — has been well documented for years but only received attention after October 7th.
The UN has not only expressed no shame concerning its employment of terrorists but has even demanded immunity for the operatives. In a September letter, UN Director-General Antonio Guterres told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that “it’s impossible to separate UNRWA [including terrorists on its payroll] from the UN. It is an integral part of it."
The Israeli government has since cut ties with UNRWA and barred Guterres himself from entering the country, labeling him an “undesirable.”
Withdrawal from the UN Human Rights Council
Trump is also withdrawing the US from the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), whose members include some of the world’s most prolific human rights abusers. Cuba, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, China, and Qatar all serve on the UNHRC, which frequently accuses the United States and Israel of human rights violations. According to UN Watch, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk has condemned the US more than he has condemned North Korea, China, Qatar, and Cuba combined.
The UNHRC also famously condemns Israel more than any other country.
“The UNHRC has demonstrated consistent bias against Israel, focusing on it unfairly and disproportionately in council proceedings,” a White House factsheet obtained by Politico says. “In 2018, the year President Trump withdrew from the UNHRC in his first administration, the organization passed more resolutions condemning Israel than Syria, Iran, and North Korea combined.”
