April 29, 2021 | Newsweek
Congress Needs to Review UN Agency’s Terror Finance Problem
April 29, 2021 | Newsweek
Congress Needs to Review UN Agency’s Terror Finance Problem
The Biden administration this month announced that it will resume U.S. funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA)—a UN welfare agency ostensibly meant to assist Palestinian refugees that has faced multiple corruption scandals. One big problem: a review of the agency’s expenditures revealed that it steers money to terror-group affiliates. It’s now up to Congress to protect U.S. taxpayer funds.
UNRWA is no stranger to criticism. Since most of its registered “refugees” are citizens or permanent residents of countries such as Jordan, or currently reside within the borders of a future Palestinian state, less than 5 percent of its serviced population meets the 1951 Refugee Convention criteria for refugee status. The agency has also fomented virulent anti-Semitism through its educational curriculum. It has no oversight other than a biannual audit conducted by the People’s Republic of China’s representative to the UN Board of Auditors.
In seeking to help Palestinians in need of humanitarian assistance, there are many reasons that Congress could justifiably halt plans to restart aid to UNRWA, and direct aid to those in need through other channels. It’s already been reported that some UNRWA personnel have ties to terrorism, and that UNRWA schools in Gaza have been used by Hamas to launch rockets against Israel. But just recently, a review of the agency’s financial statements revealed a systemic problem of money landing in the hands of terror affiliates.
Since 2012, UNRWA paid more than $4.8 million for health care services to the Union of Health Work Committees (UHWC)—a Gaza-based entity affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which is designated by the United States as a terrorist organization. Since its founding in 1985, UHWC has maintained extensive links to the PFLP and was identified as an official PFLP-affiliated group by Fatah, the political party led by Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas.
UNRWA also had at least one dealing with an affiliate of Iran-backed Hezbollah, another U.S.-designated terrorist group. In 2020, UNRWA paid $122,000 to a Hezbollah-owned and operated hospital, Rasoul al-Azam, located in Beirut. The hospital was constructed by Arch Consulting, a company subject to U.S. terrorism sanctions.