Newsletter
Newsletter Support JNS

Not another penny for UNRWA, senator says

Marsha Blackburn said the U.N. agency is “antisemitic, terrorist-supporting.”

Marsha Blackburn
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) speaks at the 2019 Teen Student Action Summit hosted by Turning Point USA at the Marriott Marquis in Washington, D.C. on July 24, 2019. Photo by Gage Skidmore/Creative Commons.

After an investigation found that nine employees of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East may have been directly involved in the Hamas terror attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) renewed calls for Washington to cut off the agency’s funding.

“We should never give another penny to antisemitic, terrorist-supporting UNRWA,” wrote the member of the Senate Committee on Finance.

Some 10 days after the Hamas attack, Blackburn co-sponsored legislation to defund UNRWA.

“It is clear that U.S. aid intended for the Palestinian people has repeatedly ended up in the hands of terrorists,” she stated at the time. “UNRWA teachers and educational materials call for the murder of Jews, and the Biden administration should immediately halt all funding for the agency. The U.S. government should not be funding terrorists.”

“Our response must also preserve the constitutional freedoms that are fundamental to our educational institutions and our democracy,” stated Rochelle Garza, chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
In May, the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said that the premier secretly visited the Gulf state.
“Zionism is a lightning rod issue,” but “it’s also a fundamental part of Jewish identity, and most Jews in Montgomery County and beyond believe that Israel is a core part of their Jewish identity,” one signatory told JNS.
Maastricht University said it acted out of “concern for the safety of the student himself, fellow students and staff.”