Tipsheet

What Dems Hope You Won't Notice About Their Call to Send Funds to Gaza

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  October 20, 2023 1:30 PM

After Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, there was considerable chatter about just how they were able to do so. Concerns abound about the role the United States might have played with funding when it comes to the decisions of President Joe Biden and his administration, encouraged by fellow Democrats. 

As Townhall has covered, the Biden administration from the start decided to send funds to Gaza, despite how it could fund terrorism. As on read in part, "due to its overall strength, and level of control over Gaza, we assess there is a high risk that Hamas could potentially derive indirect, unintentional benefit from US assistance to Gaza."

On June 2, 2021, 145 Democrats, led by Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), sent a letter to Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Ranking Member Jim Risch (R-ID) demanding that aid be sent to Gaza.

While such instances occurred early on in the Biden administration, it turns out there's more recent examples. On March 24 of this year, 35 Democrats sent a letter to Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL), the chairman of the State and Foreign Operations Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), the ranking member. 

The letter addressed support for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) as well as how Biden's budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2023 included increased funding for UNRWA. The members wanted even more, though, as the committee began working on legislation for Fiscal Year 2024. 

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To start with, the letter made note of how the members "deeply appreciate the Committee’s continuing support for the Biden Administration’s decision to reengage with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), including its inclusion in the Fiscal Year 2023 bill of additional funding for food assistance to refugees in the West Bank and Gaza."

In 2018, the State Department under the Trump administration conducted a review of UNRWA about the inflation of the amount of Palestinian refugees. Funding was pulled, with a statement being put out that we were still committed to peace and the care of children who were refugees. 

This was just one more move under Trump that the Biden administration reversed, though. 

The United Nations overall is a problematic body that often exhibits an anti-Israel bias. We were reminded of this all too well in the days and weeks that followed Hamas' attack of Israel. The UNRWA, which specifically provides assistance to Palestinians, is no different. 

The Washington Free Beacon put out multiple reports about the UNRWA. One highlighted how in July of last year, after the Biden administration resumed funding, the body "continues to incite violence against Jews, and armed militants use its facilities." This report cited a non-public State Department report that the outlet had obtained.

Another report, from April 2021, pointed to how the agency was "promoting violence against Israel and using educational materials that call for the Jewish state’s destruction," citing "video evidence and copies of lesson plans being taught to children before and during the coronavirus pandemic."

"The U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which is in charge of providing education to scores of Palestinian children, has done little to root out anti-Semitism and the glorification of terrorism from its official lesson plans, although it has repeatedly pledged to do so," the report also added.

Besides a problematic track record from the UNRWA, the members also sent this letter despite how a report from the Daily Caller earlier in March pointed to how "Republicans have argued that recent reports have shown U.S. funding has been exploited by Palestinian terrorist attacks against Israel in the past."

As the report mentioned, and as Townhall has also covered, Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) has introduced legislation to defund the UNRWA so as "to stop the flow of U.S. taxpayer dollars to this body with a rampant history of anti-Israel and antisemitic propaganda and activity."

Reporting from Townhall over the weekend also pointed to how the Biden administration was the largest source of funding for the UNRWA in 2022. Just earlier this week, Fox Business pointed to how OpenTheBooks.com uncovered how the agency has actually received $1 billion in taxpayer funds. "Critics and watchdog groups also say UNRWA resources may help Hamas with recruitment and storage for weapons, along with other support," the report mentioned. 

Even The New Republic, quite the leftist outlet, in 2014 described the UNRWA as being "effectively a branch of Hamas." Also in 2014, the agency acknowledged that Hamas' missiles were found at UNRWA schools. 

It's particularly noteworthy that the letter mentioned above was signed by multiple Squad members. Rep. Rashida Tlaib's (R-MI) name appears second, for instance, but the signatures of Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MI), Greg Casar (D-TX), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), and Cori Bush (D-MO). 

Such association with the Squad members may create yet another problem for so-called moderate Democrats who signed on, including and especially Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX), who is running to challenge Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) next year. Much has been made as of late of Allred's call for funding Gaza, including through coverage from Townhall. He was also one of those 145 Democrats mentioned above.

While Allred initially put out statements condemning Hamas and expressing support for Israel, and called on the Biden administration to freeze $6 billion to Iran, he had been quiet for a time over both his official and political X accounts. 

Earlier on Friday, he posted a letter sent to Under Secretary Brian E. Nelson and National Security Advisor Jake Nelson asking the administration ensure terrorists don't evade sanctions. However, whatever stances he does take against terrorists like Hamas and Jihad is further complicated by the aid he's requested be sent to Gaza.

The March letter above isn't even the most recent letter. On August 29, 63 Democrats from both the House and the Senate signed onto a letter, once more sent to Ranking Member Risch, calling on him to release $75 million to the agency. Allred again joined Tlaib, Casar, Pressley, and Bush. 

Those same Squad members have demanded a "ceasefire" and "de-escalation," have made anti-Israel remarks, and when it comes to Tlaib especially, have doubled down on the false narrative that Israel was responsible for an explosion at a hospital in Gaza. It was determined that Israel was not responsible, but rather that it was a misfired Jihad rocket. 

Bush even defended activists who were storming the Cannon House building on Wednesday, with those activists doing so not long after Tlaib gave remarks speaking out against Israel. 

Tlaib also had reposted Imam Omar Suleiman with regards to the hospital being targeted, an Imam whom Allred shared a picture with from his official X account in 2019, expressing his support.

In addition to the UN overall taking a problematic stance during this recent conflict, including and especially with posts over X, the agency acknowledged in a since-deleted thread that Hamas has stolen humanitarian aid.

And yet the Biden administration has still announced aid being sent to Gaza, as President Joe Biden announced earlier this week while in Israel.