On Tuesday, President Donald Trump signed a rather important executive order involving the United Nations and those agencies "which exhibit a deep anti-American bias." It's also good news for the world stage, including and especially Israel. The order involved withdrawing from the UN Human Rights Council, as Trump did during his first term, as well as defunding the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). American involvement in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). As summarized, the order also generally involves "a review of American involvement in funding of the UN, in light of the wild disparities in levels of funding among different countries that... is deeply unfair to the United States."
As he looked over the executive order he was about to sign, Trump mentioned how he's "always felt that the UN has tremendous potential" but "is not living up to that potential right now" and "hasn't really for a long time." While "there's great hopes for it, it's not being well run," Trump added.
He also reminded how the United States has not had much help in helping out with conflicts. "They've got to get their act together," Trump insisted as he signed the order.
🚨BREAKING: Trump withdraws from the UN Human Rights Council! pic.twitter.com/Q28eWOVqcQ
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) February 4, 2025
President Trump signs an executive order withdrawing from anti-American UN organizations — including a withdrawal from the UN Human Rights Council and a prohibition on future funding for UNRWA. pic.twitter.com/kP8CCptnuE
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 4, 2025
The defunding of UNRWA is a particularly significant step, and in stark contrast to the previous administration. In January of last year, the Biden-Harris administration only temporarily paused funding to UNRWA, even after the organization's ties to Hamas following the October 7 attack against Israel were discovered. This also only applied to new commitments. Such ties have only since become clearer, with the agency's employees having been found to be connected to that attack, which they admitted last August.
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Such an attack, the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust, involved the slaughter of 1,200 Israelis--many of them civilians--with not even babies or Holocaust survivors spared from a particularly barbaric fate. Hamas also engaged in rape, torture, and kidnapping, with hostages still looking to be released. UNWRA workers were involved in keeping those hostages captive in their homes.
The agency's headquarters have also been a hotbed for hiding Hamas rocket launchers used to attack Israel, and UNRWA teachers have had ties to Hamas. One of the Hamas leaders killed by an Israeli air strike last September was Fateh Sharif, the chairman of their Teachers' Association and was principal of the UNRWA-run Deir Yassin Secondary School. The UNRWA Lebanon Director Claudio Cordone had also awarded Sharif with a "Certification of Appreciation." The UNRWA itself confirmed that Sharif was one of their own, and that he had been fired.
BREAKING: Trump signed an Executive Order withdrawing U.S. support from the UNRWA. Some UNRWA employees took part in Hamas' Oct 7th attack and helped Hamas hold hostages including American citizens.
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) February 4, 2025
Biden funded terrorists.
Trump is defunding them.pic.twitter.com/w6A51vKcql
The UN has overall been a particularly anti-Israel body, though Trump has nominated Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), who has made it her mission to address antisemitism, to be the U.S. ambassador.
When asked by a reporter what the UN has to do in order to "get their act together," Trump spoke about the body being fair to others. "Well, you gotta be fair to countries that deserve fairness," Trump responded. "They have some countries, as you know, that are outliers, that are very bad and they're being almost preferred to countries who do their job and are doing a good job." Trump also predicted that the UN "is going to end up losing a lot of countries" and "losing their credibility, like other organizations, and then they're going to be nothing!"
The Human Rights Council also included hostile actors such as Iran, which is not only hostile to Israel and the United States, but to the cause of human rights for its own citizens, especially women.
The executive order comes as Israeli Prime Minister is visiting Capitol Hill this week, which includes meetings with Trump and other congressional leaders, though a meeting with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), the highest ranking Jewish lawmaker in Congress, is notably missing from the schedule.
Israel had also officially kicked UNRWA out of the country last week, after legislation passed there last October.
BREAKING: In 48 hours, all offices and activities in Israel of terrorist-infested UNRWA will come to an end. pic.twitter.com/0yGFj8bMQ1
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) January 28, 2025
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