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President Trump is set to cut funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) — which has extensively reported ties to the Hamas terror group — and withdraw the US from the controversial UN Human Rights Council (HRC), The Post has learned.
Trump, 78 will sign an executive order implementing the changes Tuesday, the same day he is set to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, The Post has learned.
“Bibi Netanyahu’s coming on Tuesday, and I think we have some very big meetings scheduled,” the president told reporters on Sunday after returning to Washington from his Palm Beach, Fla. residence.
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President Trump is set to cut funding for UNRWA and remove the United States from the UN Human Rights Council. AP
The planned orders were first reported by Politico.
Both organizations have a lengthy track record of vexing Israel and Trump had pursued those same actions in his first term. Former President Biden restored funding for UNRWA and returned the US to the HRC in his term.
In the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack against Israel, official and media investigations detailed that several planners and participants in the atrocity were on UNRWA’s payroll.
After being informed by Israel, UNRWA fired 10 of the 12 staff members allegedly involved in the attacks. The other two were confirmed to have died dead.
Israel has since moved to cut ties with UNRWA, the main organization that provides aid to the Palestinians in the war-torn Gaza Strip.
More than 10% of UNRWA’s main and senior education staff in the Gaza Strip were members of Hamas or the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, according to a November 2024 report from the Israeli non-profit organization IMPACT-se.
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Palestinians receiving sacks of flour from a UNRWA distribution center in the Gaza Strip on Nov. 3, 2024. Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
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AFP via Getty Images
In 2023, the US funneled $154 million to UNRWA.
Republican lawmakers have pushed for a ban on UNRWA funding due to concerns about its ties to Hamas. Trump had halted US funding for the group in August 2018 and kept that in effect throughout his first term.
Trump also withdrew from the council in 2018 due to its posture toward Israel.
“Earlier this year, as it has in previous years, the Human Rights Council passed five resolutions against Israel — more than the number passed against North Korea, Iran and Syria combined,” then-US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley complained at the time.
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A physiotherapist helping a Palestinian man at the UNRWA Japanese Health Center in Khan Yunis on Oct. 29, 2024. Photo by BASHAR TALEB/AFP via Getty Images
“This disproportionate focus and unending hostility toward Israel is clear proof that the council is motivated by political bias, not by human rights.”
The Biden administration acknowledged similar concerns with HRC, but argued it was important to have a seat at the table.
“The UN Human Rights Council is flawed and needs reform, but walking away won’t fix it. The best way to improve the Council, so it can achieve its potential, is through robust and principled US leadership,” then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in 2021.
“Under President Biden, we are re-engaging and ready to lead.”
US ambassador to the UN-designate Elise Stefanik has vowed to defend Israel and criticized the organizations in Trump’s crosshairs.
In the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack against Israel, official and media investigations detailed that several planners and participants in the atrocity were on UNRWA’s payroll.
Trump, 78 will sign an executive order implementing the changes Tuesday, the same day he is set to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, The Post has learned.
“Bibi Netanyahu’s coming on Tuesday, and I think we have some very big meetings scheduled,” the president told reporters on Sunday after returning to Washington from his Palm Beach, Fla. residence.
4 President Trump is set to cut funding for UNRWA and remove the United States from the UN Human Rights Council. AP
The planned orders were first reported by Politico.
Both organizations have a lengthy track record of vexing Israel and Trump had pursued those same actions in his first term. Former President Biden restored funding for UNRWA and returned the US to the HRC in his term.
In the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack against Israel, official and media investigations detailed that several planners and participants in the atrocity were on UNRWA’s payroll.
After being informed by Israel, UNRWA fired 10 of the 12 staff members allegedly involved in the attacks. The other two were confirmed to have died dead.
Israel has since moved to cut ties with UNRWA, the main organization that provides aid to the Palestinians in the war-torn Gaza Strip.
More than 10% of UNRWA’s main and senior education staff in the Gaza Strip were members of Hamas or the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, according to a November 2024 report from the Israeli non-profit organization IMPACT-se.
4 Palestinians receiving sacks of flour from a UNRWA distribution center in the Gaza Strip on Nov. 3, 2024. Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
4 AFP via Getty Images
In 2023, the US funneled $154 million to UNRWA.
Republican lawmakers have pushed for a ban on UNRWA funding due to concerns about its ties to Hamas. Trump had halted US funding for the group in August 2018 and kept that in effect throughout his first term.
Trump also withdrew from the council in 2018 due to its posture toward Israel.
“Earlier this year, as it has in previous years, the Human Rights Council passed five resolutions against Israel — more than the number passed against North Korea, Iran and Syria combined,” then-US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley complained at the time.
4 A physiotherapist helping a Palestinian man at the UNRWA Japanese Health Center in Khan Yunis on Oct. 29, 2024. Photo by BASHAR TALEB/AFP via Getty Images
“This disproportionate focus and unending hostility toward Israel is clear proof that the council is motivated by political bias, not by human rights.”
The Biden administration acknowledged similar concerns with HRC, but argued it was important to have a seat at the table.
“The UN Human Rights Council is flawed and needs reform, but walking away won’t fix it. The best way to improve the Council, so it can achieve its potential, is through robust and principled US leadership,” then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in 2021.
“Under President Biden, we are re-engaging and ready to lead.”
US ambassador to the UN-designate Elise Stefanik has vowed to defend Israel and criticized the organizations in Trump’s crosshairs.
In the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack against Israel, official and media investigations detailed that several planners and participants in the atrocity were on UNRWA’s payroll.
