Congress: Hey, Has Anyone Heard About This “We Fund UNRWA And UNRWA Funds Hamas” Rumor?

I would have thought that UNRWA’s boasts about employing terrorists…

“Oh I am sure that there are Hamas members on the UNRWA payroll and I don’t see that as a crime” said United Nations Relief and Works Agency’s Gaza chief Peter Hansen, 2004… The United Nations agency that administers a school in Gaza where dozens of civilians were killed by Israeli mortar fire last week has admitted to employing terrorists to work at its Palestinian schools in the past, has no system in place to keep members of Hamas or Islamic Jihad off its payroll, and provides textbooks to children that contain hate speech and other incendiary information.

… would have put an end to the debate over whether UNRWA employs terrorists. But apparently this is still an open question:

UNRWA, the massive United Nations bureaucracy that administers assistance to the Palestinians, is locked in an unseemly epithet-laden battle here with some pro-Israel figures who say the relief agency should be shut down because it has been co-opted by radicals. They challenge not only the legitimacy of UNRWA but the refugee status of the 4.3 million Palestinians it is charged with serving, including 1.6 million in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip… In the U.S. Congress, Reps. Steve Rothman (D-N.J.) and Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) are reviving their campaign to cut U.S. funds to UNRWA until it comes clean about what the lawmakers say are its irregularities and its coziness with terrorists. The United States provides between a fifth and a quarter of UNRWA’s $440 million to $540 million annual budget.

Whatever. Any legislation they pass is going to be non-binding. Or it’ll have a “national interest” loophole. Or Obama will veto it. Or it will be circumvented by the State Department. But nobody is going to yank UNRWA’s funding – least of all this administration.

Obama already funneled an additional $20 million, to UNRWA and the EU threw in a few million of their own. Before the war was even over, UNRWA’s reward for helping to develop Hamas’s terrorist infrastructure passed the $30 million mark.

On the plus side, putting money back into Hamas’s coffers is yet another place where Obama and Iran can come together. This “explore our mutual interests” thing is going even faster than expected!

References:
* United Nations Relief and Works Agency: We Employed Terrorists At Palestinian Schools [Daled Amos]
* Battle gets nasty at critical juncture for U.N. agency aiding Palestinians [JTA]
* U.S. giving $20 million more in humanitarian aid to Gaza [CNN]
* EU to provide €3 million in aid for Gaza residents [JPost]
* UN receives $30 million for Gaza aid work [YNet]
* Report: Iran behind attempt to funnel millions of dollars into Gaza from Egypt [Ha'aretz]

Previously:
* UNRWA Pours Millions Into Terrorism, Blames Israel (Plus: UNRWA Complains That Israel Is Blocking UNRWA Funding. Hmm)
* UN: Gazans Have More Than Enough Food, But Lack Of Fruits And Vegetables Is A Humanitarian Crisis
* Palestinians Shut Down Generator To Create Gaza Humanitarian Crisis, UN Blames Israel