Biden-Backed Bipartisan Senate Bill Targets Key Humanitarian Aid For Palestinians

Democrats made a stunning turn-around in joining Republicans to cut off future and current funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the chief aid group helping Gaza.

New Senate legislation supported by President Joe Biden and many Democratic and Republican senators includes a significant blow to humanitarian aid for Palestinians — fulfilling a long-standing GOP goal while making it harder to address the deepening crisis in Gaza.

The bipartisan legislation unveiled Sunday night and promptly endorsed by Biden is primarily focused on military aid for Ukraine and Israel as well as overhauling U.S. immigration policy. But it includes a provision regarding funding for the chief aid organization focused on Palestinians: the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, or UNRWA. Breaking with the U.S.’s historic approach as UNRWA’s chief donor, the bill states no money it approves can go to UNRWA and prevents UNRWA from even receiving U.S. funding that has already been approved for the agency.

That language would prevent UNRWA from accessing any of the $10 billion the bill provides for humanitarian assistance to civilians in the relevant conflict zones including Gaza, a Senate aide told HuffPost. It would also stop the U.S. from distributing up to $300,000 previously earmarked for UNRWA, according to Seth Binder, the director of advocacy at the Middle East Democracy Center. The Senate aide noted the provision would therefore cut off American funding for UNRWA’s activities beyond the Palestinian territories, including in deeply fragile Lebanon and Jordan, which host many Palestinian refugees.

“It bars all funding in the pipeline. I don’t see any other way to read it,” said Lara Friedman, the president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace think tank.

The fate of the bill remains unclear: it would need to pass both the Senate and the House of Representatives to take effect, and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has called it “dead on arrival” in the lower chamber. Senators are set to take their first vote on the bill on Wednesday.