Republican members of the House of Representatives announced this Friday that they will begin an investigation into the Biden administration's funding of the United Nations Reliefs and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
Specifically, the group will be made up of the GOP representatives from the Oversight and Accountability Committee and House Oversight Committee. They launched this investigation after learning that "some UNRWA staff members actively participated in the October 7, 2023 terrorist attacks":
House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) and Oversight Committee Republican lawmakers are launching an investigation into the Biden Administration’s decision to reinstitute funding to the United [Nations] Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in light of recent reporting revealing some UNRWA staff members actively participated in the October 7, 2023 terrorist attacks and kidnappings against Israel.
Did the Biden administration look into the UNRWA before renewing its funding?
In a letter sent to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, Republican representatives "questioned whether the Biden administration adequately reviewed its decision to renew funding to UNRWA" in 2021, when the federal government sent money to the U.N. organization:
The latest revelations of UNRWA’s ties to terror groups warrant greater scrutiny of the Biden Administration’s decision in April 2021 to partner with the agency. Therefore, the Committee seeks documents and information regarding the Biden Administration’s decision to renew funding for UNRWA in 2021.
The decision comes a few weeks after learning that the organization may have been involved in the Hamas terrorist attacks against Israel on October 7. This led the Biden administration to withdraw the funds it had been allocating to the association since 2021. The Hill reported that in 2018, former President Trump suspended funding because he determined that its fundamental practices were "unsustainable."
