The Trump State Department has just announced that it is cutting all funding to the UN agency that aids Palestinian refugees, calling it an “irredeemably flawed operation”:
TIMES OF ISRAEL – The Trump administration announced Friday it is cutting nearly $300 million in planned funding for the UN agency that aids Palestinian refugees, ending decades of support.
The State Department announced in a written statement Friday that the United States “will no longer commit further funding to this irredeemably flawed operation.”
Reports had circulated throughout the week that the US was planning the move.
The US supplies nearly 30 percent of the total budget of the UN Relief and Works Agency, which provides health care, education, and social services to Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon.
The U.S. donated $355 million to the agency in 2016 and was set to make a similar contribution this year. In January the Trump administration released $60 million in funds but withheld a further $65 million it had been due to provide.
Israel supports the move:
Ahead of the announcement, Israel signaled its support for the move.
“Israel supports the move because UNRWA is one of the main problems perpetuating the conflict,” Hadashot news quoted a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office as saying.
A senior Israeli official told Channel 10 TV that Israel supports providing humanitarian aid to Palestinians, but not through UNWRA. The official said the funding would be better spent by other agencies.
Wow, this is great news. And it comes just after Trump nixed aid going directly to the Palestinians last week:
JUST IN: U.S. to 'redirect' more than $200 million in economic aid for West Bank and Gaza to projects elsewhere - State Dept. official pic.twitter.com/LAZ8OdW3HV
— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) August 24, 2018
Put the two together and that adds up to about half a billion cut from aid going to the Palestinians.
According to Barak Ravid:
The move to stop all U.S. funding to UNRWA was led by President Trump’s senior adviser Jared Kushner and U.S. ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley.
I knew Nikki Haley had to be behind this. Awesome.