Republican presidential primary candidate Nikki Haley on Tuesday criticized President Biden over his decision to resume funding to the United Nations Relief Agency for the Palestinians in 2021, which was suspended under the Trump administration.
“I know UNRWA very well,” says Haley, a former U.N. ambassador in the Trump administration. Said A reporter from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said this in an interview on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends.”
“I sat in President Trump’s office and said, ‘We have to defund UNRWA.’ Because I knew that,” she added.
The Biden administration announced last week that it would suspend funding to UNRWA over the suspected involvement of more than a dozen staff members in the Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel by Hamas.
Haley said she saw schools affiliated with the organization “preach all the terrorist hatred of Israelis” and insisted to President Trump that U.S. tax dollars should not go to the organization. .
“It’s not safe for us, it’s not safe for our friends. And we knew that, so Biden and the State Department went back and funded it. It’s terrible.” she said.
In 2018, the Trump administration announced that it would halt funding to UNRWA. A State Department spokesperson said in a statement at the time that the administration “carefully considered this issue and determined that the United States will not make additional contributions to UNRWA.”
“The United States will not commit any further funding to this hopelessly flawed operation,” Heather Nauert said at the time. He said the United States knew the decision would hurt “innocent Palestinians,” but added that “UNRWA and key members of the regional and international aid community are committed to reforming and resetting the way UNRWA operates.” “I couldn’t do it.”
As a presidential candidate, Biden promised to restore aid to the Palestinians, including UNRWA, and as president he has done just that. In April 2021, the Biden administration announced $235 million in funding for the agency.
“Today’s announcement is a long-awaited step toward resuming positive relations between the United States and the Palestinian people and reestablishing the United States as a trusted and constructive leader in the region,” said Congresswoman Barbara Lee. (D-Calif.) said at the time. .
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long called for UNRWA to be dismantled, and this week reiterated his claim that the organization is “deepening its ties with Hamas.”
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