As reported last week, Florida Rep. Brian Mast (R) had a heated exchange with United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) supporters. Republicans like Rep. Mast have spoken against UNRWA, accusing the agency of funding terrorists. In a video shared on social media, Rep. Mast called for the elimination of UNRWA.
Not only is Rep. Mast calling for the elimination of UNRWA. The Florida Republican has filed legislation to do exactly that.
Such he explained in a video shared on social media.
In a video taken in his office, Rep. Mast explained that “Donald Trump shut up funding to UNRWA. Well done. Joe Biden turned it back on. Terrible decision. Now Joe Biden, it seems, he wants America to think that he’s had a change of heart, and so he decided he’s gonna pause funding to UNRWA.”
“While he made that announcement on January 26th, what he was doing was he was waiting until January 24 when the U.S. government had completed an allocation of money of $121 million of your dollars to UNRWA,” Rep. Mast added, arguing that “this is not how your tax dollars should be used.”
Announcing that he had introduced legislation that would “literally disband UNRWA,” Rep. Mast also informed that the bill would also “transfer all of its responsibilities to another agency that serves all refugees like the Rohingya refugees and the Sudanese refugees.”
He further questioned “why should the Palestine people get their own special classification of refugees?”
“There’s no reason to elevate UNRWA, this organization that’s tied to terrorists, to help Hamas plan out the next attacks against Israel,” he concluded in the video.
UNRWA has faced controversy after a dozen employees were accused of being involved in the October 7 Hamas attack. The U.N. announced that nine individuals were terminated from working with them, one was dead, and the identities of the other two were being “clarified.”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during a press conference last month that they “haven’t had the ability to investigate [the allegations]… but they are highly, highly credible.”
