At an international summit in Geneva today, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Chair of the House Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations Subcommittee, joined a panel of key experts and legislators from across the world to address the failed United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). The following are excerpts of Smith’s remarks for the meeting organized by UN Watch entitled “International Summit for A Future Beyond UNRWA”:

Excerpts of remarks by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) United States of America. 
Chairman, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations

Special thanks to Hillel Neuer for his extraordinary work in exposing and confronting pervasive antisemitism at the UN—including at the UN Human Rights Council and UNRWA—and for demanding respect for the state of Israel and for Jews everywhere.

In the past 9 months alone, Hillel has testified at three separate congressional hearings that I chaired—last June,  then again in November and then at a joint hearing with my friend and colleague Chairman Brian Mast on January 30^th .

Hillel was incisive, compelling—a truth teller.

He told us that “UN bodies routinely apply double standards to Israel not expected of other democratic countries, singling out the world’s only Jewish state for opprobrium in a way that is wholly disproportionate to its deficiencies.

“UN human rights officials such as Navi Pillay and Francesca Albanese have claimed that the State of Israel is a racist endeavor, drawn comparisons of current Israeli policy to that of the Nazis, or accused Israel of ‘genocide.’”

Hillel explained with chilling precision “how UNRWA indoctrinates Palestinian youth, incites antisemitism and terrorism and how teachers and schools at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which runs education and social services for Palestinians, regularly call to murder Jews, and create teaching materials that glorify terrorism, encourage martyrdom, demonize Israelis and incite antisemitism.”

Earlier this month, the House Foreign Affairs Committee debated and passed my bill—H.R. 7122, the Stop Support for UNRWA Act—30 to 19.

The legislation—that now heads to the full House for debate and a vote— prohibits any contributions to UNRWA or to the regular budget of the United Nations for the support of UNRWA.

In order to meet existing or future humanitarian needs, the legislation explicitly states that “Nothing in this Act may be construed to preclude the provision of humanitarian assistance through any agency or entity…” provided that the “Secretary of State certifies to Congress that such other agency or entity—(1) does not promote , espouse or affiliate with entities or individuals that promote violence, terrorism, or antisemitism, as such term is defined by the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism: and (2) does not employ individuals who promote, espouse, or affiliate with such entities or individuals.”

Meanwhile the US. Senate passed legislation in mid-February that appropriates humanitarian aid for Gaza estimated at $1.4 billion with the stipulation that:        

• “None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this division and division B of this Act, and prior Acts making appropriations for the Department of State, foreign operations, and related programs, may be made available for a contribution, grant, or other payment to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, notwithstanding any other provision of law. (Sec. 614)”

UNRWA is a corrupt, antisemitic, and terror-complicit agency. 

UNRWA radicalizes Palestinian children with seething antisemitic hate—it is a child soldier factory.  It is child abuse.

As you know, the Biden administration—and several other nations—have “paused” funding to UNRWA following revelations that some UNRWA employees were involved in the antisemitic atrocities of October 7^th.

Yet this is only a pause pending outcome of an “investigation” that appears to be woefully and unnecessarily limited in scope. 

It remains to be seen whether the “investigation” will be in depth and comprehensive—a top to bottom investigation of UNRWA’s direct role in promoting antisemitic hate and violence—to include all its staff or will it be superficial, limited only to UNRWA employees who were exposed for committing violence on October 7^th.

As to the UN investigation, I remain deeply concerned that they too will not go beyond a look at the twelve UNRWA employees alleged to have participated in the October 7^th atrocities. 

Even that superficial investigation may produce a whitewash. 

The Wall Street Journal published an op-ed on February 21^st by Peter Anthony Gallo, a former UN investigator at the  U.N.’s Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) , entitled: The Sham Investigation of UNRWA— It’s likely to Whitewash the organization’s terrorist ties and could even force the offenders forced rehiring.

Peter Anthony Gallo wrote that “After spending four years as an investigator in that office, I can confidently say that its (the UN) investigation will amount to nothing…” and among other concerns argues that Secretary Guterres “has said that any UNRWA employees involved will ‘be held accountable, including through criminal prosecution.’ That’s commendable but meaningless. The U.N. doesn’t have prosecutorial authority or the ability to extradite people from one country to another, meaning any legal accountability would have to come from national authorities. Whatever the U.N. says, Hamas certainly wouldn’t send them from Gaza to sit for criminal trial in Israel.”

UNRWA’s deplorable record of antisemitism and terroristic complicity is nothing new—and the multi-year ongoing cover-up of their egregious human rights abuse continues unabated.

Indeed, it has been well known for decades yet much of the world habitually fails to hold the purveyors of antisemitic hate to account.

In 2003, I offered an amendment to a State Department budget bill to shift all U.S. funding away from UNRWA based on credible reports that “it funded schools that promote antisemitism, allowed its facilities to be used as warehouses for weapons, bomb-making factories, terrorist training and basing—based on antisemitic textbooks.”  My amendment was adopted by the Foreign Affairs Committee and passed the full House of Representatives.

It did not become law, however, and twenty years later, the situation with UNRWA has only gotten far worse.

In 2018, President Trump rightly suspended all US funding to UNRWA.

Since 2021, the Biden Administration resumed lavish support for UNRWA and has donated more than $1 billion.

Finally, pursuant to UN Security Council Resolution 2720 (2023), Secretary General Guterres named Sigrid Kaag as the Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza.  According to the UN, her job is to “facilitate, coordinate, monitor and verify humanitarian relief consignments to Gaza.”

According to the Times of Israel, Sigrid Kaag is “an outgoing Dutch minister,…married to a senior PLO member and deputy minister under Yasser Arafat…cast Netanyahu as a racist… and worked for UNRWA.”

Should we not be concerned?

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