Democrats cried in horror after President Donald Trump ended funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) during his first administration; they were even more upset when he repeated the action again during his second term in office, despite the fact that the Biden State Department knew Hamas was benefitting. 

Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT) revealed in 2023  documents that showed State officials were warned that there was “high risk” some of the $720 million they wanted to send UNRWA would end up funding Hamas and other terror groups. That was known when Trump took office during his first term which was why he ended the funding until the Biden State Department reversed the policy in 2021.

The Daily Caller News Foundation reports PPT has uncovered more proof the Biden State Department was aware of the danger in restarting funding. Documents PPT recently obtained though FOIA request show Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his staff collected evidence that UNRWA was a Hamas ally and then dismissed it.

Not only was it dismissed, but in an April 2021 memo to the secretary, a Blinken lieutenant detailed incidents and arguments against restoring the funding. The Daily Caller reports:

It came to light that at least nine UNRWA employees were suspected of joining Hamas on its Oct. 7, 2023, atrocity excursion into southern Israel, few were surprised — certainly not the State Department. The Biden administration had no choice but to stop UNRWA funding again. (Except that all but $300,000 of the $121 million budgeted for the year had already been delivered, and the administration called the halt “temporary.”)”

But there were also the “education” materials UNWRA provided for Palestinian children, which refer to “jihad” and Israeli “occupation.” Such terms were “in line with UN principles … but are viewed as inappropriate by some other audiences.” Other audiences can be so unreasonable.

And there were the “violations of UNRWA’s neutrality policies” 247 of them in 2019-20 alone. These ran the gamut from “slogans, graffiti, or other imagery on the inside or outside of UNRWA facilities” to “armed incursions, armed incidents, unauthorized use of UNRWA installations, weapons, and tunnels.” The memo mentions “three different occasions since the last U.S. contribution [2018], a cavity or tunnel was found under an UNRWA installation.”

UN inspectors found things like hand grenades and “military vests” in UNWRA facilities, including schools, a health center and an aid distribution center.