The Center for Freedom and Justice – Colorado calls on the U.S. to restore UNRWA funding (HR9649)

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(Israel’s parliament has voted to declare the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) a “terror organization”, thus banning the largest provider of humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian territories. The bill is  is supported by a large majority of Israeli officials

– Do we still celebrate Israeli democracy when it votes for starvation & genocide?

Israel is at risk of losing UN membership if it cuts ties with UNRWA: According to Ynet, Israeli foreign ministry officials are warning that the legislation being advanced in the Knesset to sever ties with the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees puts Israel’s United Nations membership at risk of being suspended for violating the UN Charter. .)

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The U.S. must restore UNRWA funding.

The Center for Freedom and Justice – Colorado (CFJ-Colorado) joins other peace, human rights and church organizations in urging Congress to pass the UNRWA Emergency Restoration Act , HR 9649, to reaffirm US commitment to UNRWA’s essential work to effectively address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. HR 9649 was introduced to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on September 18, 2024.

We, of the Center for Freedom and Justice. -Colorado (CFJ), call on Colorado’s Congressional Delegation, both Republicans and Democrats, to sponsor and work for the passage of House Resolution 9649.

Despite a catastrophic humanitarian crisis which includes the Israeli massacre of untold numbers of Palestinians, famine, polio outbreak, and virtually no healthcare system in Gaza, the Biden Administration has halted U.S. funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). UNRWA is the leading aid organization providing relief to six million Palestinians. Before the UNRWA cut, the United States provided a significant percentage of the aid offered to Gaza. Worse, the US is refusing to force Israel to allow food into Gaza, normalizing the weaponization of food. UNRWA has more than 30,000 staff across the region, including 13,000 in Gaza, the majority of them Palestinian

This suspension threatens UNRWA’s ability to deliver food, shelter, healthcare and education of Palestinians across Gaza, the West Bank, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan. This cruel injustice, which adds to Israel’s all-round genocidal campaign, is unconscionable. UNRWA is the backbone of humanitarian operations on the ground in Gaza. Other humanitarian organizations are unable to fill that huge gap created by the loss of U.S. UNRWA funding.

This new legislation introduced by Reps. Andre Carson (IN-7), Pramila Jayapal (WA-7), and Jan Schakowsky (IL-9), provides lawmakers a critical opportunity to restore US funding.

As Francesca Albanese, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories noted:

“Destroying UNRWA has huge humanitarian implications, and preventing UNRWA from functioning – UNRWA still has the only remnant of the UN largescale capacity to still insure food distribution, aid distribution in general, medical assistance. Everything is very difficult. I am not even sure as the destruction has been so massive.

As noted by Rep Andre Carson the bill will, in part,

“Repeal the funding prohibitions on UNRWA; 2. Express a Sense of Congress that it supports appropriating critical funds to UNRWA for FY25; (3) Urge the Secretary of State to rescind the temporary pause in funding for UNRWA.”

We acknowledge and thank Rep. Diana DeGette for being one of the House’s 71 sponsors of the bill, now in the hands of the House Committee for Foreign Affairs.

The Committee chairs are currently sitting on the bill and have refused to consider it despite is broad support from dozens of civil rights, peace and religious organizations. The rest of the Colorado delegation has remained silent. The rationale given for cutting U.S. funding to UNRWA has been from the beginning, spurious. At this point, the United States is the only country that withdrew funding that has not reinstituted funding. The EU, UK, Canada, Australia, Finland, Sweden, Germany and Japan all are again contributing. Six million Palestinian refugees are registered with UNRWA.

Fransesca Albanese. Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967