Jerry Nadler: “I am not asking in this amendment to shift priorities within this bill. I am asking to set priorities for an agency that…”

“I am not asking in this amendment to shift priorities within this bill. I am asking to set priorities for an agency that has failed miserably in its 53-year history. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency, otherwise known as UNRWA, is spending over $300 million a year to house, educate and provide social services to 3.9 million Palestinian refugees, 1.2 million of whom still live in refugee camps. The amendment is very simple. It would withhold a third of the United States contribution to UNRWA until such time as the President certifies that UNRWA has established a program for the resettlement of the refugees under its authority. It also would require UNRWA to replace textbooks and educational materials that promote anti-Semitism, deny the existence of Israel and exacerbate stereotypes and tensions between the Palestinians and Israelis. What is shocking is that the United Nations through UNRWA has allowed and indeed compelled these camps to exist for more than 50 years. No other refugees in the modern era have had to sustain such a long existence in refugee camps before being resettled and absorbed.”