WASHINGTON: US Senator Chris Van Hollen has denied that UNRWA, the UN agency that provides sanctuary to Palestinian refugees, is a front organization for Hamas. He called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claims “flat-out lies.”
The Democratic senator from Maryland is one of several senators who made a demand last week for US President Joe Biden to abide by the Foreign Assistance Act and stop providing military support to Israel. They contended that if Netanyahu’s government keeps obstructing aid to Gaza, Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act compels the Biden administration to halt arms sales and transfers to Israel.
Senator Van Hollen stated he didn’t think Netanyahu was telling the truth when he declared UNRWA was a front organization for Hamas in an appearance with CBS Face the Nation on Sunday. He said, “Oh, there’s no doubt that the claim is blatantly false.”
The Israeli prime minister, according to the US lawmaker, is using the accusation to undermine UNRWA. Since at least 2017, Netanyahu has intended to eliminate UNRWA. That has been his intention, he stated, not only in Gaza but also in the other locations.
Van Hollen explains his opposition to the UNRWA prohibition by pointing out that the organization is Gaza’s main source of food and humanitarian supplies. “More people will starve and won’t receive the necessary medical care if UNRWA and Gaza funding is completely stopped. So cutting them off would be a grave error.
The senator claims that because Netanyahu has been against a two-state solution, he is attempting to get UNRWA banned. “Netanyahu saw UNRWA as a way to keep the Palestinian people’s hopes for their own homeland alive, which is why he sought to abolish it. Additionally, he has opposed a two-state solution,” the speaker stated.
Additionally, Senator Van Hollen emphasizes the necessity of the release of hostages and a truce in Gaza. “A ceasefire and the release of the captives must be our top priorities. And for this reason, he declared, I support a cease-fire and the release of the hostages.
He remembers that the National Security Memorandum that the Biden administration previously presented required nations to attest to their conformity with US law. “It’s a very important tool that… applies to Israel and any other country that receives US military assistance,” he continues.
The senator notes that as of March 24, Israel is not in accordance with US law and says he wants to limit military aid to Israel if they continue to break the law. Thus, it’s not completely severed. To help the famished in northern Gaza, the Netanyahu government might, in theory, open the Erez Crossing. They have the option to cease rejecting pregnancy kits and water purifiers.
Israel claims that these tools “posed a dual-use danger that they could be used for military purposes,” but he refutes that assertion. He explains why he thinks Netanyahu’s assertion on UNRWA is “a flat-out lie,” saying that the organization’s operations coordinator in Gaza is a 20-year US Army veteran. You can be certain that he is not working with Hamas.
Van Hollen disputes Netanyahu’s claims on UNRWA, arguing that 14 of the 13,000 individuals who conducted the raid on Israel on October 7th should be held responsible if they were from UNRWA.
“Please, let’s not blame two million innocent Palestinian citizens who are starving to death—let’s not make them basically responsible for the wrongdoings of 14 people,” he exclaimed.
