I 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5647 

To promote transparency, accountability, and reform within the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near 

East, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN (for herself, Mr. PERRY, Mr. YOHO, and Mr. DESANTIS) 

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 

Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

To promote transparency, accountability, and reform within 

the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘UNRWA Anti-Terrorism Act’’. 

6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents is 

7 as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 


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Sec. 2. Findings. 

Sec. 3. United States contributions to UNRWA. 

Sec. 4. Sense of Congress. 

1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress makes the following findings: 

3 (1) The total annual budget of the United Na4 tions Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refu5 gees in the Near East (UNRWA), including its core 

6 programs, emergency activities, and special projects, 

7 exceeds $1,400,000,000. 

8 (2) The United States has long been the largest 

9 single contributing country to UNRWA. 

10 (3) From 1950 to 2014, the United States has 

11 contributed almost $5,000,000,000 to UNRWA, in12 cluding an average of over $260,000,000 per year 

13 between fiscal years 2009 and 2014. 

14 (4) UNRWA staff unions, including the teach15 ers’ union, are frequently controlled by members af16 filiated with Hamas. 

17 (5) The curriculum of UNRWA schools, which 

18 has been known to use the textbooks of their respec19 tive host governments or authorities, has a history 

20 of containing materials that are anti-Israel, anti-Se21 mitic, and supporting violent extremism. 

22 (6) Despite UNRWA’s contravention of United 

23 States law and activities that compromise its strictly 

24 humanitarian mandate, UNRWA continues to reVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:28 Oct 03, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5647.IH H5647

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1 ceive United States contributions, including 

2 $294,000,000 in fiscal year 2013 and over 

3 $250,000,000 in just the first 6 months of 2014. 

4 (7) Assistance from the United States and 

5 other responsible nations allows UNRWA to claim 

6 that criticisms of the agency’s behavior are un7 founded. UNRWA spokesman Christopher Gunness 

8 has dismissed concerns by stating that, ‘‘If these 

9 baseless allegations were even halfway true, do you 

10 really think the U.S. and [European Commission] 

11 would give us hundreds of millions of dollars per 

12 year?’’. 

13 (8) Former UNRWA general counsel James 

14 Lindsay noted in a 2009 report the following: 

15 (A) ‘‘The United States, despite funding 

16 nearly 75 percent of UNRWA’s national budget 

17 and remaining its largest single country donor, 

18 has mostly failed to make UNRWA reflect U.S. 

19 foreign policy objectives . . . Recent U.S. efforts 

20 to shape UNRWA appear to have been ineffec21 tive . . .’’. 

22 (B) ‘‘[T]he United States is not obligated 

23 to fund agencies that refuse to check its rolls 

24 for individuals their donors do not wish to sup25 port.’’. 


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1 (C) ‘‘A number of changes in UNRWA 

2 could benefit the refugees, the Middle East, and 

3 the United States, but those changes will not 

4 occur unless the United States, ideally with 

5 support from UNRWA’s other main financial 

6 supporter, the European Union, compels the 

7 agency to enact reforms.’’. 

8 (D) ‘‘If the [UNRWA commissioner-gen9 eral’s] power is used in ways that are conflict 

10 with the donors’ political objectives, it is up to 

11 the donors to take the necessary actions to en12 sure that their interests are respected. When 

13 they have done so, UNRWA—given the tight fi14 nancial leash it has been on for most of its ex15 istence—has tended to follow their dictates, 

16 even if sometimes slowly.’’. 

17 (9) During Israel’s Operation Protective Edge 

18 in 2014 in response to Hamas rocket attacks against 

19 Israel, UNRWA’s Commissioner General gave a 

20 press briefing ignoring the extraordinary efforts 

21 Israel goes to avoid civilian casualties, and not once 

22 in the nearly 1,100 word statement mentioning 

23 Hamas or condemning Hamas’ use of Palestinian 

24 children, women, and men as human shields in viola25 tion of international humanitarian law. 


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1 (10) On July 16, 2014, UNRWA reported that 

2 it had found 20 missiles in one of its schools in 

3 Gaza, likely placed there by Hamas, and then in4 stead of dismantling the missiles, UNRWA returned 

5 them to the ‘‘relevant authorities’’ in Gaza, and 

6 since Hamas controls Gaza, it likely turned them 

7 back over to Hamas. 

8 (11) On July 22, 2014, UNRWA reported that 

9 it had found a second instance in which missiles 

10 were stockpiled in one of its schools in Gaza, and 

11 again failed to condemn Hamas publicly. 

12 (12) On July 29, 2014, UNRWA confirmed 

13 that, for the third time in less than a month, a 

14 stockpile of Hamas rockets was found in one of its 

15 schools in Gaza, establishing a pattern of Hamas 

16 weapons being stored in UNRWA facilities, and call17 ing into question UNRWA’s claim of being caught 

18 unawares to Hamas’ actions. 

19 (13) On July 30, 2014, three Israeli Defense 

20 Force soldiers were killed in an explosion at a booby21 trapped UNRWA health clinic, which was housing 

22 the opening to one of Hamas’ underground tunnels. 

23 (14) On July 30, 2014, John Ging, head of 

24 UNRWA from 2006–2011, when asked if Hamas 

25 has been using human shields and using United NaVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:28 Oct 03, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5647.IH H5647

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1 tions schools and hospitals to store weapons and as 

2 a shelter from which to launch missiles into Israel, 

3 stated in an interview, ‘‘Yes, the armed groups are 

4 firing their rockets into Israel from the vicinity of 

5 UN facilities and residential areas. Absolutely.’’. 

6 (15) During Operation Protective Edge in 

7 Gaza, UNRWA repeatedly distorted the facts and 

8 accused Israel of targeting Palestinian women and 

9 children based off of the casualty numbers provided 

10 to it by Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry, which 

11 has been shown to have deliberately lied about the 

12 casualty numbers. 

13 SEC. 3. UNITED STATES CONTRIBUTIONS TO UNRWA. 

14 Section 301 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 

15 (22 U.S.C. 2221) is amended by striking subsection (c) 

16 and inserting the following new subsection: 

17 ‘‘(c)(1) WITHHOLDING.—Contributions by the 

18 United States to the United Nations Relief and Works 

19 Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East 

20 (UNRWA), to any successor or related entity, or to the 

21 regular budget of the United Nations for the support of 

22 UNRWA or a successor entity (through staff positions 

23 provided by the United Nations Secretariat or otherwise), 

24 may be provided only during a period for which a certifi25 cation described in paragraph (2) is in effect. 


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1 ‘‘(2) CERTIFICATION.—A certification described in 

2 this paragraph is a written determination by the Secretary 

3 of State, based on all information available after diligent 

4 inquiry, and transmitted to the appropriate congressional 

5 committees along with a detailed description of the factual 

6 basis therefore, that— 

7 ‘‘(A) no official, employee, consultant, con8 tractor, subcontractor, representative, or affiliate of 

9 UNRWA— 

10 ‘‘(i) is a member of a foreign terrorist or11 ganization; 

12 ‘‘(ii) has propagated, disseminated, or in13 cited anti-American, anti-Israel, or anti-Semitic 

14 rhetoric or propaganda; or 

15 ‘‘(iii) has used any UNRWA resources, in16 cluding publications or Web sites, to propagate 

17 or disseminate political materials, including po18 litical rhetoric regarding the Israeli-Palestinian 

19 conflict; 

20 ‘‘(B) no UNRWA school, hospital, clinic, other 

21 facility, or other infrastructure or resource is being 

22 used by a foreign terrorist organization for oper23 ations, planning, training, recruitment, fundraising, 

24 indoctrination, communications, sanctuary, storage 

25 of weapons or other materials, or as an access point 


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1 to any underground tunnel network, or any other 

2 purposes; 

3 ‘‘(C) UNRWA is subject to comprehensive fi4 nancial audits by an internationally recognized third 

5 party independent auditing firm and has imple6 mented an effective system of vetting and oversight 

7 to prevent the use, receipt, or diversion of any 

8 UNRWA resources by any foreign terrorist organiza9 tion or members thereof; 

10 ‘‘(D) no UNRWA-funded school or educational 

11 institution uses textbooks or other educational mate12 rials that propagate or disseminate anti-American, 

13 anti-Israel, or anti-Semitic rhetoric, propaganda or 

14 incitement; 

15 ‘‘(E) no recipient of UNRWA funds or loans is 

16 a member of a foreign terrorist organization; and 

17 ‘‘(F) UNRWA holds no accounts or other affili18 ations with financial institutions that the United 

19 States deems or believes to be complicit in money 

20 laundering and terror financing. 

21 ‘‘(3) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

22 ‘‘(A) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT23 TEES.—The term ‘appropriate congressional com24 mittees’ means— 


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1 ‘‘(i) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the 

2 Committee on Appropriations, and the Com3 mittee on Oversight and Government Reform of 

4 the House of Representatives; and 

5 ‘‘(ii) the Committee on Foreign Relations, 

6 the Committee on Appropriations, and the 

7 Committee on Homeland Security and Govern8 mental Affairs of the Senate. 

9 ‘‘(B) FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION.— 

10 The term ‘foreign terrorist organization’ means an 

11 organization designated as a foreign terrorist organi12 zation by the Secretary of State in accordance with 

13 section 219(a) of the Immigration and Nationality 

14 Act (8 U.S.C. 1189(a)). 

15 ‘‘(4) EFFECTIVE DURATION OF CERTIFICATION.— 

16 The certification described in paragraph (2) shall be effec17 tive for a period of 180 days from the date of transmission 

18 to the appropriate congressional committees, or until the 

19 Secretary receives information rendering that certification 

20 factually inaccurate, whichever is earliest. In the event 

21 that a certification becomes ineffective, the Secretary shall 

22 promptly transmit to the appropriate congressional com23 mittees a description of any information that precludes the 

24 renewal or continuation of the certification. 


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1 ‘‘(5) LIMITATION.—During a period for which a cer2 tification described in paragraph (2) is in effect, the 

3 United States may not contribute to UNRWA or a suc4 cessor entity an amount on an annual basis that— 

5 ‘‘(A) is greater than the highest annual con6 tribution to UNRWA made by a member country of 

7 the League of Arab States for the same year; 

8 ‘‘(B) as a proportion of the total UNRWA 

9 budget, exceeds the proportion of the total budget 

10 for the United Nations High Commissioner for Ref11 ugees (UNHCR) paid by the United States; or 

12 ‘‘(C) exceeds 22 percent of the total budget of 

13 UNRWA’’. 

14 SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

15 It is the sense of Congress that— 

16 (1) the President and the Secretary of State 

17 should lead a high-level diplomatic effort to encour18 age other responsible nations to withhold contribu19 tions to the United Nations Relief and Works Agen20 cy for Palestine Refugees in the Near East 

21 (UNRWA), to any successor or related entity, or to 

22 the regular budget of the United Nations for the 

23 support of UNRWA or a successor entity (through 

24 staff positions provided by the United Nations Sec25 retariat or otherwise) until UNRWA has met the 


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1 conditions listed in subparagraphs (A) through (F) 

2 of section 301(c)(2) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 

3 1961 (as added by section 2 of this Act); 

4 (2) citizens of recognized states should be re5 moved from UNRWA’s jurisdiction; 

6 (3) UNRWA’s definition of a ‘‘Palestine ref7 ugee’’ should be changed to that used for a refugee 

8 by the Office of the United Nations High Commis9 sioner for Refugees; and 

10 (4) in order to alleviate the suffering of Pales11 tinian refugees, responsibility for those refugees 

12 should be fully transferred to the Office of the 

13 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. 

Æ 


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