White House says it backs restoring UNRWA funding ‘with appropriate safeguards’

The White House says it supports resuming funding for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees if appropriate accountability measures are implemented after several members of the group were found to have participated in Hamas’s October 7 onslaught.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby is asked during a press briefing whether the Biden administration supports new legislation being advanced by House progressives to restore funding to UNRWA. Congress passed legislation last year that bars US funding to the agency until March 2025.

Kirby doesn’t go as far as to explicitly back the legislation, but says the US still supports restoring funding in principle.

“In light of the fact that there is still an ongoing crisis in Gaza and the essential role that UNRWA does play in the distribution of life-saving assistance, we continue to support funding for UNRWA, with appropriate safeguards, with transparency measures built in and with accountability also baked into that,” Kirby says.

“We believe that all of those efforts should include, a requirement that the executive branch certify to Congress that UNRWA has implemented the proper policies and procedures, including the vetting of their personnel and any plans that they have for investigating credible reports of violations of those policies and procedures,” he adds.

The White House spokesperson notes that the US supported such a provision when Congress crafted the March 2024 appropriations bill, but it was ultimately left out of the legislation, as Republicans along with some Democrats backed a ban on UNRWA funding entirely.

“We’re going to look forward to working with other partners — Japan, UK, Italy, Sweden, Germany, Canada and others to ensure that those appropriate safeguards are adequate to the task and to help secure appropriate funding levels for UNRWA’s humanitarian mission,” Kirby says.