Biden Admin to Provide $316 Million to the Palestinians

The Biden administration announced on July 15 that they will be providing $316 million in aid to the Palestinians.

According to a fact sheet from the White House, the United States will be providing $100 million to Palestinian hospitals in East Jerusalem incrementally over the course of several years; the $100 million, provided by the U.S. Agency for International Development, will be subject to congressional approval. Additionally, $201 million will be provided to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) and $15 million in humanitarian aid through the U.N.’s World Food Program and two unspecified NGOs. The administration is also committing to providing 4G to the Palestinians in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Former Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon criticized the UNRWA funding, telling Jewish Insider: “It is well established that schools run by UNRWA preach hate and murder of Jews” and “that some UNRWA teachers and staff have close ties to terror organizations such as Hamas.” UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer tweeted that the administration’s “money will directly fund UNRWA teachers and staff who call to murder Jews,” as UN Watch has “easily identified 120 UNRWA teachers, school principals and other employees who praise Hitler, glorify terrorist attacks and spread antisemitism.” “UNRWA has never fired any,” Neuer added. “On the contrary: They attack & defame us for exposing their antisemitic hate.”

President Biden today announced a $201 million increase in U.S. funding for UNRWA, for a total of $618 million under his administration. https://t.co/VvAS09317N

This 🇺🇸 money will directly fund UNRWA teachers and staff who call to murder Jews. We exposed 120. Let's meet them: 🧵

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) July 15, 2022

4/ We easily identified 120 UNRWA teachers, school principals and other employees who praise Hitler, glorify terrorist attacks and spread antisemitism: https://t.co/avNDNOA84c
UNRWA has never fired any. On the contrary: They attack & defame us for exposing their antisemitic hate. pic.twitter.com/eMlwjsBulk

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) July 15, 2022

The Times of Israel (TOI) reported that the Palestinian Authority (PA) views the Biden administration’s aid as “little more than a fig leaf without diplomatic progress toward a two-state solution.”

President Joe Biden held a joint press conference with PA President Mahmoud Abbas and called for “two states along the 1967 lines, with mutually agreed-to swaps, remain the best way to achieve an equal measure of security, prosperity, freedom and democracy for the Palestinians as well as Israelis” but acknowledged that “the ground is not ripe at this moment to restart negotiations.” Biden’s suggestion that this is not the time to begin negotiations again irked the PA, per TOI.

Though Biden did not explicitly endorse Abbas’ desire for East Jerusalem to be the capital of a future Palestinian state, pre-1967 borders would essentially put East Jerusalem under PA control. The Jerusalem Post also reported that Biden’s motorcade removed their Israeli flags while they were visiting PA institutions in East Jerusalem; some viewed it as an implicit statement that Israel doesn’t have sovereignty over that area. Israel views all of Jerusalem as its capital.

Simon Wiesenthal Center Founder and Dean Rabbi Marvin Hier and Associate Dean and Director of Global Social Action Agenda Rabbi Abraham Cooper said in a statement that anything short of Jerusalem as Israel’s undivided capital is a “nonstarter.” “Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the Jewish people and has been for over 3,000 years,” they said. “There is only one Jewish state and there are 22 Arab states with capitals of their own. We believe in the potential of a two-state solution that can only be done if Palestinian leaders, UNWRA school books, and Palestinian civil society recognizes the legitimacy of their Jewish neighbors which includes the continuous presence of the Jewish people in their homeland. Jerusalem is non-negotiable. Palestinians can have their own capital, in Ramallah, and must not feed the delusions that Israel will ever cede their sovereignty. No other country must face such a demand, and neither should Israel.”