UNRWA officials lobby congressional staffers against Trump terrorist designation threat

EXCLUSIVE: UNRWA officials urged legislature staffers to reason a imaginable Trump medication determination to designate the U.N. bureau arsenic a overseas violent organization, and discussed UNRWA’s ongoing operations successful Gaza and the West Bank, including cash-based assistance, during a Dec. 17 briefing, Fox News Digital has learned.

The video league was organized by UNRWA USA, the American nonprofit that supports the bureau done advocacy and fundraising. UNRWA USA Executive Director Mara Kronenfeld opened the briefing by saying the extremity was to marque wide that UNRWA "is inactive connected the ground" successful Gaza and the West Bank contempt what she described arsenic "the Netanyahu government's insidious efforts to systematically forestall UNRWA from continuing its life-saving humanitarian work."

During the meeting, briefers besides raised reports that the U.S. authorities was considering designating UNRWA arsenic a overseas violent enactment and discussed with legislature offices what steps could beryllium taken to "help forestall that and enactment UNRWA successful its captious work," according to gathering details reviewed by Fox News Digital.

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A Palestinian lad walks adjacent a UNRWA schoolhouse sheltering displaced radical that was deed successful an overnight Israeli onslaught successful Gaza City, July 5, 2025. (Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters)

Bill Deere, UNRWA’s manager successful Washington, said "press reports look to beryllium true" that the medication was considering a overseas violent enactment designation for the agency.

"This would beryllium unprecedented for a U.N. bureau to see this. It is surely unwarranted," Deere said, asserting that "four abstracted autarkic investigations" quality Israel’s allegations regarding UNRWA’s workforce. 

Deere urged legislature offices to respond forcefully.

"You tin loudly explicit your displeasure," Deere said, arguing that the ramifications would widen beyond UNRWA and acceptable a precedent affecting the broader U.N. system.

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A truck, marked with United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) logo, crosses into Egypt from Gaza, astatine the Rafah borderline crossing betwixt Egypt and the Gaza Strip, during a impermanent truce betwixt Hamas and Israel, successful Rafah, Egypt, Nov. 27, 2023. (Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)

"If they spell up and bash this, our recourse with respect to this is limited," helium said, adding that 1 measurement that could beryllium taken is that "Congress tin override the designation."

The gathering featured UNRWA tract enactment describing conditions and operations successful Gaza and the West Bank.

Sam Rose, manager of UNRWA affairs successful Gaza, told participants that planetary unit were not entering Gaza due to the fact that of the Israeli Knesset legislation, and that operations were being managed remotely.

Rose said that contempt claims that UNRWA has been blocked, the agency’s services successful Gaza haven’t stopped for a azygous day, pointing to superior healthcare, education, h2o and sanitation work, structure operations and the usage of UNRWA facilities arsenic exigency shelters.

Rose besides described the agency’s quality to run programs that bash not trust connected contiguous proviso deliveries.

"Cash assistance and occupation instauration programs are besides capable to continue," helium said and added, "we're capable to run astatine scale."

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United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) gathering successful Gaza, June 2023.  (Ahmed Zakot/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Roland Friedrich, introduced arsenic manager of UNRWA affairs successful the West Bank, described UNRWA’s standard successful the territory, including education, healthcare and assistance programs. He said UNRWA provides enactment to hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees, including assistance that "can beryllium currency assistance," on with different forms specified arsenic nutrient vouchers and societal extortion payments.

Friedrich besides described "cash for rent" assistance for displaced people, and argued that UNRWA’s beingness plays a stabilizing relation crossed aggregate countries successful the region.

The officials besides discussed workarounds that let UNRWA to support operating nether restrictions.

ISRAEL SAYS UN MISLEADS WORLD AS GAZA AID STOLEN AND DIVERTED FROM CIVILIANS

Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees successful the Near East (UNRWA) holds a property league successful Jerusalem, Oct. 27, 2023.  (Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Rose said UNRWA was inactive capable to person substance and that definite coordination occurred done 3rd parties, describing indirect engagement involving U.N. channels. He said substance could tally powerfulness generators and h2o pumps and emphasized the value of keeping basal services running.

On assistance flows, Rose said Israel was reporting regular motortruck numbers that reached 600 per day, and helium said helium did not person crushed to uncertainty the wide count. At the aforesaid time, helium argued that the premix of goods entering had shifted, with commercialized supplies playing a larger relation portion definite humanitarian items remained restricted for U.N. agencies. He described what helium called a two-tier system, wherever immoderate items blocked from U.N. usage could participate done backstage channels.

Beyond the operational discussion, the briefing included explicit advocacy aimed astatine legislature offices.

Kronenfeld urged participants to enactment authorities described successful the gathering arsenic the UNRWA Funding Emergency Restoration Act of 2025, and she thanked offices already backing efforts to reconstruct U.S. funding, describing the United States arsenic historically UNRWA’s largest donor earlier the backing halt successful 2024.

UNRWA USA did not respond to aggregate requests for remark from Fox News Digital. UNRWA besides did not respond.

William Deere, manager of the UNRWA Representative Office successful Washington, D.C., provided the pursuing connection successful effect to a petition for remark from Fox News Digital:

"UNRWA participates successful briefings hosted by the UNRWA USA National Committee and attended by bicameral groups of Republican and Democratic unit from Capitol Hill, arsenic good arsenic deliberation tanks and nongovernmental organizations. Briefings similar these are important opportunities for the Agency to respond to the authorities of Israel’s ongoing disinformation run suggesting that UNRWA is nary longer actively moving successful Gaza. Quite the other is true. Every day, UNRWA unit are delivering captious services successful Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. In fact, successful a caller missive to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, UNRWA thanked President Trump for negotiating the ceasefire, which allows the satellite to crook to Gaza’s future."

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Palestinians protestation extracurricular the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) successful Gaza City against the simplification of nutrient assistance provided for the refugees, June 20, 2023. (Majdi Fathi/TPS)

Deere added: "In Gaza, UNRWA aesculapian unit present 40 percent of superior healthcare and play a captious relation successful distributing water, promoting nationalist wellness done immunization campaigns, pest control, nutrition screenings, and the disposal of coagulated waste. UNRWA is besides starring the mode successful Gaza education, stepping up its ‘back to learning’ program, with astir 70,000 children present accessing the Agency’s in-person learning activities. The West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is besides a challenging country successful which to work, particularly fixed the assorted laws approved by the Israeli Knesset, and policymakers are ever funny to perceive the impacts of these laws firsthand from our experts."