Garden State Patriot

Give credit where credit is due. Lord knows I’m not on the same page with Steve Rothman on much of anything. But he has my support in trying to make the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) accountable — and trying to keep relief aid to Palestinians out of the hands of terrorists.

US lawmakers demanded Thursday that the United Nations impose tighter controls on the UN agency that manages aid to the Palestinians to ensure no US funds end up in the pockets of extremists.

“The United Nations should take immediate steps to improve the transparency and accountability of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA),” said Democratic Representative Steve Rothman.

Rothman has written a non-binding resolution urging US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to certify that “no American taxpayer dollars are being directed to terrorists or to further terrorist propaganda” through UNRWA.

The New Jersey lawmaker said that while aides to US President Barack Obama had yet to explicitly support the measure, “they assure me that they share our concerns.”

The resolution calls on UNRWA to improve transparency of its operations by posting on the Internet copies of all educational materials used at agency-administered schools.

“UNRWA schools have been known to, and are still continuing, to include textbooks, videotapes, and other materials which not only slander the state of Israel but also are virulently anti-Semitic,” said Rothman.

The resolution also urges UNRWA to enhance screening procedures, including terrorist name-recognition software, “to ensure that UNRWA staff, volunteers, and beneficiaries are neither terrorists themselves, nor affiliated with known terrorist organizations.”

“These are certainly reasonable recommendations, especially in this time of severe economic crisis in America, when so many of our countrymen and hurting, and the world is suffering and in need of resources, that none of our US taxpayer dollars goes to any terrorist organization,” said Rothman.

Of course, this is just another example of why we shouldn’t be un the U.N. at all. It is a corrupt organization with many members who hate America and hate Israel. Yet, we are the ones who give it the most money to operate.

Cross-posted at Red County.