US Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL) speaking at a hearing of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure’s Subcommittee on Aviation at the US Capitol. Photo: Reuters Connect

US Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, blasted the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine (UNRWA) for teaching Palestinian children to “hate Jews,” calling on his fellow lawmakers to support a bill which would claw back funds from the controversial relief organization. 

“This week, the House Foreign Affairs Committee, we marked up a bill mandating that the State Department do everything that it can to recoup the millions of dollars, your dollars, that were sent to UNRWA before Oct. 7,” Mast said in a video uploaded to X/Twitter on Sunday. “This was a bill that I put forward, and we’ve been working on it for a number of months. Now, everybody knows how terrible UNRWA is, and that’s why my bill is bipartisan.”

In May, Mast and Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) unveiled a bipartisan bill to rescind all remaining federal funding from UNRWA, citing the agency’s ties to “Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihadists” and condemning the relief organization as an “incubator for Palestinian terrorists.” The bill would direct the Secretary of State to revoke funding that has not yet been utilized by the agency.

The bill was ultimately tabled by the House Foreign Affairs Committee by a vote of 24 to 22 on July 11, which spilt along party lines.

Mast torched Democratic lawmakers for refusing to support legislation which would defund an organization which, Mast argues, promotes antisemitism and terrorism.

I am proud to announce that my bill clawing back misused funds to UNRWA has passed the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

The notion that UNRWA serves American interests is a joke. Let’s get this across the finish line. pic.twitter.com/xnwJopFni6

— Rep. Brian Mast (@RepBrianMast) July 15, 2024

“[D]espite UNRWA’s crimes being made public, there are still some House Democrats who would prefer to take a page out of Joe Biden’s book and disassociate from reality,” Mast said. 

The lawmaker also slammed Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-MA) for her prior comments which defended UNRWA as “doing God’s work.” Mast further repudiated UNRWA as an agency which indoctrinates Palestinian children to “hate Jews.” 

“Is it God’s work to take innocent people hostage or launch rockets at school buses or cities or cafes or malls or any innocent people they can find? I don’t think that’s the case,” Mast said. 

UNRWA has faced significant controversy due to allegations of its connections with Hamas, the terrorist group which launched the ongoing war in Gaza by slaughtering roughly 1200 people in southern Israel on Oct. 7. UNRWA facilities and resources have been exploited by Hamas for various purposes, including the storage of weapons and the use of schools as launch sites for attacks against Israel. 

Over 100 Israeli victims of Oct. 7 filed lawsuits against UNRWA in June for allegedly providing a “safe haven” for Hamas and “aiding and abetting” the terrorist group. Roughly 10 percent of UNRWA employees are tied to terrorist groups such as Hamas or the Islamic Jihad, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal. Members of a 3,000 Telegram group were found to have celebrated the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, according to UN Watch. Evidence suggests that at least 30 UNRWA employees actively participated in Oct. 7, slaughtering civilians, taking hostages, and ransacking Israeli communities.

The House voted in March to defund UNRWA as part of a $1.2 trillion spending package to prevent a government shutdown.