World
Israeli lawmakers seek to ban UNRWA over support for Hamas, declare it terrorist entity
JERUSALEM – Pressure has been mounting in recent weeks on UNRWA, the United Nations agency tasked with aiding Palestinian refugees, over its failure to condemn armed terror groups in the Gaza Strip that have openly used its internationally funded facilities, including health clinics, schools and even its main headquarters, to conduct a brutal war against Israel.
This week, Israeli lawmakers approved the first reading of a bill that would cut ties with the controversial U.N. agency and declare it a terrorist entity. Speaking in the Knesset last week, Yulia Malinovsky, the bill’s sponsor, called UNRWA “a fifth column within the State of Israel” and said it was high time that the agency was outlawed in the country.
Meanwhile, earlier this month, Congress’ House Foreign Affairs Committee also passed initial legislation that would build on an already existing funding freeze of the multimillion-dollar organization and direct the State Department to recover previously donated monies.
“The U.S. has sufficient evidence at this point to impose terrorism sanctions on UNRWA,” Richard Goldberg, a senior adviser at the Washington, D.C., think tank, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital.
ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTER: ‘DOZENS’ OF UNRWA STAFF TOOK PART IN HAMAS’ OCT 7 MASSACRE
Photos released by the Israel Defense Forces show three individuals they claim are Hamas combatants inside the UNRWA compound in Rafah. (IDF)
Goldberg, a former Trump National Security Council staff member, said the controversial organization “must be disqualified from any future role in Gaza,” pointing out that “UNRWA’s existence – to incite violence and hate toward Jews and Israel – is inherently antithetical to the goal of de-radicalizing Palestinian society and moving Palestinians to self-sufficiency.”
“If you keep UNRWA around for what comes next in Gaza, you are condemning both Palestinians and Israelis to a future of violence and instability,” he said.
The pushback against UNRWA, which according to its website carries out critical life-saving work for some 5.9 million Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, comes after Israel provided evidence that UNRWA employees actively participated in the Hamas-led Oct. 7 terror attacks in southern Israel. More than 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were murdered in the surprise attack, and a further 240, including a 9-month-old infant, were taken hostage back to Gaza.
UNRWA HQ in Gaza. Hamas terrorists attack kibbutz in Israel and woman kidapped by terrorists on Oct 7. (Getty, Israel Defense Forces via AP | Ahmed Zakot/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images | Hamas-Telegram)
In February, Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told Fox News Digital that “dozens” of UNRWA employees took part in the shocking attack and, following the release of more than 100 hostages, mainly women and children, during a cease-fire deal last November, it has been revealed that some were held captive by teachers and medical staff employed by the agency.
Israel has long accused UNRWA, short for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, of perpetuating the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It points out that Palestinian refugees are the only group afforded their own separate aid agency, while refugees from almost every other global conflict – past and present – are cared for under the broader umbrella of the U.N.’s High Commissioner for Refugees. It further notes that UNRWA, established in 1949 to provide services for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced when Israel was created, continues to recognize the descendants of those refugees regardless of where they were born or their current status – rather than attempting to settle them as other refugee agencies do.
DOSSIER REVEALS INFORMATION USED TO EXPLAIN UN AGENCY’S DEEP TIES TO HAMAS IN GAZA
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini (Getty Images)
According to UNRWA’s website, its pledged budget for 2023 was $1.46 billion, with the U.S. Germany, EU and France as its biggest donors, but after Israel presented evidence that employees participated in the Oct. 7 attacks, the U.S., along with 17 other countries decided to pause funding.
In March, as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024, Congress moved to extend the funding freeze through March 2025, even as most of the other countries decided to resume their support. Last week, under the newly installed Labor government, the U.K. said it would soon “release £21 million [$21.2 m] to support [UNRWA’s] lifesaving work in Gaza.”
IDF soldiers are seen operating in Rafah, a city in the Gaza Strip. (IDF Spokesman’s Office)
The resumption of funds comes even as the U.N.’s Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) continues to investigate Israel’s claims against UNRWA employees, according to an April announcement; and even as the Israeli military reports almost daily of its battles with armed terror groups in and around UNRWA-owned complexes, including buildings where Gaza civilians are sheltering.
Additionally, while UNRWA’s Commissioner General Philipe Lazzarini has been quick to condemn the fighting in his organization’s facilities – as well as the deaths of civilians, which the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry says stands at some 38,000 – he has failed to call out Hamas, and other terror factions, for purposely drawing the fighting to its centers.
Displaced Palestinians arrive in central Gaza after fleeing from the southern city of Rafah on May 9. (AP/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Juliette Touma, director of communications for UNRWA, told Fox News Digital that the organization had “condemned all parties to the conflict over the misuse of UNRWA facilities, including Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups.”
“We have made such comments repeatedly in our public statements, speeches, remarks and media interviews, including at the level of the Commissioner General,” she said.
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“We have also reminded all parties to the conflict that U.N. facilities must never be used for military or fighting purposes,” said Touma, adding that UNRWA had “called for investigations and independent inquiries of all violations of international humanitarian law.”
However, the condemnations appear not to have been forceful enough.
The legislation that passed its first reading in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, on Monday, drew the support of lawmakers from across the political spectrum. If passed into law, UNRWA would be prevented from operating inside Israeli territory and its personnel stripped of diplomatic privileges afforded to other U.N. staff.
U.N. vehicle enters the UNRWA offices in Jerusalem. April 2, 2024. (Yoav Dudkevitch/TPS)
UNRWA is also facing heat in Congress, with some members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee steadfast on maintaining the prohibition against funding – and now even seeking to rescind U.S. monies previously transferred to the agency.
On July 12, the committee voted on a bipartisan bill introduced by Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., and Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., directing the secretary of state to recover any federal funds already distributed to UNRWA. Passing in the committee, 24-22, Mast posted a lengthy video on X accusing those who voted against it of “willfully ignoring anything that doesn’t fit into their narrative that Palestinians are victims in this war – that is what they want to put forward – instead of [recognizing that] they started this war, they started a genocide, and now this war is what’s taking place.”
He criticized Democrats who claim that “UNRWA was doing God’s work,” noting that individuals educated in schools run by the agency were “indoctrinated… with hate for the Jews.”
“For way too long, UNRWA has masqueraded as a relief organization, while in reality serving as an incubator for Palestinian terrorists,” he said, adding, “Intelligence reports indicate that as many as ten percent of UNRWA workers have direct links to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihadists. It’s ludicrous that our hard-earned American tax dollars were going to fund this crap. The State Department needs to do everything it can to recoup this money.”
Anne Bayefsky, director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust and president of Human Rights Voices, told Fox News Digital that denying American funds for UNRWA made sense for Americans “because UNRWA is a body that fuels the hatred of Jews and the violence that results from that gross intolerance.”
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“This isn’t conjecture. It’s undeniable fact,” she said, pointing out that “UNRWA employees participated in the Oct. 7 atrocities, sizable numbers of UNRWA employees are members of Hamas and other Palestinian terror organizations and UNRWA facilities have been used as Hamas command and control centers and as weapons storage depots.”
“It makes sense for Americans to deny funds to UNRWA because it’s the right thing to do,” she said. “Terrorism, rape, and antisemitism – not on our dime!”
Hungary’s parliament has approved a constitutional amendment to remove President Tamás Sulyok from office, with Prime Minister Péter Magyar accusing him of being Orbán’s puppet. But he refuses to resign and argues the move in unconstitutional. What happens next? Euronews explains:
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jordan Walker wore his Cardinals hat backward, chewed a big wad of bubble gum and wore the top of his jersey splayed open as he dug in for his final Home Run Derby swing.
The picture of Cardinals cool, Walker chased down Kyle Schwarber, shut up a rambunctious Philly crowd and introduced himself to a much wider baseball world.
Walker used six swings to swat six homers, besting Schwarber in a dramatic final round that silenced all those boo birds and made him the first St. Louis Cardinal to win the Home Run Derby on Monday night.
Schwarber hit 11 homers during his 15-swing turn in the final round. Philly fans, who jeered everyone but Schwarber and Bryce Harper throughout the night, quietly headed toward the exits when Walker’s winning shot soared over the left field wall.
“I was once told you don’t boo nobodies,” Walker said. “So it feels pretty good.”
The 24-year-old Walker sported the Derby champions’ chain, slipped on a leather jacket and still wore his batting gloves as he broke down what it took to take down Schwarber on his home turf.
“My thought was Philly is brutal,” Walker said. “I mean, honestly. But I think it’s pretty special because they love their players and that’s what you want from your home, like, where you play. I mean, I’d never hear people cheer so loud for, like, Schwarber and Harper. And those guys did their thing, for sure.
“But, you know, I can’t hate them, because that’s their guy, so I just got to play the game.”
Walker played a pretty great game in the first half for the Cardinals.
Walker is a first-time All-Star and having a breakout season in St. Louis. He already has a career-high 22 homers this season after struggling with a combined 11 over the previous two years.
Those final six in Philly all flying high with Iron Man on his bat are now stamped on the Derby highlight reel.
His cap backward just like Hall of Famer and Derby great Ken Griffey Jr., Walker celebrated with his family immediately on the field. His father rejoiced in recalling how Walker started hitting long home runs when he was 6 years old.
“When things got tough, they were always there in my corner to talk to them about it,” Walker said of his family. “They kept the energy levels high. They kept the feelings high.”
He fulfilled this childhood dream in striking fashion. Walker hit his seventh homer with two swings remaining and his eighth on the next swing to earn bonus swings. Needing to hit four straight homers to win, the right-handed Jordan knocked one off the top of the center field fence 401 feet away. He reached 10 homers and Philly fans booed with all their might, only for Jordan to finish the sensational surge and celebrate as fireworks shot off around him.
“You can’t say enough about how he was able to kind of slow the moment down, too, and lock it in,” said Schwarber, a Derby runner-up for the second time. “All of our fans were we’re raring and trying to will me to it.”
A revamped Derby format delivered great drama
MLB ditched its timed clock this season and returned to a swing format, with each hitter continuing to swing if he went deep on his final one.
The extra time between swings gave hitters time to track their home runs — and Philly a smidge more time to unleash those throaty boos at Contreras and Walker.
Each player had 20 swings in the first round and the top four advanced. Hitters were seeded for the second round, where No. 1 faces 4 and 2 meets 3.
Each player got 15 swings in the second round, with batters homering on their final swings continuing until not homering.
Boston’s Willson Contreras, Tampa Bay’s Junior Caminero, New York’s Ben Rice and Kansas City’s Jac Caglianone, and Chicago White Sox first baseman Munetaka Murakami also participated.
Philly came ready to celebrate its slugging stars
Phillies fans were wildly optimistic that Schwarber and Harper could somehow reach the final and crown the franchise’s third Derby champion.
Harper hit only eight in the first round and was the final slugger to try and advance. Schwarber could only watch as Harper failed to join him. Schwarber, then with the Chicago Cubs, made the finals in 2018 at Nationals Park before losing to Harper when he played with the Nationals.
Schwarber and Harper — the first pair of teammates to participate in the Derby since 2018 — received roaring ovations when famed ring announcer Michael Buffer introduced them ahead of the competition.
As for the other six sluggers in the field, all wearing their home jerseys with red, white and blue uniform numbers?
Yeah, they were about booed out of the ballpark, with the loudest jeers saved for Rice. He gamely laughed as he walked out of his Liberty Bell entrance.
Harper — who said earlier Monday this would be his last Derby — waved his arms and exhorted the crowd to get louder as he walked to the home plate platform placed at second base. Harper about broke the ring ropes as he shook them like a pro wrestler, and the Philly crowd went bonkers for the star known as The Showman.
The ball-shagging kids in the outfield were even booed.
The Derby’s public address announcer implored the fans to cheer during some quiet stretches when homers — non-Phillies edition — were hit.
The fans did get a rise when Caglianone smoked one into Ryan Howard territory into the third deck in right field. Contreras socked ’em into the rarified air of the left field upper deck. One homer cleared the last row of stands in that section and bounced off the concourse in front of a bar. His 490-footer was the longest of the first round.
This was the first Home Run Derby and All-Star Game held at Citizens Bank Park since it opened in 2004 and the first derby in Philadelphia since Barry Bonds outslugged Mark McGwire in 1996 to win an afternoon event in front of thousands of empty seats at Veterans Stadium.
This derby was sold out and aired on Netflix for the first time, with the streamer getting into the game this season with a three-event package. Netflix already aired the opening night game, and the third attraction is the Field of Dreams game between the Minnesota Twins and Philadelphia Phillies on Aug. 13.
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The U.S.-designated terrorist Houthi movement that controls northern Yemen condemned Saudi Arabia for allegedly targeting the Sanna airport with airstrikes, sparking a possible new front with Iran’s terror-proxy.
While the Houthis agreed to a 2022 truce with the Saudi-led coalition that opposes its rule, the Houthis have frequently disrupted commercial shipping in the Red Sea since they joined Hamas following its invasion of Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The latest flare up of military strikes could lead to a resumption of war between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Houthis.
Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree called the attacks “blatant aggression” and said they had ended a period of de-escalation. He said Saudi Arabia would bear the consequences and that the attack would not go unanswered. The Houthis threatened to strike King Khalid Airport in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. Iran’s Press TV reported on its X account that, “Iran condemns Saudi attack on Sana’a airport as breach of law, Yemen sovereignty.”
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Smoke rises following an airstrike at Sanaa International Airport, in Sanaa, Yemen, July 13, 2026, in this screengrab taken from a video. (Al Masirah Handout via Reuters)
The official slogan of the Houthi movement (Ansar Allah) is: “God is great, Death to America, Death to Israel, Curse upon the Jews, Victory to Islam.”
Earlier on Monday, the government’s defense ministry said the runway at Sanaa International Airport had been targeted to prevent an Iranian plane from landing. An armed forces spokesman later said the aircraft had landed at Houthi-controlled Hodeidah airport.
Salman Al-Ansari, a prominent Saudi geopolitical analyst, told Fox News Digital, “The Iranian-backed Houthi militia is now in a desperate position, attempting to demonstrate its usefulness to its Iranian masters amid the ongoing U.S.-Iran war.”
Yemen’s Iran-backed armed Houthi group has warned they will move to shutter the Bab Al-Mandeb Strait through missile-drone attacks if Gulf nations join the US-Israel war on Iran. (Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images)
He said, “This is an action taken by Yemen’s legitimate government in response to the violation of its airspace and sovereignty. It was not carried out by Saudi Arabia or the coalition. Yemeni forces struck the runway at Sana’a International Airport after the terrorist Houthi militia defied international law by allowing unauthorized Iranian flights into Yemen, despite measures intended to prevent the smuggling of weapons and explosives.”
According to Al-Ansari, “The Houthis know that these flights can land normally if they follow the agreed-upon route through a Jordanian airport, for inspection purposes. The Houthis are currently at one of their weakest points, particularly after Yemen’s legitimate government consolidated effective authority over 80% of the country’s territory. This is a marked departure from the past, when the legitimate government was fragmented between two rival camps.”
ISRAELI AMBASSADOR WARNS IRAN’S GRIP ON LEBANON IS A ‘WARNING SIGN’ FOR MIDDLE EAST PEACE
A Houthi rebel fighter fires in the air during a gathering aimed at mobilizing more fighters for their movement, in Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2019. The conflict in Yemen began with the 2014 takeover of Sanaa by the Houthis, who drove out the internationally-recognized government. Months later, in March 2015, a Saudi-led coalition launched its air campaign to prevent the rebels from overrunning the country’s south. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed)
Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Israel, Lebanon and other Sunni Gulf countries have expressed concerns about the Iranian regime’s plan to establish a so-called “Shiite crescent” that stretches from Iran to Lebanon and includes such terrorist proxies as the Houthis and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Al-Ansari noted that “By confronting the Houthis, Yemen’s legitimate government is not only defending its own sovereignty; it is helping safeguard the region and the wider world from Iran’s network of terrorist proxies.”
Nadwa Al-Dawsari, an expert on Yemen and an associate fellow at the Middle East Institute, told Fox News Digital that, “The Houthis’ warning that the strike on Sana’a airport ‘will not go unanswered’ should be taken seriously. But the significance of the incident extends well beyond the prospect of retaliation.”
She said, “The dispute was never really about civilian aviation or simply returning a Houthi delegation from Tehran. The Yemeni government had agreed to facilitate the delegation’s return aboard a Yemenia aircraft. The issue was the Iranian aircraft itself.”
Houthi terrorists walk over British and U.S. flags at a rally in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and the recent Houthi strikes on shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden on Feb. 4, 2024, on the outskirts of Sana’a, Yemen. (Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images)
She added that “By proceeding with the Mahan Air flight despite Yemeni objections and ensuring that it reached Houthi-controlled Yemen anyway, Iran and the Houthis were sending a political message: Tehran intends to normalize direct and public ties with Houthi-controlled Yemen and is willing to challenge the restrictions that have governed access to the country since 2015.”
The U.S. government sanctioned Mahan Air for its role in supplying weapons and technology to terrorist groups such as Hezbollah.
Al-Dawsari said, “What we are increasingly seeing is a pattern in which Iran and its proxies create facts on the ground, betting that regional and international actors have little appetite for escalation and will eventually adjust to them. We have seen the same approach in the Strait of Hormuz.”
Pro-Iran protesters brandish billboards depicting the Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei, flags of Yemen and Iran, weapons, and chant slogans as they take part in a rally held to condemn the US-Israel aerial attacks on Iran and killing the Iranian supreme leader and several military officials on March 1, 2026, in Sana’a, Yemen. (Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images)
She said, “The episode also highlights the Houthis’ growing importance within Iran’s regional network. While other members of the Axis of Resistance have been weakened in recent years, the Houthis have emerged as Tehran’s most capable and strategically important partners, particularly in the Red Sea and the Horn of Africa.”
According to Reuters, the Saudi government’s communication office did not immediately respond to the accusations.
Muhammad Al-Farah, a member of the Houthi Political Bureau, wrote on Telegram, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), that the alleged Saudi attack will lead to the Bab al-Mandab Strait joining the Strait of Hormuz with respect to disruption and possible closure. As a result, the price of a barrel of oil will rise to $200 and the attacks give the Houthis a reason to “strike back and liberate Yemen from occupation.”
President Donald Trump welcomes Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the White House, Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025, in Washington. (Mark Schiefelbein/AP)
A State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital that, “We are aware of these reports and monitoring closely. The United States and Saudi Arabia share a strategic partnership that has only grown stronger under President Trump. The United States stands firmly with Saudi Arabia against Iranian aggression, including Iranian-supported Houthi attacks, and remains committed to the Kingdom’s security and regional stability.”
The spokesperson added, “We continue to actively enforce the Trump Administration’s designation of the Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and condemn Iran’s flagrant violation of Yemen’s sovereignty in support of their Houthi proxies.
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“The Administration’s National Security Strategy states that our core interests in the region include ensuring freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and preventing the export of terrorism. It is critical to continue efforts to counter the Iran-backed Houthis and other terrorist groups in Yemen who threaten these U.S. interests.”
Reuters contributed to this report.
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