For generations, our leaders in government have worked towards a future that’s a little safer, a little more peaceful, and a little more free than our current reality. Wherever they disagreed, or however times changed, they always had one thing in common: They believed the United States could set a positive example for the world.
That no longer seems to be the case. Since coming to power earlier this year, the Trump Administration has set out to freeze nearly all foreign aid, including all funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
This would be a tragic mistake. Even with the long-overdue reprieve of a ceasefire, the humanitarian response in Gaza cannot afford more roadblocks if it hopes to match the scale of the ongoing emergency.
UNRWA USA, where my team and I work to support this agency and its mission, was particularly horrified to see that Israel blocked all humanitarian aid from coming into Gaza on March 2, at a time when crisis levels of food insecurity still threaten more than 90 percent of Gaza’s population, and nearly all hospitals in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed.
Since the ceasefire began, UNRWA has been responsible for 60 percent of all food entering Gaza. Its doctors and nurses currently conduct around 17,000 medical consultations every day. It is the only organization capable of providing the essential wide-scale services, like primary health care and education, that Gaza needs to rebuild.
UNRWA does this life-saving work despite the Israeli Knesset’s outrageous and unlawful ban on communication between the agency’s staff and Israeli authorities. The ban serves only to endanger UNRWA and the people of Palestine, by making coordination or deconfliction of humanitarian efforts impossible.
The United States has long been a consistent resource for UNRWA’s humanitarian work. It has been UNRWA’s leading donor, contributing more than $7 billion since 1950. In 2023 alone, U.S. government funding constituted nearly 30 percent of UNRWA’s donor contributions.
Our government must immediately restore funds to UNRWA through a congressional appropriation, and allow UNRWA to more comprehensively provide essential primary health care. It can resume education for hundreds of thousands of children. It can do all this without having to make difficult choices like whether to use fuel to distribute food or fill up a hospital generator.
The U.S. public has already shown clear support. They sent more than 60,000 messages to Congress in support of UNRWA in 2024, and provided more than $56 million in individual donations for humanitarian aid to Gaza through UNRWA USA—all while our own government tragically stepped down from its humanitarian duty.
Now that two humanitarian funding bills have been reintroduced in Congress, our representatives have an opportunity. They can follow their predecessors’ example by offering hope to refugees during the darkest chapter in Palestinian history.
The measures are supported by many brave members of Congress, including Senator Peter Welch (Democrat of Vermont), and Representatives Andre Carson (Democrat of Indiana), Pramila Jayapal (Democrat of Washington), and Jan Schakowsky (Democrat of Illinois). Co-sponsorship of a previous Senate bill to resume funding for UNRWA included Senators Chris Van Hollen (Democrat of Maryland), Bernie Sanders, (Independent of Vermont), Amy Klobuchar (Democrat of Minnesota), Mazie Hirono (Democrat of Hawaii), and Jeff Merkley (Democrat of Oregon).
These lawmakers are not alone. In late February, UNRWA USA was joined by more than forty advocates representing sixteen states in support of the forthcoming UNRWA Funding Restoration Act. Advocates flew as far as Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, and California to express support for the agency.
Restoring UNRWA funding is a vital part of how we carry on the work of leaders who came before us, and make tomorrow a little safer, a little more peaceful, and a little more free. For all.
This column was produced for Progressive Perspectives, a project of The Progressive magazine, and distributed by Tribune News Service.