US Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) gives an interview in his office in the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington, DC, Jan. 18, 2024. Photo: Rod Lamkey / CNP/Sipa USA for NY Post via Reuters Connect
Following a meeting between the two US lawmakers, Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) reaffirmed his intention to vote in favor of Rep. Elise Stefanik’s (R-NY) nomination to serve as the next US ambassador to the United Nations, adding that he also hopes to defund UNRWA, the controversial United Nations agency responsible for Palestinian refugees and their descendants.
“Always was a hard YES for [Stefanik] but it was a pleasure to have a conversation,” Fetterman wrote on X/Twitter on Wednesday.
“I support defunding UNRWA for its documented Hamas infiltration and fully look forward to her holding the UN accountable for its endemic antisemitism and blatant anti-Israel views,” he continued.
Always was a hard YES for @EliseStefanik but it was a pleasure to have a conversation.
I support defunding UNRWA for its documented Hamas infiltration and fully look forward to her holding the @UN accountable for its endemic antisemitism and blatant anti-Israel views. https://t.co/DvyYIYCd0h
— John Fetterman (@JohnFetterman) December 11, 2024
US President-elect Donald Trump announced last month that he selected Stefanik to serve as his ambassador to the UN, praising her as a “strong, tough, and smart America First fighter.”
In the year following the Hamas terrorist group’s invasion of southern Israel last Oct. 7, Stefanik has positioned herself as a staunch supporter of the Jewish state. She has criticized the Biden administration’s approach to the Israel-Hamas war, stating that the Jewish state should be given military aid without any conditions attached. Stefanik has also received emphatic praise from Jewish leaders over her performance in a December 2023 congressional hearing, in which she grilled elite university presidents over their failure to tackle campus antisemitism.
Meanwhile, Fetterman has also emerged as a surprisingly stalwart ally of the Jewish state. He has regularly criticized other Democrats, including US President Joe Biden, over their perceived fragile and unreliable support for Israel. The lawmaker openly criticized Biden after the president threatened to withhold arms from Israel if the Jewish state greenlighted military operations in the city of Rafah in southern Gaza. Fetterman repudiated Biden’s ultimatum, saying that the US should “stand with our key ally throughout all of this.” He has also rebuffed pressure by progressives to adopt a more adversarial posture against Israel, saying that he does “not support any conditions” on American military aid to the Jewish state.
During a recent appearance on the ABC talks show “The View,” Fetterman said that he will continue to support Israel during the incoming Trump administration.
“I’m a really strong, unapologetic supporter of Israel and it’s really not going to change for me when Trump becomes [president]. My vote and voice is going to follow Israel,” Fetterman said.
Both Stefanik and Fetterman have been outspoken critics of UNRWA, which has come under fire in recent months for a wide range of connections to Hamas.
Last week, the New York Times reported that dozens of senior staff at UNRWA, including school principals, are active members of Hamas and other terrorist groups, revelations that sparked renewed calls to shutter and defund the agency.
The report was published weeks after Israel passed legislation banning the agency from operating within Israeli territory and prohibiting any Israeli authority from engaging with it.
Israel has long been critical of UNRWA, accusing it of anti-Israel bias and saying it perpetuates the conflict by maintaining Palestinians in a permanent refugee status. Palestinian refugees are unique in that they pass their status to descendants, regardless of their age and country of residency, a practice Israel claims fuels demands for a “right of return.” The return of over 5 million Palestinians to Israel would destroy the Jewish state by demographic means, critics argue.
Since the start of the Gaza war in October last year, Israel has also said that UNRWA has been deeply infiltrated by Hamas in Gaza, accusing some of its staff of taking part in the Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel. The Israeli government and research organizations have publicized findings showing numerous UNRWA-employed teachers were directly involved in the attack, while many others openly celebrated it.
In August, the UN admitted that nine UNRWA employees were fired over their alleged involvement in the Oct. 7 invasion, in which 1,200 people were killed and over 250 kidnapped as hostages.
In 2018, the Trump administration cut all funding to UNRWA, calling the agency “irredeemably flawed,” a decision reversed by the Biden administration soon after taking office. Apart from the US, UNRWA receives funding from Canada and several EU states, some of which temporarily paused the flow of money over the past year.
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