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US Lawmaker Blasts UN Agency for Teaching Children to ‘Hate Jews’
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.
The post US Lawmaker Blasts UN Agency for Teaching Children to ‘Hate Jews’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.