Attorney General Alan Wilson co-leads 26-state coalition urging Congress to defund U.N. agency that employed terrorists

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) — South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson co-led 25 other states in an Iowa and South Carolina-led letter to U.S. Congressional leadership today, calling for them to defund the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (“UNRWA”) for ties to terrorism.  

On January 26, UNRWA announced it fired more than a dozen employees for participating in the Hamas terrorist massacre against Israel on October 7. But UNRWA’s ties to terrorism are nothing new. UNRWA employed one school principal who moonlit as an Islamic Jihad bomber and another who was a Hamas commandant. One UNRWA school teacher is accused of detaining an October 7 hostage for nearly two months. And in a shocking report, it was revealed that every UNRWA school the Israeli Defense Forces searched contained hidden weapons. 

In 2018, President Trump recognized UNRWA’s alarming ties with terrorism and stopped all federal funding to UNRWA. Despite glaring legal and security concerns, President Biden reinstated funding for UNRWA on his first day in office, paying them almost $1 billion during his current term. 

“This is just common sense; the United States should not be funding terrorism, but that’s exactly what’s been happening,” Attorney General Wilson said. “And what’s even more unbelievable is that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency doesn’t consider Hamas a terrorist group.” 

The States urge Congress to cut all funding to UNRWA. After the barbaric October 7 terror attacks, there is no excuse to pay UNRWA a single cent, much less billions of dollars. 

The Iowa- and South Carolina-led letter was joined by Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming. 

Read the full letter here.