Your tax dollars:
The State Department announced just now, at the end of the day on a Friday, that the US government is dipping into emergency funds for refugees to send $20 million to Palestinians in Gaza. That brings our FY2009 total to $120,000,000 (FY 09 began on Oct. 1, 2008).
President Barack Obama has authorized the use of $20.3 million from the U.S. Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance (ERMA) Fund to address critical post-conflict humanitarian needs in Gaza. U.S. Government support for humanitarian assistance to Palestinian refugees and conflict victims now totals nearly $120 million in FY 2009, including nearly $60 million in Gaza.
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Today’s contribution to UNRWA augments the $85 million the United States contributed in December 2008 toward UNRWA’s 2009 appeals.
We have written critically of UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency) on several previous occasions (here and here are just two posts to get you started). Many believe the “humanitarian funds” end up in the hands of Hamas and that UNRWA is in the business of perpetuating the Palestinian “refugee crisis” instead of bringing it to an end.