The people of Gaza aren’t starving. They are being starved. Over 2 million Palestinian civilians are facing a man-made humanitarian catastrophe, with famine and disease spreading due to a lack of aid access. At the same time, the Biden administration and Congress are withholding all U.S. funding for the largest aid operation in Gaza: United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
On Thursday, a group of more than 60 legislators introduced critical new legislation to restore U.S. funding for UNRWA – the U.N. agency that’s leading aid operations in Gaza.
Despite the unprecedented humanitarian crisis facing Palestinians, Congress and the Biden administration halted all funding for UNRWA after Israel alleged that a dozen of its 13,000 employees in Gaza may have been involved in Hamas’s October 7 attacks.
Bridget Moix, general secretary for the group, added that cutting of funding was “simply unconscionable” because the U.S.—as the Israeli military’s largest international funder—bears responsibility for the “horrific violence and a massive humanitarian crisis” in Gaza. “UNRWA is the backbone of humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip,” said Moix. “U.S. funding should be restored immediately.”
Urge your member of Congress to cosponsor the UNRWA Funding Emergency Restoration Act (H.R. 9649) to stop famine in Gaza.
The UNRWA Emergency Restoration Act is a vital measure to tackle the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza and ensure that the U.S. is not complicit in worsening conditions of famine and the spread of infectious and deadly diseases.
FCNL applauded yesterday’s introduction of the UNRWA Funding Emergency Restoration Act of 2024 in the House of Representatives.
“We seek a world free of war and the threat of war” is a foundational principle of Quaker Public Policy. Our Quaker faith & practice compels us to speak. We are appalled by the destruction of human lives in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel.
The release this week of the U.S. Census Bureau’s annual report on poverty brought alarming news: Child poverty in America has nearly tripled since 2021.
In the wealthiest nation in the world, no person – especially no child - should have to live in poverty. Period.
The dramatic rise in both the number of adults and children living in poverty over the last two years is a direct result of Congress’s failure to renew the expanded Child Tax Credit and other vital programs that support working families.
Last month, FCNL General Secretary Bridget Moix traveled to South Africa for a global gathering of Quakers from more than 50 countries.
It was an opportunity to forge connections, affirm our collective humanity, and discuss how to work in solidarity to tackle our shared challenges.
As U.S. weapons continue to cause catastrophic harm in Gaza, FCNL and 24 partner organizations sent a letter to President Joe Biden this week reiterating our demand for an immediate halt to arms shipments to Israel.
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