Swiss Lower House Votes For Third Time to Defund UNRWA Over Terror Ties

The Swiss National Council or lower parliamentary house voted a third time to end Swiss funding of UNRWA by a majority of 108-85, thus rejecting the proposal by the Council of States or upper house for only partial cuts, according to UN Watch Director Hillel Neuer.

Neuer said that while the bill will now move to conciliation between the houses, the upper house has the stronger hand due to its larger majority in favor of defunding.

According to reporting by SwissInfo, the amount in question is the equivalent to $23.2 million, far behind the hundreds of millions the US, EU, and Germany lavishes on the agency.

SwissInfo stated that Switzerland had previously and temporarily suspended funding following the decision of the Trump administration to do so due to misconduct allegations which led the previous UNRWA director to resign.

UNRWA has been the subject of very strong criticism from Israel and others for its allegedly pro-terrorism curriculum in its schools and hiring of Hamas members and ever since the IDF entered Gaza - also for allowing or turning a blind eye to many terror installations found in, under, or near UNRWA institutions.

Nevertheless, some even in Switzerland continue to insist on defending its humanitarian mission in Gaza, including in the Swiss government, whose Foreign Minister asked the Swiss Parliament not to proceed with the budget cut.