WASHINGTON, Jan 6 ― The United States has frozen US$125 million (RM499.6 million) in funding for a UN agency that provides aid to Palestinian refugees, Axios news site reported yesterday, days after President Donald Trump threatened to withhold future aid payments to Palestinians.
But a State Department official said no decision had been made on the funding.
The funding, a third of the annual US donation to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, was supposed to be delivered by January 1 but was frozen until the US government finishes its review of aid to the Palestinian Authority, Axios reported, citing three unidentified Western diplomats.
The State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: “That (Axios) story is very misleading. Just because they were expecting the money on the first, and they did not get it at that time, does not mean it was suspended or canceled. Deliberations are ongoing, and we have until mid-January to make a final decision.”
Asked if any preliminary decision had been made, the official replied: “No. And reports to that effect are false.”
Trump said on Tuesday he would withhold money from the Palestinians, accusing them of being “no longer willing to talk peace” with Israel.
“We pay HUNDRED OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect. They don’t even want to negotiate a long overdue peace treaty with Israel ... with the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace, why should we make any of these massive future payments to them?” Trump said on Twitter.
Trump said on Tuesday he would withhold money from the Palestinians, accusing them of being “no longer willing to talk peace” with Israel.
“We pay HUNDRED OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect. They don’t even want to negotiate a long overdue peace treaty with Israel ... with the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace, why should we make any of these massive future payments to them?” Trump said on Twitter.
Donald Trump as President of the USA (POTUS) has every American right to aid or not aid refugees. It's USA's money so if Trump wants to withhold US$125 million from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for 2018, while giving Israel almost US$4 Billion per year**, that's entirely up to the USA or rather, its President.
** *Source: The Congressional Research Service's report "U.S. Foreign Aid to Israel," written by Jeremy M. Sharp, Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs, dated December 22, 2016.
According to the report, the United States gave Israel $3.1 billion for Fiscal Year 2017 in direct bilateral military aid (also referred to as Foreign Military Financing or FMF). Congress also authorized $600.7 million for "joint" U.S.-Israel missile defense programs (designed to protect Israeli territory from potential outside threats), bringing total military aid to Israel to $3.7 billion per year.
Put another way, American taxpayers give Israel $10.1 million per day.
Two points of interests:
(1) It needs to be noted, to make a clear distinction, between the State of Palestinian (still legally non-existent due to Israeli and US blocking) and Palestinian refugees which the UNRWA helps.
(2) If Trump reckons that his aid or withholding of it should convince the State of Palestine to obey his dictates for them to kowtow to Israel and to accept that Jerusalem belongs solely to Israel, then I reckon he has been dreaming.
For almost all countries, foreign aid involves Value for money assessments.
ReplyDeleteGiving out multi million dollar aid packages to organisations or countries which regularly condemn them or constantly work to oppose or undermine their policy is an exercise in self-injury.
USA has often been stupid and naive in the past in giving out aid, to countries which sneer at or oppose the Americans actively or in secret.
This is not to demand that recipients act as lackeys, but there should be conditions that they don't actively work to attack American interests.
You don't see recipients of China aid loudly condemning China..go figure....
Nor recipients of German aid actively opposing German interests..
Israel has been one of America's true friends, rain or shine.
Admiral Inman's statement that Israel is the gravest threat to American security is Bullshits. Did Israel plot to hijack airliners to crash into American cities ? Did Israeli agents plant bombs in Boston or American targets in the Middle East ?
that aid was to the United Nations Relief & Work Agency, not to the State of Palestine - get your facts correct.
Deleteas for Israel f**king up USA kau kau, read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Liberty_incident, in which (extracts):
A communication to the Israeli Ambassador on 10 June, by Secretary Rusk stated, among other things: "At the time of the attack, the USS Liberty was flying the American flag and its identification was clearly indicated in large white letters and numerals on its hull. ... Experience demonstrates that both the flag and the identification number of the vessel were readily visible from the air.... Accordingly, there is every reason to believe that the USS Liberty was identified, or at least her nationality determined, by Israeli aircraft approximately one hour before the attack. ... The subsequent attack by the torpedo boats, substantially after the vessel was or should have been identified by Israeli military forces, manifests the same reckless disregard for human life."
don't be a dumbo pro-Israeli zombie because of your bias - wake up, that is, if you can
The USS Liberty incident was a long, long time ago. Except for a small number of long lived old men in their 80's, it is of little relevance to today's international relations.
DeleteIf that is the best you can dig up...forget it.
as usual, you'd twist and turn just to protect Zionism
DeleteBapak penswastaan, bapak transformer & bapak2 & ibu2 Kat mesia boleh fill up the gap, apa hal hanya rm500mil, sap sap soi.
ReplyDeleteBagi kaum Melayu, ANYTHING to do with Isreal is a big no no - right or wrong logic tak pakai!
DeleteHence, no sap sap soi even for 5sen lah!
Call it another indoctrination of the zombie preaching.