This is the third of three posts on potential Congressional action to tighten the screws on Iran and Iran’s network of friends, supporters, and proxies.

There are massive amounts being contemplated in the supplemental for Israel and/or Ukraine. Before shipping any cash for any “humanitarian aid” to either the West Bank or Gaza either directly or via the United Nations, here are the certifications Congress should demand.

Certifications for aid to West Bank/Gaza: Right now, the administration is utilizing emergency assistance for the West Bank/Gaza and is not required to provide notifications to Congress. However, in the supplemental, the original request for $9.15 billion for humanitarian assistance for (among others) the West Bank and Gaza needs to have certifications attached. Among them:

• An end use guarantee that no US monies will go to any organization that has members of either Palestinian Islamic Jihad or Hamas, their family members or associates on any board or supervisory council, or in employment in any capacity;
• No US monies for salaries, budgetary transfers or any cash transfers to any entity headquartered in Gaza whether local or international;
• Certification that no party engaged in the purchase of oil, food, water or other basic provisions has ever done business with the Hamas leadership of Gaza in any form; that no cost plus is being provided to any entity in Gaza;
• Certification no martyrs payments have been made to terrorist families in the West Bank or Gaza (this is already in law, the Taylor Force Act, and often ignored).

Cut off UNWRA, the United Nations Relief Works Agency which has fronted for and supported Hamas, until the Biden administration can certify it has not provided assistance to Hamas, supported antisemitism, or contributed to a culture of incitement within Gaza.

• The Trump administration cut off US funding for the United Nations Relief Works Agency. The Biden administration resumed without any conditionality.
• UNRWA supplies, including first aid, have been found on terrorists who infiltrated Israel. UNRWA supplies including oil were stolen from UNRWA sites in Gaza, which UNWRA admitted, and then recanted for fear of offending Hamas.
• UNRWA has become a haven for Sunni extremists in Lebanon, with an UNRWA school providing shelter to assassins bent on killing senior Fatah (the party that controls the Palestinian Authority) officials. The US has provided almost $6 billion to UNRWA since 1950.
• A UN Watch report detailed: “Earlier this year, the Geneva-based nongovernmental organization U.N. Watch reported numerous examples of what it called ‘UNRWA’s gross and systematic violations of neutrality and other U.N. rules in their hiring of teachers and in their use of curricula inside UNRWA schools that constitute incitement to hatred, antisemitism and terrorism.’”
• Per this detailed article by Heritage’s Brett Schaefer: “Thus far in 2023, the U.S. has contributed over $296 million to the U.N. agency and announced an additional $73 million less than a month ago. Since 2021, the Biden administration has provided over $1 billion to UNRWA.”

Congress may ultimately be persuaded these aid packages are necessary. But they cannot be a blank cheque.