This press release arrived from Congressman Joe Walsh this morning before the Obama Administration announced that UNESCO would stop getting its $60 million annual subsidy from United States taxpayers.
Rep. Walsh Condemns UNESCO Vote for Palestinian Statehood
“It’s time to cut off all U.S. funding to both the United Nations and the Palestinian Authority.”
The Voice of American announces the subsidy cut to UNESCO.
WASHINGTON – Today, Congressman Joe Walsh condemned the U.N. agency, UNESCO, after it officially voted to recognize Palestinian statehood. The measure passed by a vote of 107 to 14 with 52 abstentions.
Walsh’s Palestinian Accountability Act (H.R. 2457 would withhold funding from the United Nations if the international body or any of its entities, including UNESCO, vote to unilaterally recognize Palestinian statehood.
Walsh stated: “The United Nations has once again proved that it cares little about fostering any lasting peace in the Middle East. Israel has returned time and again to the negotiation table and abided by its international agreements, while the Palestinian Authority has ignored its obligations under the Oslo Accords and the Roadmap to Peace, refused to recognize Israel’s right to exist, and has joined forces with the terrorist group Hamas. The fact that the United Nations is rewarding the Palestinian Authority for its deceitful behavior proves that the international body is only interested in vilifying and attacking our ally Israel.
“It’s time to cut off all U.S. funding to both the United Nations and the Palestinian Authority. The Palestinian Authority continues to use U.S. aid to further its campaign of hatred and terrorism against our ally, Israel. The United Nations has lost all accountability and has allowed thugs and tyrants to hijack its agenda and repeatedly attack and isolate Israel, the one country in the region actually committed to peace.
“I call on President Obama to join me in standing by our ally, Israel, and showing that there will be consequences to any actions by the United Nations and the Palestinian Authority to undermine the peace process.”
Congressman Walsh has introduced two other bills in defense of Israel during the 112th Congress. H.R. 1501 will withhold funding from the United Nations until it retracts the Goldstone Report, a 2009 report that accused Israel of war crimes. H.Res. 394 supports Israel’s right to annex Judea and Samaria in the event that the Palestinians continue to push for unilateral recognition of Palestinian statehood at the United Nations.