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Un Relief Agency Not A Tool Of Hamas, Van Hollen Says
Sen. Chris Van Hollen said Sunday that allegations the United Nations Relief and Works Agency collaborated with Hamas was "a flat-out lie."
Speaking on CBS' "Face the Nation," the Maryland Democrat said the demonization of the UNRWA in connection with the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel was an attempt by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to get rid of the agency.
"There's no doubt that the claim that Prime Minister Netanyahu and others are making, that somehow UNRWA is a proxy for Hamas, are just flat-out lies," he told host Margaret Brennan. "That's a flat-out lie. If you look at the person who's in charge of operations on the ground in Gaza for UNRWA, it's about a 20-year U.S. Army veteran. You can be sure he is not in cahoots with Hamas. Netanyahu has wanted to get rid of UNRWA since at least 2017."
Some Republicans on Capitol Hill including Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) have called for defunding the agency. But Van Hollen said the work of the UNRWA remains essential at a time when many Gazans are in dire straits due to the ongoing war.
He also said if there were specific members of the UNRWA who collaborated with Hamas in the cross-border account that killed approximately 1,200 Israelis, they should be held accountable.
"There have been allegations made by the Netanyahu government that up to 14 of those 13,000 people were involved in the horrific October 7 attacks," Van Hollen said. "We should investigate it, we should hold all those people accountable. But for goodness' sakes, let's not hold 2 million innocent Palestinian civilians who are dying of starvation, let's not hold them, essentially, accountable for the bad acts of 14 people."
Van Hollen met last week with families of some of those still being held hostage in Gaza by Hamas.
"They were very clear, we need to focus on getting the hostages back and a ceasefire. And this is why I'm for a ceasefire and the return of the hostages," he said.
