WASHINGTON, Feb 4 (NNN-XINHUA) — US President Donald Trump is expected to sign executive orders on Tuesday to withdraw from the United Nations Human Rights Council and stop funding for the UN Palestinian relief agency (UNRWA), local media reported, citing a White House official.
Also on Tuesday, Trump is scheduled to meet visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has long criticized the UNRWA.
During Trump’s first term in June 2018, the United States withdrew from the United Nations Human Rights Council, saying that it has rendered membership to unworthy nations and harbored “disproportionate focus and unending hostility towards Israel.”
However, in February 2021, then US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that the Biden administration would reengage with the council as an observer.
Since 1950, UNRWA has been assisting Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. — NNN-XINHUA
