NEW YORK (JTA) — President Donald Trump reportedly is working on an executive order to slash all funding to United Nation agencies that give full membership to the Palestinian Authority or the Palestine Liberation Organization.
The executive order also would cut funding to U.N. agencies or other international bodies that support programs funding abortion, back activity bypassing sanctions against Iran or North Korea, “is controlled or substantially influenced by any state that sponsors terrorism,” or is blamed for systemic human rights violations, The New York Times reported Wednesday.
It’s not clear what the utility of the PLO language in the order would be; current law already bans funding of U.N. groups that recognize Palestine as a state.
The draft order, which was obtained by the Times, also calls for decreasing remaining U.S. funding to international groups by at least 40 percent.
A second draft order urges a review of current or pending treaties with more than one foreign country in order to obtain recommendations from which agreements the U.S. should withdraw.
During his campaign, Trump called for the U.S. to pull out of international organizations.
Following the passage in December by the U.N. Security Council of a resolution slamming Israeli settlements, Trump wrote on Twitter that the international body had become “just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time.” The resolution passed with the approval of all Security Council member states, except for the U.S., which abstained from voting. Trump had called for a veto.
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