Sec. 2. Findings

329 words·~1 min read·/bill/113/s/2766/is/section-2

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Congress makes the following findings: On April 23, 2014, representatives of the Palestinian Liberation Organization and Hamas, a designated terrorist organization, signed an agreement to form a government of national consensus. On June 2, 2014, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced a unity government as a result of the April 23, 2014, agreement. United States law requires that any Palestinian government that includes Hamas as a member , or over which Hamas exercises undue influence , only receive United States assistance if certain certifications are made to Congress.

The President has taken the position that the current Palestinian government does not include members of Hamas or is influenced by Hamas and has thus not made the certifications required under current law. The leadership of the Palestinian Authority has failed to completely denounce and distance itself from Hamas’ campaign of terrorism against Israel. President Abbas has refused to dissolve the power-sharing agreement with Hamas even as more than 2,300 rockets have targeted Israel since July 2, 2014.

President Abbas and other Palestinian Authority officials have failed to condemn Hamas’ extensive use of the Palestinian people as human shields. The Israeli Defense Forces have gone to unprecedented lengths for a modern military to limit civilian casualties. On July 23, 2014, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a one-sided resolution criticizing Israel’s ongoing military operations in Gaza. The United Nations Human Rights Council has a long history of taking anti-Israel actions while ignoring the widespread and egregious human rights violations of many other countries, including some of its own members.

On July 16, 2014, officials of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) discovered 20 rockets in one of the organization’s schools in Gaza, before returning the weapons to local Palestinian officials rather than dismantling them. On multiple occasions during the conflict in Gaza, Hamas has used the facilities and the areas surrounding UNRWA locations to store weapons, harbor their fighters, and conduct attacks.