Swiss parliamentarians want to stop UNRWA funding

On Monday, one of the two chambers of parliament in Bern voted to immediately stop payments to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. The motion proposed by David Zuberbühler from the right-wing Swiss People’s Party was accepted by 99 votes to 88, with seven abstentions. The dossier yet needs to be discussed in the Senate. The motion to cut the funding was based on allegations of UNRWA employees having links to Hamas and that anti-Israel prejudice was stoked in schools run by the organisation. + Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox The Social Democrats, Greens and Liberal Greens voted against the motion. The right-wing Radical-Liberals and the Centre Party were divided. In May, the Swiss government approved a contribution of CHF10 ($11.78 million) to UNRWA for emergency aid. On Monday, it again argued that an immediate stop to payments would have serious consequences for the population in Gaza, where UNRWA underpins much of the infrastructure and logistics ...