The European Union’s 2022-24 UNRWA aid budget will be 40% lower than during the previous three-year period, the E.U. announced last week.
The new budget will provide $82 million annually, compared to the previous average annual figure of $135 million, according to the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se), a Jerusalem-based nonprofit that monitors educational materials around the world for extremist content.
In April of last year, the E.U. Parliament condemned UNRWA for teaching and producing U.N.-branded hate material uncovered by IMPACT-se, and conditioned E.U. funds on changes to the curriculum.
The E.U. commissioner, who announced the reduced funding package, said last year, after the Parliament’s condemnation, that the European Union would fight anti-Semitism and should consider conditioning aid to UNRWA on full adherence to UNESCO standards of peace and tolerance in textbooks.