The United States could face a challenging decision if the Palestinians manage to find a way to gain official recognition through a workaround. This could lead to the U.S. withdrawing all funding from the United Nations in protest, according to experts.
"If the current draft resolution is adopted, U.S. law requires the withholding of all funds from the U.N.," said Anne Bayefsky, director of the Touro University Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust, in an interview with Fox News Digital. "The question is: Where is Congress? It needs to publicly declare that American law will be upheld and take immediate steps to do so." In 1990, the U.S. passed Public Law 101-246, authorizing appropriations for fiscal 1990 and 1991 for the Department of State. Section 414 of the bill expressed concerns about the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) being granted the same standing as member states in the United Nations and specialized agencies. The section states, "No funds authorized to be appropriated from this act or any other Act shall be available for the United Nations or any specialized agency thereof which accords the Palestine Liberation Organization the same standing as member states." The broad language of "any other Act" has caused confusion about what actions the U.S. would need to take if the PLO, internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinian people, were to gain the privileges and powers of a full member. It is not surprising that Biden administration officials are not publicly stating that a General Assembly end run around the U.N. charter, purporting to grant the so-called state of Palestine the trappings of full-member state status, is not only contrary to the spirit and intent of the U.N.'s charter but also contrary to American law," Bayefsky said. "A majority of U.N. member states are not free democracies," she added. "The Islamic and Arab blocs of states, many of which continue to dispute Israel's right to exist, wield enormous power. Despite American isolation in U.N. circles on issues important to the United States, including aggression and antisemitism towards Israel, American citizens still fund the place and host the institution. The U.S. likely did not anticipate having to deal with this issue, especially as American representatives at the U.N. continue to veto measures recognizing the Palestinians as full members of the organization. However, a new draft resolution seeks what some have called a "workaround" that would ask the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to grant powers to vote and veto without official recognition as a full member. "They're still carelessly killing Americans and Israelis through terrorism and then rewarding those who do it if they're arrested, if they don't die in a suicide bombing, with payments and a guaranteed position in the PLA when they are released from prison," said Rep. Christopher Smith, R-N.J., in an interview with Fox News Digital. "That's one of the ugliest, most anti-democratic, and anti-human rights policies I've ever heard of. Pay-to-slay is exactly what happened with Hamas recently; obviously, it has been an ongoing problem since Oct. 7, and they are part of the Palestinian effort," Smith said, calling the approach an "impermissible act" and asking how an organization like Hamas that "calls for the evisceration of Israel" can be rewarded. "If you're going to play some game at the United Nations claiming this isn't full-blown membership, then this shows a deceptive approach to dealing with member states," Smith added. "How dare they even consider this? It may pass in the General Assembly – they need two-thirds, as we all know – but they also need the Security Council to do it as well, and thankfully, the United States will veto that." A U.S. State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the U.S. is "aware of the draft resolution and reiterate[s] our concerns with any effort to extend certain benefits to entities when there are unresolved questions as to whether the Palestinians currently meet the criteria under the U.N. charter." "The United States is committed to intensifying its engagement – with the Palestinians and the rest of the region – not only to address the current crisis in Gaza but to advance a political settlement that will create a path to Palestinian statehood and membership in the United Nations," the spokesperson added, noting "direct negotiations" as the path toward statehood. Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Gilad Erdan said the resolution would provide de facto status and rights of a state and that he fully expects the U.S. to "completely stop funding the U.N. and its institutions, in accordance with American law," should the resolution pass, he said in a recorded video statement. Then-President Obama cut funding to UNESCO (U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) in 2011 after the organization granted full membership to the Palestinians, crippling the agency as the U.S. accounted for 22% of its budget. UNESCO froze job hires and cut programs after losing U.S. funding. "We are coping in very difficult circumstances," UNESCO's Irina Bokova told reporters at the time. "We're fundraising this year, but it's not sustainable on a long-term basis. We're not closing UNESCO, but member states will have to rethink the way forward. UNESCO will be crippled." The U.S. fully left the organization in 2017 over concerns of anti-Israel bias, with Israel following suit in 2018. The U.S. rejoined UNESCO in July 2023 due to concerns that China had gained an outsized level of influence during America's absence. However, that absence showed the impact the U.S. could have by cutting its broader funding to the United Nations. Brett Schaefer, the senior research fellow in international regulatory affairs at the Heritage Foundation, noted that the U.S. currently accounts for around a quarter of all funding to the U.N. regular budget and the peacekeeping budget. "In one fell swoop, one rash decision, they could essentially prohibit the U.S. from providing a fifth of the U.N.’s funding," Schaefer told Fox News Digital. But he noted that the way the resolution's adoption plays out could provide the U.S. some wiggle room. "If the Palestinians don't join other organizations, technically, that funding could continue to the special interest groups," he said. "However, every single one of those specialized agencies basically grants membership opportunities to any other member of the United Nations." "They have been successful in getting into several U.N. special organizations, especially agencies including UNESCO," Schaefer added. "So, if they have the votes to get into the U.N. in this manner, what's to stop them from following a similar path with specialized agencies?" Schaefer outlined the ongoing issues that admitting the Palestinians into the United Nations would pose, such as Hamas remaining the official ruling party of the Gaza Strip, which would mean admitting a terrorist organization into the United Nations with the power and benefits of a member state. "There is no question that Palestinians do not meet that criteria," Schaefer insisted. Referring to Hamas, he noted that "their founding documents call for the destruction of Israel. They have sponsored terrorist acts for decades." "Even the Palestinian Authority, with which the United States has been negotiating, celebrated the terrorist attacks on Oct. 7, so this is not a situation where there is a peace-loving state," he added. More importantly, however, Schaefer