Senate Republicans push to defund entities that grant Palestinian Liberation Organization special privileges

WASHINGTON — A new bill by Senate Republicans would cut funding to the United Nations — and other international organizations — that offer the Palestinian Liberation Organization special privileges, according to text of the bill exclusively shared with The Post.

The No Official Palestine Entry Act of 2025 would tighten a US law that bars subsidizing organizations that grant the representative body of Palestinian people the same standing as member UN states.

It would extend it to any international organization that gives the PLO “any status, rights or privileges beyond observer status.”

The Post has exclusively learned that a new bill proposed by Senate Republicans would cut funding to the United Nations. PPO/AFP via Getty Images

“Once created to be a bastion of peace and security in the world, the United Nations is now a seat of antisemitism and in desperate need of reform,” Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman James Risch (R-Idaho) said.

“Israel is one of America’s greatest allies and we cannot tolerate or fund any anti-Israel bias or favoritism for the Palestinian Liberation Organization at the UN,” he added.

The bill, introduced Tuesday morning by the SFRC, comes a week after Risch introduced the Stand With Israel Act, which would slash funding to UN agencies that downgrade or restrict the participation of the Jewish State.

“These bills will ensure that America has Israel’s back when it matters most,” Risch said.

Other international organizations will also lose funding, including the Palestinian Liberation Organization. AFP via Getty Images

It also comes a day after Israel announced it would dramatically ramp up its military offensive against Hamas by seizing the whole of Gaza, which the terrorist group governed.

The bill is sponsored by Risch, Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Lindsey Graham and and Tim Scott (R-S.C.), Ted Cruz and John Cornyn (R-Texas), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Dave McCormick (R-Pa.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Pete Ricketts and Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.)

It also has support in the House, with Reps. Jim Baird (R-Ind.), Michael McCaul and Randy Weber (R-Texas), Claudia Tenney and Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), Maria Salazar (R-Fla), Barry Moore (R-Ala.), Rudy Yakym and Marlin Stutzman (R-Ind.) co-sponsoring.

The bill specifically notes that the principal of blocking the PA’s recognition beyond an observer status “shall not be construed to apply to Taiwan,” which has a similar experience of being in recognition limbo in international organizations.