The U.S. has committed hundreds of millions of dollars to renewed initiatives to help Haiti during its crime crisis in the country, but concerns remain about whether the country will properly utilize the money, according to an expert. 

Haiti received around $13.5 billion in the years following a devastating 2010 earthquake, thanks to an international effort led by the U.S. and the United Nations, around 120% of the country’s GDP at the time.

‘They never rebuilt Port-au-Prince. You’re talking about a city that doesn’t have a sanitation system, doesn’t have basic plumbing and electricity, no basic infrastructure … people can’t get anywhere, they’re walking up and down the dirt,’ said Jack Brewer, a former NFL player and philanthropist who has pursued initiatives to help rebuild Haiti.

Brewer told Fox News Digital that he felt the funding provided after the 2010 earthquake ‘wasn’t properly spent.’ 

‘I got a chance to watch a lot of the things that happened on the ground,’ Brewer said. ‘After the earthquake in 2010, I worked with the NFL Players Association, and we partnered with the Clinton-Bush Haiti Fund … it was called the Clinton Haiti Fund … and we raised a lot of money through that, and it started to be allocated.’

‘Then other countries came in and started to allocate a lot of money,’ he added. ‘You would think that the long-term goal was to rebuild the city of Port-au-Prince and the surrounding areas that were impacted by the earthquake, but I was there, and a few years went on, and we’re still working.’

The U.S. has committed to contribute the bulk of funds for a multinational security mission from East Africa to Haiti, led by Kenya and comprised of police from various countries. The Biden administration will pledge another $33 million in general humanitarian aid to the country, bringing the total committed for the effort to $333 million – as America’s national debt tops $34.5 trillion.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday said the crisis ‘has been a long unfolding story’ and will require the international community to help stabilize the country as gangs continue to run rampant.

‘Having done all this work, we should be in a place where that mission goes forward,’ Blinken said. ‘It will, we believe, help reestablish security and take back control of the country from gangs.’

Jimmy Cherizier, known by the nickname ‘Barbecue,’ runs a gang coalition called the G9 Family and Allies, rising to a level of influence that allows him to block sitting Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry from returning to the country until he agrees to resign. 

Brewer said he feels that many Haitians ‘believe that America is one of the roots of the problem,’ going back to the Clintons and their rebuilding efforts following the earthquake.

‘They think Washington, D.C., is controlling these leaders that are coming into the country, and, as you can see, most of the leaders are corrupt,’ Brewer claimed. ‘They’re in, and it’s kind of the culture in Haiti: As a politician, once you get there, you get that power so you can enrich yourself.’

When asked about their role in the Haiti recovery, spokespersons for the former president and the secretary told Fox News Digital: ‘The Clintons worked tirelessly to address the needs of the Haitian people in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake. Even as their detractors have distorted and obfuscated the facts, they have never shied away from doing all they could to lift people up. It’s easy to point fingers from afar for political gain, but it impedes progress, and that’s tragic.’

An expert on Haiti told The Associated Press that after President René Préval left office in 2011, he found subsequent Haitian leaders were at best easy on the gangs and at worst tied to them. 

The gangs have gained influence throughout the previous decades, but their increasing influence and ties with the country’s political leadership allowed them to gain money through a mix of extortion, kidnappings, and drugs and weapons smuggling.

Brewer worries that even without the fear of diverting the funds, he does not have confidence that the new money will prove effective, citing the post-earthquake humanitarian aid and lack of long-lasting improvements.

In a 2016 review of some of the initiatives applied to Haiti following the natural disaster, ABC News found that a $400 million garment factory that promised to create plenty of jobs for the area had ultimately ‘underdelivered.’

‘They’re building infrastructure with no coding,’ he said. ‘They don’t have coding, so if they get hit with another earthquake, the same thing is going to happen.’

The country struggled to cope with a cholera outbreak that started after U.N. peacekeepers accidentally introduced the disease to the island. Around 10,000 people died as a result of the disease.

Part of the issue was that money given to Haiti had already been earmarked for a number of necessary services, such as paying the Red Cross for their on-the-ground assistance, as well as other rescue services.

‘The actual funds left on the ground, a lot of them got into the hands of the wrong people or the folks in power,’ Brewer added, calling the recovery effort ‘the worst handling of a natural disaster in the history of the planet.’ 

‘It’s been very disappointing to see the level of corruption, particularly around things that involve children and youth, and trying to get medical supplies in and out of the country … it has been very difficult,’ he said. 

Regarding the $333 million headed for Haiti in the coming months, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) told Fox News Digital that ‘any interference in, or diversion of, humanitarian aid is unacceptable.’

‘USAID takes its duty as a steward of U.S. taxpayer funding seriously and holds implementing partners to the highest standards to ensure that taxpayer funds are used wisely, effectively, and for their intended purposes,’ a USAID spokesperson said. ‘We require our partners to have robust safeguards and risk-mitigation systems in place to ensure that principled humanitarian aid reaches those who need it most.’

The agency noted that it works with humanitarian partners with ‘extensive experience working in challenging environments’ and who have ‘demonstrated their commitment to stay and deliver life-saving assistance with impartiality, neutrality and independence while ensuring the safety of their staff and facilities.’

The United Nations did not respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment by the time of publication.

The Associated Press and Fox News Digital’s Michael Lee and Bradford Betz contributed to this report.

No Labels is taking another step toward forming a bipartisan presidential ticket in November’s general election.

The centrist group announced the formation of a committee to vet candidates for the potential bipartisan ticket.

‘Today, No Labels is taking the next step toward providing it by announcing our process to choose the candidates for a unity ticket,’ former Sen. Joe Lieberman, a No Labels founding co-chair, said in a statement Thursday.

Lieberman, the 2000 Democratic vice presidential nominee who ran for the party’s 2004 presidential nomination before becoming an independent a couple of years later, will be part of a panel called the Country Over Party Committee, which will vet potential contenders.

No Labels national co-chair Ben Chavis, a civil rights activist and former NAACP executive director and CEO, will also serve on the 12-member panel.

‘The committee will consider input from the No Labels community and serve as representatives in meeting with potential candidates,’ former Dallas Mayor and No Labels national convention chair Mike Rawlings said in a video released by the group.

Rawlings said that to be considered for the national ticket, candidates must adhere to the group’s six core beliefs, including ‘that we care about this country more than demands of any political party.’

And Rawlings added that contenders must also endorse ‘the No Labels commonsense policy booklet, which includes 30 ideas to address our nation’s most important challenges, ranging from immigration and border security to the budget, inflation, and growing threats from abroad.’

Lieberman explained that ‘If we find two candidates that meet our high threshold, we will recommend that ticket to No Labels’ delegates for a nomination vote at a national nominating convention that will be held later this spring.’

While the group didn’t set any timetable, Lieberman said Thursday in a CNN interview that a candidate could be announced as early as next Thursday.

The announcement comes nearly a week after roughly 800 No Labels delegates who took part in a virtual meeting voted to give a thumbs up to fielding a presidential ticket.

For over a year, No Labels has mulled a third-party ticket, as it pointed to poll after poll suggesting that many Americans were anything but enthused about a 2024 election rematch between President Biden and former President Donald Trump.

And No Labels had long said that it would decide whether to launch a presidential ticket following Super Tuesday, when 16 states from coast to coast held nominating primaries and caucuses.

The latest move by No Labels comes two days after Biden and Trump clinched the Democratic and Republican presidential nominations, becoming the two major parties’ 2024 presumptive nominees.

The moves by No Labels also come after former two-term Republican Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland, a former leader of the group who was considered a potential contender for the ‘unity’ ticket, recently took his name out of contention as he announced a run this year for an open Senate seat in his home state.

And moderate Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, another former No Labels leader who is not seeking re-election this year and who flirted with a White House run, has also said he won’t launch a presidential bid.

There was also plenty of speculation that former U.N. ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who was the final 2024 GOP presidential nomination rival to Trump before she ended her White House run last week, would consider running on a No Labels ticket. No Labels had expressed interest in her earlier this year.

But Haley repeatedly nixed joining a No Labels ticket, most recently last week in an interview on ‘FOX and Friends.’

The No Labels spotlight now appears to be shining on former Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan of Georgia, a former health care executive and minor league baseball player who served three terms in the Georgia House of Representatives before winning election as lieutenant governor in 2018.

People familiar with the discussions confirmed to Fox News that No Labels ‘is talking to him,’ adding that conversations are ‘moving fast’ and ‘nothing’s set.’

A source in Duncan’s political orbit said he hasn’t ruled anything out when it comes to a potential third-party presidential run this year. The news was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Duncan grabbed national attention in the weeks after the 2020 election for speaking out against then-President Trump’s unfounded claims of ‘massive voter fraud’ in Georgia, which was one of a half-dozen states where Biden narrowly edged Trump to win the White House.

Duncan, along with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, both Republicans, resisted Trump’s requests to overturn the election results in the Peach State.

Duncan decided months later against seeking re-election in 2022 and instead launched ‘GOP 2.0,’ an effort to try and move the Republican Party past Trump.

No Labels said last week that it is already on the ballot in 16 states and currently working in 17 other states to obtain access. 

There’s been a chorus of calls from Democrats warning that a No Labels ticket would pave a path to victory for Trump in November, but the group dismisses that criticism.

‘That’s not our goal here,’ Lieberman told Fox News Digital late last year. ‘We’re not about electing either President Trump or President Biden.’

Thursday’s announcement came a day after the resignation of No Labels co-chair Pat McCrory, a Republican and former North Carolina governor.

McCrory, who hasn’t detailed his departure from the group, said in a statement to the Wall Street Journal that ‘I wish them [No Labels] the best.’

When President Biden and former President Donald Trump face off in an election rematch this November, one man will remain a one-term president. 

Trump, a Republican whom Biden unseated in 2020, seeks to return the favor in 2024 as the incumbent Democratic president struggles with lackluster approval ratings reminiscent of infamous one-term president Jimmy Carter. As of February, Biden’s job approval rating stood at 38% in a Gallup poll — less than one point above President Carter’s record-low Gallup rating of 37.4% after his third year in office. 

There is reason to believe that Biden today is in a weaker position than Carter was in 1980, when the Democratic incumbent lost re-election to Republican challenger Ronald Reagan. In March 1980, a Gallup head-to-head poll showed Carter at 58% to Reagan’s 33% — but the gap would narrow in the ensuing months, and Reagan ultimately defeated Carter in a 44-state landslide with 50.8% of the popular vote to Carter’s 41%. 

There is no comparable Gallup survey for Biden and Trump in 2024, but other recent polls show a much closer race, with Trump maintaining a slight 2.1 point lead over Biden in the RealClearPolitics average of polls. A Fox News Poll released Sunday found Trump at 49% support, while Biden registered at 47%, a statistical tie within the margin of sampling error.

Craig Shirley, a Reagan biographer who wrote about the 1980 campaign in his book ‘Rendezvous with Destiny,’ attributed Carter’s early lead over Reagan to ‘public sympathy and an outpouring of support for the Iranian hostage crisis.’ 

The Iran hostage crisis began on Nov. 4, 1979, when radicalized students seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran to protest Carter’s decision to allow the deposed Shah of Iran into the U.S. for medical treatment. Fifty-two Americans — mostly State Department employees and Marines — were held captive for 444 days while Ayatollah Khomeini spurned Carter’s attempts to free the captives. 

‘Public attitudes turned about the hostage crisis, because I think people were starting to realize that Carter was using it to his political advantage,’ Shirley told Fox News Digital in an interview. ‘The goal was to get the hostages released in October. And Americans, in an outpouring of gratitude, would vote for Carter for his re-election. That’s what the Carter campaign really wanted, was to get the hostages out right at the crest of the election. Didn’t happen, of course.’ 

Carter’s re-election effort faced economic challenges as well, with inflation and unemployment both in double digits, a phenomenon economists have dubbed ‘stagflation.’ The crisis in Iran intersected with the U.S. economy when Iranian oil workers went on strike, triggering a supply shock that led to notorious lines at the gas station and incidents of gas theft. 

The final years of Carter’s presidency saw inflation rise by an average 11% in 1979 and nearly 14% in 1980. 

Biden faces similar foreign and domestic crises. While the president proclaimed an economic ‘comeback’ in his State of the Union address last week, inflation remains persistent at 3.2% year-over-year, according to the Labor Department’s February consumer price index (CPI) report. 

Under Biden’s watch, inflation surged to 9.1% in 2022 after a series of coronavirus spending packages that began under Trump and culminated in the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan signed into law by Biden. Inflation has since come down but remains higher than the Federal Reserve’s target 2% rate. Compared with January 2021, shortly before the inflation crisis began, prices are up a dramatic 18.49%. 

High inflation has created severe financial pressures for most U.S. households, which are forced to pay more for everyday necessities like food and rent. The burden is disproportionately borne by low-income Americans, whose already-stretched paychecks are heavily affected by price fluctuations.

Progress on inflation has largely flatlined since June, with the CPI hovering at or above 3% for the past nine months, stoking concerns on Wall Street over the possibility of renewed ‘stagflation.’ 

On the foreign policy front, President Biden lost public support, and his poll numbers never recovered after 13 U.S. service members died during the chaotic military withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. His term in office has also seen war erupt in Ukraine and Israel with no end in sight. Repeated military aid packages to Ukraine have failed to stop the Russian offensive or turn the tide in the war. And despite efforts to negotiate a cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, war rages on in Gaza.

Biden also faces his own hostage crisis as at least five Americans are still held in captivity by Hamas. Israeli authorities say the terrorist group took at least 250 hostages during the Oct. 7 surprise attack on Israel, during which Hamas killed 1,200 people, including 32 Americans. 

But Trump must overcome his own challenges to make Biden a one-term president. He made history last year as the first president or former president to face criminal charges and now faces four major trials and a total of 91 indictments — including federal cases on his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and on handling classified documents. He must also juggle an appeal of a $355 million civil fraud judgment as he splits time between courtrooms and campaign stops before the November election. 

Shirley said that for Trump to repeat Reagan’s success, he must make Biden the issue in this campaign. 

‘Now, Trump’s already proved that he can be an acceptable alternative,’ he explained, noting that he has already been president and is ready to ‘step into the job and replace the other guy.’ 

In Shirley’s estimation, Trump has done a good job attacking Biden on the illegal immigration crisis and on inflation. He said that immigration is Trump’s ‘signature issue, just as anti-communism was Reagan’s signature issue.’ 

‘The issue cluster that Reagan ran on in 1980, the winning issue cluster was strong national defense, federalism, tax cuts, individual rights. All those issues are still the issues of the Republican Party, still the winning issues,’ Shirley said. 

‘That was Reagan’s gift, to bequeath the party a firm set of values on which the party stood for all, emanating from Reagan’s bedrock belief in personal freedom.’ 

Fox News Digital’s Rémy Numa, Paul Steinhauser, Taylor Penley, Megan Henney and Ronn Blitzer contributed to this report. 

House Republicans are accusing President Biden of building a temporary aid port for Gaza in a bid to win back progressive voters ahead of November, and they’re worried it will put American lives at risk.

Biden unveiled a plan to build a temporary floating port off the coast of Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid to Palestinians who were displaced as a result of the war between Israel and Hamas. 

International groups and several nations have raised concerns about the spread of famine and disease while struggling to get food and medical aid to the population there.

The initiative is expected to take several weeks, and it still remains unclear what the cost would be to taxpayers.

Though the administration announced it would not require American troops to set foot in Gaza, lawmakers raised concerns about their proximity to the war zone.

‘It is clearly putting our troops in harm’s way,’ Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga., a member of the House Armed Services Committee, told Fox News Digital earlier this week. ‘[Biden] doesn’t seem to understand their hatred for the American soldiers, sailors and airmen and Marines, and if he puts them within range of Iranian proxies’ rockets, then Iranians proxy rockets are going to be flying at our people.

‘I think it’s got more to do with his politics and trying to appease a faction of the Democratic Party.’

Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, who is also on the committee, chalked up the Gaza port plan to Michigan Democrats’ backlash against Biden in the recent primary election. Arab and Muslim leaders in the state urged voters to choose ‘uncommitted’ instead of the president in protest of him not taking a harsher public stance against Israel.

‘I think he’s worried about losing Michigan in November, so he wants to throw [something] … to Muslim American voters, particularly in Michigan,’ Fallon said, adding the plan was ‘not in our nation’s best interest.’

‘That aid in Gaza has been used by Hamas as currency,’ Fallon added.

A third Armed Services Committee member, Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., said, ‘We’re going to be a target out there, and it will help Hamas in the end. Let Israel defeat Hamas, then let us help out with humanitarian aid. We didn’t do aid to Germany in 1944. We did it after [the Nazis] were defeated.’

Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, also accused Biden of launching the Gaza port effort for political reasons.

‘He’s doing that, in my opinion, because he had a lot of uncommitted voters out there. These American Palestinians that could vote for him are saying, ‘What the hell, you ain’t supporting us enough.’ So, he’s going to try to do what government does, throw some money at it,’ Nehls said.

Biden made his announcement as the U.S. joined other countries in airdropping aid into Gaza. 

‘Tonight, I’m directing the U.S. military to lead an emergency mission to establish a temporary pier in the Mediterranean on the Gaza coast that can receive large ships carrying food, water, medicine and temporary shelters,’ Biden said during the State of the Union March 7. ‘No U.S. boots will be on the ground.

‘This temporary pier would enable a massive increase in the amount of humanitarian assistance getting into Gaza every day.  But Israel must also do its part. Israel must allow more aid into Gaza and ensure that humanitarian workers aren’t caught in the cross fire.’

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment for this story but did not immediately hear back.

Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Herzog charged that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s leadership is ‘unhelpful’ as the Jewish state continues its war against Hamas in response to the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks that left over 1,200 dead and hundreds more taken hostage. 

‘Israel is a sovereign democracy. It is unhelpful, all the more so as Israel is at war against the genocidal terror organization Hamas, to comment on the domestic political scene of a democratic ally. It is counterproductive to our common goals,’ Herzog wrote on X. 

The highest ranking Jewish elected official in the U.S., Schumer, D-N.Y., excoriated Netanyahu in a speech on the Senate floor on Thursday. 

‘I believe in his heart, his highest priority is the security of Israel,’ Schumer said. ‘However, I also believe Prime Minister Netanyahu has lost his way by allowing his political survival to take precedence over the best interests of Israel.’

‘He has been too willing to tolerate the civilian toll in Gaza, which is pushing support for Israel worldwide to historic lows. Israel cannot survive if it becomes a pariah,’ Schumer added. 

The speech came a day after the No. 3 Senate Republican, John Barrasso, of Wyoming, invited Netanyahu to speak at a GOP retreat in Washington. Herzog spoke in Netayahu’s place due to a ‘scheduling conflict,’ the New York Times reported.

Along with Netanyahu, Schumer listed ‘Hamas, and the Palestinians who support and tolerate their evil ways, radical, right-wing Israelis in government and society, [and] Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ as the other obstacles. The Senate majority leader said that Israeli elections are ‘the only way to allow for a healthy and open decision-making process about the future of Israel.’ He added that he believed a majority of Israelis also recognize a need for change in their government. 

‘The Netanyahu coalition no longer fits the needs of Israel after Oct. 7. The world has changed – radically – since then, and the Israeli people are being stifled right now by a governing vision that is stuck in the past,’ Schumer said. 

He promoted a two-state solution with a ‘a demilitarized Palestinian state living side by side with Israel in equal measures of peace, security, prosperity and dignity.’ 

‘As a democracy, Israel has the right to choose its own leaders, and we should let the chips fall where they may,’ Schumer said. ‘But the important thing is that Israelis are given a choice. There needs to be a fresh debate about the future of Israel after Oct. 7.’

As recently as January, Netanyahu rejected the prospect of two states, claiming, ‘I will not compromise on full Israeli security control over all the territory west of Jordan – and this is contrary to a Palestinian state.’ The Palestinian Authority has also reiterated its desire for the territories of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, with Jerusalem as the capital. 

After Schumer’s speech, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R–Ky., took to the floor and addressed the remarks of his Democratic colleague, but did not call him out by name.

‘The Jewish state of Israel deserves an ally that acts like one,’ he said, condemning the call for new Israeli elections as ‘unprecedented.’

‘Israel’s unity government and security cabinet deserve the deference befitting a sovereign democratic country.’ 

Fox News’ Julia Johnson contributed to this report. 

House Republican leaders are blasting Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and demanding he apologize for urging Israel to hold new elections while criticizing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The top four GOP lawmakers held an impromptu press conference during their annual retreat this year at the Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia, immediately after Schumer’s statement.

‘As we were in a work session here within the last half hour, there was a buzz among the audience as people were seeing notices come across their phone as something that was rather shocking to us,’ Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said. 

‘We saw the remarks from Sen. Chuck Schumer calling for new elections in Israel. And we want to speak very clearly and concisely to say that this is not only highly inappropriate, but just plain wrong for an American leader to play such a divisive role in Israeli politics, while our closest ally in the region is in an existential battle for its very survival.’

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said Schumer’s comments were ‘disturbing’ in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 surprise attack on Israel, in which terrorists invaded the southern part of the country and killed over 1,200 people – mainly civilians.

‘Sen. Schumer owes an apology to the people of Israel, who elected their leadership,’ Scalise said. ‘This isn’t a time for games. This is a time to stand with our friends who are under attack and show no daylight between the United States and Israel.’

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., accused Schumer and fellow Democrats of choosing Hamas over Israel.

‘Our Democrats, Chuck Schumer, et al., the White House, they have a problem. But it’s not with Netanyahu. It is with the anti-Israel members of their own party that have taken over the woke left. While they choose Hamas, House Republicans will continue to stand with Israel,’ Emmer said.

They left without taking questions from reporters. It comes just as House Republicans are expected to hear from Israeli Ambassador Michael Herzog at their multi-day retreat.

Back in Washington, Schumer took to the Senate floor on Thursday morning, where he condemned both Hamas and Israel for the high death toll of Palestinians and the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza as Israel responds to the Oct. 7 attack.

He called on Palestinians to throw off their leader, President Mahmoud Abbas, and for Israelis to demand a new election to elect a less ‘radical’ government.

‘Hamas and the Palestinians who support and tolerate their evil ways, radical right-wing Israelis in government and society, President Abbas, Prime Minister Netanyahu – these are the four obstacles to peace, and if we fail to overcome them, then Israel and the West Bank and Gaza will be trapped in the same violent state of affairs they’ve experienced for the last 75 years,’ Schumer said.

‘These obstacles are not the same in their culpability for the present state of affairs. But arguing over which is the worst stymies our ability to achieve peace.’

More than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s military response, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians.

JERUSALEM – Despite heightened security concerns in and around Jerusalem due to the ongoing war in Gaza, Israeli officials said this week that there would be no additional restrictions to freedom of worship for Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan. However, they warned, of an increase in incitement online, along with fake news reports, contradicting what is really happening on the ground.

‘Most of the people coming to pray, want to come and pray quietly,’ Mirit Ben Mayor, head of communications in the Israel Police told reporters in a briefing this week. 

However, she added, there was always a small number of people – usually youngsters – trying to destabilize the area and ‘get our attention.’ Ben Mayor emphasized that like in previous years – and during all other religious holidays in the holy city – the Israeli police was beefing up its forces to maintain order and reduce the chances of terror. 

Tal Heinrich, a spokeswoman for the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, told Fox News Digital that Israel was a nation ‘that takes great pride in welcoming all faiths and protects freedom of religion and worship.’ 

She said it was important to note ‘that the only time, in hundreds of years, when there has been freedom of religion and access to holy sites across our lands has been since 1948 – with the establishment of the State of Israel.’

‘In the coming weeks we’ll see three celebrations of the world’s major religions when Muslims mark Ramadan, Christians celebrate Easter and the holiday of Purim celebrated by the Jews,’ Heinrich said.

The holy month of Ramadan, where Muslims are required to fast from dawn till dusk and attend additional prayer services, traditionally draws hundreds of thousands of worshippers to the Old City of Jerusalem, the location of the al-Aqsa Mosque – Islam’s third-holiest site. 

The sensitive site, known to Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif, or holy sanctuary, and which also contains the Dome of the Rock, sits on top of an area Jews refer to as the Temple Mount – a raised esplanade where the first and second Jewish temples once stood. It is considered the holiest site for Jews. 

Every year on Ramadan, tensions in Jerusalem reach their peak and police officers flood the 0.35-square-mile Old City in order to maintain calm. Restrictions are placed on certain individuals who are deemed a security risk by Israel and some are prevented from entering the holy compound out of a fear they will launch violent attacks against Jews, who continue to pray at the Western Wall just below it. 

The war in Gaza, which was sparked by Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack in which 1,200 people were brutally killed and a further 240 taken hostages, has served to only increase tensions – as have efforts by radical Jewish groups who are pushing Israeli authorities to increase their access to the sacred compound.

‘As we do every year, the Israeli police have made a lot of arrangements and are very ready to enable this holiday and to enable our Muslim friends to practice freedom of religion on their holiday,’ Ben Mayor said. 

‘Hundreds of police officers are right now spread over in the Old City in order to enable the thousands of worshipers to safely arrive at the compound and practice the prayers,’ she said, adding that the level of readiness was even higher for Friday prayers and describing the police’s role as ensuring freedom of worship for all religions that view Jerusalem as holy. 

‘During this month of a Muslim holiday, there are also holidays of the Jewish people and of Christians and in this respect, we are preparing ourselves to enable the practice of these holidays to take place as well,’ Ben Mayor said. 

According to official Israeli sources, there are currently no restrictions on Israel’s Muslim population who want to enter the al-Aqsa compound, although for Palestinians – who must cross through a checkpoint from the West Bank into Jerusalem – only men over 55, women over 50 and boys below the age of 10 are permitted. 

Heinrich, from the prime minister’s office, said hundreds of thousands of Muslims were expected to arrive in Jerusalem’s Old City for Ramadan’s Friday prayer service and that while the ‘overwhelming majority will come to pray and to practice holiday traditions peacefully,’ there were attempts by terror organizations such as Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad to ‘inflame the region.’  

‘They’ve already called for attacks on Israelis and Jews during Ramadan, and they already have plans to attack us,’ she said, pointing out that over the past week, Israeli forces had succeeded in preventing a suicide bombing.

The Israeli police spokeswoman also commented on the sharp increase in incitement online and the fake news reports shared in the Arabic language media since Oct. 7.

‘It’s a part of what we believe Hamas is doing in order to broaden the war and draw in Israeli Arabs and others who are not taking any part in this war,’ she said. ‘They are working tirelessly to incite, and we are working tirelessly to find these people who are inciting.’ 

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has called on Israel to elect a new prime minister to replace Benjamin Netanyahu in order to move towards a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians in the form of a two-state solution. 

In what was billed as a major speech on a two-state solution, Schumer said on the Senate floor on Thursday that Netanyahu was one of four obstacles to this solution. 

The majority leader said he believed that ‘Prime Minister Netanyahu has lost his way by allowing his political survival to take the precedence over the best interests of Israel.’

Along with Netanyahu, Schumer listed ‘Hamas, and the Palestinians who support and tolerate their evil ways, radical, right-wing Israelis in government and society, [and] Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ as the other obstacles. 

According to Schumer, who is Jewish, Israeli elections are ‘the only way to allow for a healthy and open decision-making process about the future of Israel.’ He added that he believed a majority of Israelis also recognize a need for change in their government. 

In his reasoning for calling on elections to potentially replace Netanyahu, Schumer explained: ‘He has put himself in coalition with far-right extremists like Ministers Smotrich and Ben-Gvir, and as a result, he has been too willing to tolerate the civilian toll in Gaza, which is pushing support for Israel worldwide to historic lows.’

Schumer emphasized that Israel will not be able to overcome such a poor public image. ‘Israel cannot survive if it becomes a pariah,’ he said.

After Schumer’s speech, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R–Ky., took to the floor and addressed the remarks of his Democratic colleague, but did not call him out by name.

‘The Jewish state of Israel deserves an ally that acts like one,’ he said, condemning the call for new Israeli elections as ‘unprecedented.’

‘Israel’s unity, government and security cabinet deserve the deference befitting a sovereign democratic country.’ 

The Kentucky Republican added that ‘foreign observers’ who aren’t able to recognize these important distinctions should not give their own prescriptions. McConnell additionally claimed the Democratic Party’s issue is not with Netanyahu, but with the state of Israel itself.

Michael Herzog, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S., posted his reaction to the news on X, formerly Twitter:

‘Israel is a sovereign democracy. It is unhelpful, all the more so as Israel is at war against the genocidal terror organization Hamas, to comment on the domestic political scene of a democratic ally. It is counterproductive to our common goals.’

As recently as January, Netanyahu rejected the prospect of two states, claiming, ‘I will not compromise on full Israeli security control over all the territory west of Jordan — and this is contrary to a Palestinian state.’ 

The Palestinian Authority has also reiterated its desire for the territories of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, with Jerusalem as the capital. 

An American nonprofit that has raised millions of dollars for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East – commonly known as UNRWA, – is being sued by 10 survivors and family members of slain victims of the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks on southern Israel who argue the U.S.-based group knowingly provided material support for Hamas and terrorist activities for years.  

The lawsuit was filed earlier this month in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware on behalf of Lishay Lavi, Noach Newman, Adin Gess, Maya Parizer, Natalie Sanandaji, Yoni Diller, Hagar Almog, David Bromberg, Lior Bar Or and Ariel Ein-Gal against the UNRWA USA National Committee., claiming that UNRWA USA and UNRWA are ‘[i]nextricably [l]inked’ in supporting Hamas.

‘501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations generally do good work. They feed the hungry, help the poor, and house the homeless. But on some very rare occasions, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization finances an international terrorist plot that kills over 1,200 innocent people,’ the lawsuit says. ‘This case involves one of those rare occasions.’ 

More than 1,200 Israelis were killed, more than 6,900 civilians are estimated to have been injured, and hundreds more were taken hostage when Hamas launched a surprise attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. 

‘During this attack, Hamas terrorists brutally beat, tortured, raped and murdered men, women, and children. But Hamas did not carry out these attacks alone. Rather, they were financed and aided by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and Defendant UNRWA USA National Committee, Inc. (‘UNRWA USA’),’ the suit says.

Earlier this year, the Israeli government accused 12 UNRWA employees of having directly participated in the Oct. 7 attacks, prompting the U.S. and at least a dozen other countries to temporarily suspend funding to the agency amid a United Nations investigation. 

But Mark Goldfeder, one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs, told Fox News Digital that UNRWA USA did not suspend sending money to UNRWA until March 1. 

‘Way too little, way too late. They funded it up until the point, even after the reports came out of UNRWA staff literally participating in the massacre,’ Goldfeder said Wednesday. ‘Even after the United States suspended its own UNRWA donations, even after all of that, they continued fundraising, and they continued sending money.’ 

‘This is the largest private donor to UNRWA, and they have been materially and knowingly, actively, systematically using their quote unquote, charity, to operate a terrorist financing scheme in violation of federal law,’ Goldfeder said. ‘And it’s gotten to the point where the evidence is so overwhelming that even UNRWA USA has now suspended donations to UNRWA because they couldn’t deny it publicly anymore, but they knew all along what they were doing, and they need to be held accountable.’ 

The complaint alleges that UNRWA USA ‘has been and is fully aware that UNRWA works with and for Hamas, providing operational and financial support for their activities, and UNRWA USA aids, abets, and provides material support for those activities under the guise of humanitarian assistance.’ 

‘UNRWA USA collects donations in the United States and then transfers nearly all its funds to UNRWA, which has significant operations in the Gaza Strip,’ the lawsuit says. ‘Once the funds reach the Gaza Strip, UNRWA redistributes those funds to Hamas members on their payroll, some of whom are directly engaged in acts of terrorism, including but not limited to, the October 7th atrocities; to schools that are used to store Hamas’s weapons and other equipment; and to the production of educational materials that promote violence against Jews, including the destruction of the state of Israel.’ 

Fox News Digital reached out to UNRWA USA for comment on the lawsuit, but they did not immediately respond.

The lawsuit alleges that UNRWA USA ‘raises and transfers such funds knowingly, willfully, and with the intention that the funds be used by a designated foreign terrorist organization and its members for terrorist purposes’ and ‘knowingly, willfully, and intentionally works directly and indirectly in confederation and agreement with UNRWA, Hamas, and other terrorist organizations to provide material support to the designated foreign terrorist organizations and their members and for their terrorist activities.’ 

The complaint also states that in addition to having ‘common missions, finances, and activities,’ UNRWA USA and UNRWA ‘also employ overlapping staff.’ It cites posts on social media platform X in which UNRWA USA described an UNRWA employee as a freelance content producer for UNRWA USA and described UNRWA employees as ‘colleagues.’ The lawsuit also states that UNRWA USA board member Karen AbuZayd was appointed UNRWA commissioner-general in 2005, and that in April 2006 she ‘stated that she commonly met with Hamas and would continue to do so.’

The plaintiffs accuse UNRWA USA of violating the Anti-Terrorism Act and the Alien Tort Statute. 

A group of seven Republican senators penned a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland last month demanding the Justice Department open a criminal investigation into UNRWA USA, its principals and its leadership ‘for knowingly providing material support to foreign terrorist organizations, including Hamas.’ 

‘This support facilitated and continues to facilitate terrorism, including the October 7 terrorist attack,’ the letter penned by Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Roger Marshall, R-Ks., Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., Rick Scott, R-Fla., Pete Ricketts, R-Nebraska, and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., said. 

According to its 2021 annual report, UNRWA USA dispersed nearly $5 million in donations to UNRWA that year, making the organization UNRWA’s largest institutional donor. In 2004, the senators also noted, the then-UNRWA Commissioner-General Peter Hansen said in an interview, ‘I am sure there are Hamas members on the UNRWA payroll and I don’t see that as a crime.’ 

‘That assessment is incorrect. It is in fact a crime,’ the Feb. 15 letter from the senators said.

In tandem with the civil litigation seeking monetary damages, Goldfeder told Fox News Digital he hopes the DOJ picks up the criminal probe and holds UNRWA USA accountable. 

On Feb. 13, the Senate passed a controversial $95 billion national security supplemental package to assist Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific. It contains a provision that would block funding from going to UNRWA. The Biden administration said it was waiting on the results of the United Nations’ investigation into UNRWA to decide on whether to resume funding.

Growing bipartisan opposition to the relief agency prompted the White House to explore alternative ways to provide humanitarian assistance to Gaza should Congress permanently halt UNRWA funding. The U.S. is UNRWA’s largest donor, usually contributing between $300 million to $400 million annually. 

Lavi, an Israeli citizen, is suing after her husband, Omri Miran, was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7 and still remains held hostage. Newman’s brother, David Yair Shalom Newman, was killed by Hamas terrorists at the Nova music festival. They both are and were U.S.-Israeli dual citizens. 

Diller, Parizer, Bromberg and Or, dual U.S.-Israeli citizens, and Sanandaji, a U.S. citizen visiting from New York, all managed to escape Hamas’ attack on the Nova festival after fleeing by car and foot – in some cases for hours – while under heavy gunfire and were forced to witness friends and fellow attendees being massacred. Ein-Gal, an Israeli citizen, was asleep on Zikim Beach when swarms of terrorists began infiltrating the coast by boat but managed to escape the attack alive. Gess, a U.S. citizen, and Almog, an Israeli citizen, were not home on their kibbutzes when Hamas attacked but witnessed the massacre of their community members on a shared WhatsApp group loved ones used to beg for help. 

‘They have been through hell. Each of them have been through their own individual hell, and they are still, many of them, in hell,’ Goldfeder said of the plaintiffs.

Around 10% of UNRWA’s Gaza employees have links to the Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist organizations, and 50% have close relatives who belong to those groups, according to UN Watch. 

‘UNRWA has demonstrated time and time and time again that they are utterly, morally bankrupt. UNRWA is Hamas. In 2004, they admitted that they have Hamas on their payroll and they don’t think that’s a crime. Well, they’re wrong. Under American law, that is a crime. That’s material support for terror,’ Goldfeder said.