On Monday, The Washington Free Beacon reported that the funding for The U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) will need to be reauthorized by the United Nations at the end of August. After the total failure of UNIFIL to avoid Hezbollah from arming southern Lebanon, I don’t think their mission should be reauthorized. The article notes that UNIFIL receives between $400 million and $500 million each year, with the United States shouldering roughly 30 percent of the burden.
The article reports:
Trump administration officials are closely assessing UNIFIL’s expenditures and activities before awarding fresh U.S. cash to the force, the sources told the Free Beacon. Those activities include a host of DEI initiatives UNIFIL has publicly promoted in recent months that run counter to President Donald Trump’s ongoing push to eradicate taxpayer spending on progressive ideological projects.
UNIFIL in July of this year, for instance, initiated a training session on “gender mainstreaming in military operations” alongside the agency’s “gender unit” after a request from the Lebanese Army. But the agency’s focus on gender issues did not begin with that training session.
The agency employs a “Military Gender Advisor” who discussed hiding in a bunker in October 2024 when Israel retaliated against Hezbollah, the terrorist organization UNIFIL is meant to prevent from attacking Israel, in a videotaped interview. Its navy boasts a “Gender Task Force,” founded in 2022 “to boost women’s role in peacekeeping.” And UNIFIL maintains “gender-sensitive accommodations” at its bases, featuring its facilities online amid a 2023 push “for more diverse and efficient operations.”
UNIFIL member Major Rajinish Pandey said in a May 2023 video diary that his “job is to maintain gender diversity and conduct all civic activities planned in the area of responsibility.” In another May 2023 X post, UNIFIL touted Lt. Cmdr. Suzanne van Opstal, a “Military Gender Adviser at @UNIFIL_” whose job it was to emphasize “gender perspectives in military ops.” A similar post from March 2024 explained how “more gender-balanced, diverse and inclusive security institutions is vital to promoting peaceful and inclusive societies.”
Somehow their goals don’t mention keeping southern Lebanon free of Hezbollah weapons.
The article concludes:
“This campaign to renew UNIFIL is a last ditch effort by the French government and their supporters in the State Department ‘Deep State,'” a senior congressional staffer briefed on the efforts to renew UNIFIL’s mandate told the Free Beacon. “They’re trying to undo President Trump’s DOGE-ing of foreign assistance, his global campaign to dismantle wokeness and DEI, and his crackdown against Iranian terrorists.”
UNIFIL’s recent bid to integrate Chinese forces along Israel’s northern border has also driven opposition to renewing the agency’s mandate. Chen Chuandong, China’s ambassador to Lebanon, announced earlier this week he was “briefed by Major General Diodato Abagnara, Head of Mission and Commander of UNIFIL of its operation.” During that sit down, Chuandong “pledged China’s continued support” to the agency.
I really would like to get rid of the United Nations, but in the meantime, let’s stop funding its corruption.

