Oh boy.

WASHINGTON — The State Department defended Secretary of State John Kerry’s decision to grant $15 million in humanitarian aid to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNWRA), even as the organization confirmed the discovery of additional rockets stored in one of its Gaza schools. Critics in Washington, however, blasted the secretary’s decision to include UNRWA as a recipient of part of a $47 million humanitarian package designed to aid Gazan civilians. […]

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior official at a Washington pro-Israel organization described the announcement of funding for UNRWA as “a bewildering decision.” UNRWA announced last week an effort to raise $60 million in emergency aid to Gaza, one-quarter of which would be covered by the US contribution.

“UNRWA is objectively on the side of Hamas,” the official argued. “They give Hamas money, they do press work on behalf of Hamas, and as of this week they’re literally arming Hamas. Our Arab and Israeli allies all want Hamas and its supporters weakened. It’s very strange that the State Department would rush in, right when we’re asking the region to trust us on Iran, and functionally throw money at a terror organization that Iran has done so much to build up over the years.”

But State Department Deputy Spokeswoman Marie Harf said that the organization was a legitimate recipient for US aid, arguing that “it is an important organization.”