I have to confess that I’m not someone who pays a lot of attention to the Olympics, but, while catching up on other Middle East news, I happened upon a story about Yuval Freilich, the first male Israeli fencer to qualify for the games in the épée. A winner of the European championship, Freilich ended up losing to a lower-ranked opponent. (Those seeking to take pride in Jewish athletic prowess can look instead to the two Jewish fencers on the four-member, gold-medal-winning U.S. women’s fencing team.) But this put me in mind of the 1999 movie Sunshine, about a fictional Hungarian Jewish family named Sors. Its central character, played by Ralph Fiennes, is a fencing champion. The eminent historian Istvan Deak wrote in a fascinating review:

In the film, the new anti-Semitic currents do not prevent Ignatz Sors’s son, Adam, from earning high honors for Hungary. He takes up saber fencing, converts to Roman Catholicism so he can join the team of the elite officers’ club, and goes on to become an Olympic and world champion. All this rings true. Toward the end of the 19th century both aristocratic and well-to-do Jews became obsessed with sports and were keen sponsors of athletic competitions. The first Hungarian Olympic champions—and there were quite a few of them—were mostly Jews who particularly excelled in saber fencing, that most Hungarian of martial arts. Hungarians had always taken pride in being descended from saber-wielding mounted warriors, and for a Jew to become a saber champion was to fulfill a fantasy of acceptance.

In his inauguration speech, Donald Trump put forth ambitious goals for his first days in office. An additional item that should be on the agenda of his administration, and also that of the 119th Congress, should be defunding, and ideally dismantling, UNRWA. The UN Relief and Works Organization for Palestine Refugees—to give its full name—is deeply enmeshed with Hamas in Gaza, has inculcated generations of young Palestinians with anti-Semitism, and exists primarily to perpetuate the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Robert Satloff explains what must be done.

[T]here is an inherent contradiction in support for UNRWA (given its anti-resettlement posture) and support for a two-state solution (or any negotiated resolution) to the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Providing relief to millions of Palestinians based on the argument that their legitimate, rightful home lies inside Israel is deeply counterproductive to the search for peace.

Last October, the Israeli parliament voted overwhelmingly to pass two laws that will come into effect January 30: a ban on UNRWA operations in Israeli sovereign territory and the severing of all Israeli ties with the agency. This includes cancellation of a post-1967 agreement that allowed UNRWA to operate freely in what was then newly occupied territory.

A more ambitious U.S. approach could score a win-win achievement that advances American interests in Middle East peace while saving millions of taxpayer dollars. Namely, Washington could take advantage of Israel’s new laws to create an alternative support mechanism that eases UNRWA out of Gaza. This would entail raising the stakes with other specialized UN agencies operating in the area. Instead of politely asking them if they can assume UNRWA’s job in Gaza, the Trump administration should put them on notice that continued U.S. funding of their own global operations is contingent on their taking over those tasks. Only such a dramatic step is likely to produce results.