Funding Crisis: Warnings of Paralyzing UN Operations and Undermining its Role

Dr. Osama Abdullah: The United Nations is undergoing a gradual erosion rather than a sudden collapse, as the financial crisis threatens its ability to continue implementing its programs.
Akram Atallah: Trump's "erosion" of international policies and institutions raises concerns about the future of the United Nations, with its budget relying on American funding.
Dr. Hussein Al-Deek: The United Nations suffers from a flaw in not carrying over financial surpluses to the following year, as unspent contributions return to donor countries at the end of each fiscal year.
Jihad Harb: America and Israel are working to "demonize" UN institutions to evade financial obligations and international legitimacy resolutions.
Dr. Reham Odeh: What the United Nations is exposed to is due to the American financial blockade to change its positions and Israeli blackmail aimed at ending UNRWA's role.
Oreib Rantawi: The deliberate drying up of the United Nations' financial resources cannot be understood in isolation from a path aimed at weakening and demonizing the international organization.




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The United Nations is facing one of the most serious crises in its history, with escalating warnings from its Secretary-General, António Guterres, of an imminent financial collapse that threatens its ability to continue performing its essential tasks.
Writers and political analysts, in separate interviews with "Al-Quds", believe that the accumulated deficit in the organization's budget, resulting from unpaid debts and a sharp decline in contributions from major countries, most notably the United States of America, is no longer a transient technical crisis, but has turned into a dangerous indicator of structural erosion affecting one of the pillars of the international system established after World War II.
They explain that the data indicate that the current financial crisis intersects with deliberate political pressures, in which funding tools are used as a means of pressure to redirect or reduce the role of the international organization.
They point out that this financial collapse cannot be separated from a broader context that witnesses intensive attempts to marginalize the role of the United Nations, demonize its institutions, and create alternative frameworks outside its system, thereby threatening its status as an international legal reference.
With warnings of potential liquidity depletion in the coming period, writers and political analysts believe that the organization stands at a crucial crossroads, between its continuation as a weak formal framework, or its submission to radical reforms that restore a minimum level of effectiveness and financial independence in a rapidly changing international system.

Transformation of the nature of the international system

Political researcher and academic Dr. Osama Abdullah believes that the warning issued by UN Secretary-General António Guterres regarding an imminent financial crisis cannot be understood as a transient technical or accounting crisis, but must be read in the context of a deeper transformation in the nature of the international system, and in the form of the relationship between major powers and multilateral institutions, especially the United Nations.
Abdullah emphasizes that the accumulated financial data clearly indicate that the current crisis is not an emergency, but rather the result of long-term accumulation, as the United Nations faces a severe liquidity shortage due to unpaid debts from member states, which have amounted to about $1.6 billion in recent years, and this deficit has directly affected the organization's ability to implement its basic programs in humanitarian, developmental, and peacekeeping fields.

Decline in voluntary funding

Abdullah explains that the crisis is not limited to the financial aspect, but also intertwines with an influential political factor represented by the decline in voluntary funding, especially from the United States, which is the largest contributor to the United Nations budget.
Abdullah points out that Washington has reduced funding for a number of UN agencies and sometimes refrained from fulfilling its obligations, which made the organization's financial situation more fragile and opened the door for using funding as a tool for political pressure.

Reducing the role of traditional international organizations

Abdullah believes that a deeper reading of the crisis reveals three main trends; the first is the tendency of some major powers to reshape the international system by reducing the role of traditional international organizations, in favor of bilateral arrangements or regional alliances and alternative frameworks less committed to international law.
The second trend, according to Abdullah, is the struggle over the legitimacy of the international narrative, where some UN institutions are targeted and demonized, especially in human rights and conflict issues, as part of a political battle over who defines "international legitimacy."
Abdullah points out that the third trend is the use of financial pressure as a political tool to redirect the organization's agenda or restrict its ability to act on sensitive issues.

Phase of gradual erosion

Regarding the future of the United Nations, Abdullah emphasizes that the organization is undergoing a phase of gradual erosion rather than being on the verge of a sudden collapse. The current financial crisis, resulting from debts exceeding $1.6 billion and a decline in contributions from major countries, threatens its ability to continue implementing its programs, with warnings of potential liquidity depletion by 2026. According to Abdullah, this politically coincides with an international trend, led by the United States, to manage crises through alliances outside the UN framework, which means reducing its actual role while maintaining it as a symbolic legal framework.
Regarding Palestine, Abdullah warns that the weakness of the United Nations will negatively affect the level of humanitarian support and international legal coverage, especially in light of funding crises for humanitarian agencies related to refugees and aid.
Abdullah proposes three possible future scenarios, the most likely of which is the "slow erosion" scenario, where the United Nations remains formally in place with weak executive capacity, which harms small and medium-sized countries, including Palestine.
The second scenario, according to Abdullah, is "forced reform" through financial and administrative restructuring, which is possible but requires difficult international consensus.
Abdullah points out that the third scenario is the "partial disintegration of the international system" with the escalation of reliance on alliances outside the United Nations and the decline of international law in favor of the balance of power.
Abdullah believes that the United Nations will not disappear in the short term, but it is likely to transform into a less influential institution, a development whose highest cost will be on issues that rely on international legitimacy more than on balances of power.

Undermining the UN's position in the international system

Writer and political analyst Akram Atallah explains that the warnings issued by the UN Secretary-General regarding the future of the international organization are entirely appropriate, given the existence of a "strong duo" that systematically works to end the UN's role and undermine its position in the international system, referring to the United States and Israel.
Atallah explains that talk of alternatives to the United Nations, as happened when former US President Donald Trump proposed the idea of forming a Security Council or a Peace Council as an alternative, reflects a clear political trend to marginalize the international organization and empty it of its content.
Atallah points out that what the United Nations is exposed to today is not limited to drying up financial resources, but also includes destroying its headquarters, preventing its employees from performing their duties, tarnishing its reputation, and systematically restricting its work in various regions, especially Jerusalem in particular and Palestine in general.
Atallah indicates that Israel has demolished UN offices in Jerusalem, launched continuous campaigns against the organization, repeatedly described it as "anti-Semitic" and "full of hatred for Israel," and even personally attacked the UN Secretary-General.
Atallah believes that this Israeli stance stems from Tel Aviv's realization that the Security Council provides it with a protective umbrella due to the American veto, while the UN General Assembly, where the overwhelming majority of countries are, mostly votes against Israeli policies, which Israel considers a direct targeting of itself.
Atallah emphasizes that one of the most prominent motives for this targeting is the issue of Palestinian refugees, and the role of the United Nations, especially UNRWA, in preserving the refugee issue and managing camp affairs, which Israel sees as a long-term strategic threat.
Atallah believes that this factor has been and continues to be a major reason for Israel, supported by American arms, to work to undermine the role of the international organization.

"Erosion" of international policies and institutions

Atallah warns that the presence of an American president like Trump, who works to "erode" international policies and institutions, raises real concern about the future of the United Nations, especially given its budget's heavy reliance on American funding, which constitutes more than 22% of the organization's budget.
Atallah believes that this reality creates a state of international anxiety, in light of a clear integration between American performance at the global level and Israeli performance at the Palestinian level, which threatens the future of the existing international system.

Political and institutional failure of the United Nations

Dr. Hussein Al-Deek, Professor of Political Science and specialist in American affairs, warns that the warning issued by UN Secretary-General António Guterres regarding the imminent financial collapse of the international organization cannot be isolated from a deeper context of political and institutional failure that the United Nations has suffered from for many years.
Al-Deek explains that the international system established after World War II to serve the interests of the victorious nations at the time has, in the last two decades, become unable to meet the aspirations of even these very nations, making it a system incapable of managing major international crises.
Al-Deek considers that this inability was clearly manifested in a series of failures, starting from Syria, passing through Ukraine and a number of African countries, reaching the issues of Taiwan and Greenland, in addition to the US-British invasion of Iraq in 2003, which took place without authorization from the Security Council despite French-Chinese-Russian opposition.
Al-Deek points out that the biggest and most obvious failure of the United Nations was the genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, where the United States used its veto six times to overturn draft resolutions calling for a ceasefire, revealing the extent of the Security Council's paralysis and its subservience to the will of the permanent member states.
Regarding the financial crisis, Al-Deek emphasizes that the financial collapse warned of by Guterres was preceded by a political and institutional collapse, noting that the organization no longer serves the interests of active powers, especially the United States and Russia.

American funding as a tool of political pressure

Al-Deek states that official UN reports indicate that the total amounts due from member states by the end of 2025 amount to approximately $1.8 billion, of which nearly $1.5 billion are debts owed by the United States alone, meaning that three-quarters of the financial deficit is borne by Washington.
Al-Deek believes that withholding American funding is not purely a financial measure, but a tool of political pressure aimed at paralyzing the organization's work and causing its failure.
Al-Deek points to a structural flaw in the UN's financial system, which is the non-carryover of financial surpluses to the following year, so that unspent contributions return to donor countries at the end of each fiscal year, depriving the organization of stable resources.
Al-Deek believes that the organization today faces three simultaneous challenges: political failure, financial crisis, and attempts to create alternative frameworks, such as the so-called "Peace Council" proposed by former US President Donald Trump.
Al-Deek stresses that this council is a failed attempt, lacking international legitimacy, not including influential global powers, and linked to Trump's person rather than a sustainable legal framework.

Reforming the United Nations, not dismantling it

Al-Deek emphasizes that the real solution lies in reforming the United Nations, not dismantling it, as it needs internal financial and administrative reforms, and an expansion of the Security Council to include rising international powers such as India, Brazil, Turkey, Japan, and South Africa, making the organization more representative, fair, and balanced in dealing with international issues.

Accumulated financial deficit in the UN budget

Writer and political analyst Jihad Harb warns that the increasing pressures on the United Nations at the current stage, especially those resulting from the United States' refusal to pay its financial obligations, pose a real threat to the international organization's ability to continue and play its role, emphasizing that this crisis cannot be separated from deep transformations in American policy and its international orientations.
Harb explains that the financial deficit in the UN budget is not new, as the organization and its various institutions have suffered from it for years, but what is happening now comes in two clear political contexts. The first is the traditional tendencies of the Republican Party, which views international institutions as a financial burden on the American treasury and calls for isolationist policies that reduce American involvement and funding in multilateral frameworks.
The second context, according to Harb, is directly related to the vision of US President Donald Trump, which is based on the United States' refusal to bear any financial burdens outside its borders, whether it concerns funding NATO, providing foreign aid, or supporting international organizations, especially the United Nations.
Harb points out that these trends were clearly manifested during Trump's first term, and at the beginning of his second term, through the practical reduction or closure of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), considering that its activity falls under spending outside the United States.

The United Nations faces a fateful test

Harb believes that these policies place the United Nations today before a fateful test, as it constitutes the main framework for producing international law, and the guarantor of the balances that emerged after World War II, in addition to its pivotal role in regulating international relations and preventing a slide towards conflicts and wars that threaten international peace and security.
Harb believes that the American administration, along with Israel, is working to "demonize" UN institutions, in an attempt to escape from the financial obligations imposed on them, as well as from adhering to international legitimacy resolutions.
Harb points out that efforts to reshape the role of the Security Council or expand its resolutions outside its framework, as in deviating from Resolution 2803 concerning the Gaza Strip, fall within a policy aimed at marginalizing the United Nations and canceling its role in maintaining global security.
Harb emphasizes that the majority of major international powers are still committed to the survival of the United Nations, which portends a period of conflict and tug-of-war between international poles, especially the United States, China, Russia, and the European Union, in addition to emerging blocs such as "BRICS" which seek to reduce American hegemony, especially in the financial field, by searching for alternatives to the "SWIFT" system.
Harb believes that the continuation of the current American approach may lead to the disintegration of the United Nations, similar to what happened with the League of Nations, a scenario that carries serious risks that could open the door to more destructive world wars, given the major powers' unprecedented military arsenals.

Systematic policy to weaken the United Nations

Writer and political analyst Dr. Reham Odeh warns of an unprecedented financial crisis facing the United Nations, which explains the warnings issued by UN Secretary-General António Guterres of an imminent financial collapse that could affect the work of the international organization and its various institutions.
Odeh explains that the core of this crisis is primarily due to the American withdrawal from a number of UN institutions and the cessation of their funding, in addition to systematic political steps aimed at weakening the role of the United Nations, especially in issues related to human rights and the Palestinian cause.
Odeh states that the United States has withdrawn in recent years from prominent UN institutions, including the World Health Organization, the UN Human Rights Council, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which has directly harmed the financial structure of the international organization.
Odeh points out that the crisis worsened further after US President Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum in January 2026, to stop participation and funding for 31 UN entities, which negatively and directly affected the UN budget and its ability to implement its humanitarian and development programs.
Odeh indicates that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has been subjected to a fierce and organized Israeli attack, including targeting its office in Jerusalem, which weakened its ability to mobilize the necessary funding for its programs in Palestine and refugee camps in the diaspora.
According to Odeh, as a result, the agency was forced to terminate the contracts of a large number of its employees, especially those who left the Gaza Strip during the war, which severely affected its basic services provided to Palestinian refugees.

Pressure on the United Nations to change its positions

Odeh believes that what UN institutions are exposed to can be read within the framework of an American financial siege aimed at pressuring them to change their positions, especially those related to human rights, the war of extermination in Gaza, and the Palestinian issue in general, in addition to direct Israeli blackmail aimed at ending UNRWA's role, based on an Israeli belief that the collapse of the agency will lead to the cancellation of the Palestinian refugee file.
Regarding the future of the United Nations, Odeh emphasizes that the international organization, despite attempts to "undermine it" to weaken it or replace it with alternative frameworks, still enjoys wide trust from the majority of the international community, especially the European Union, and major Asian countries such as China and Japan.

Despite this... it cannot collapse easily

Odeh stresses that the United Nations is an established part of the international political and humanitarian system, and cannot easily collapse or be replaced by emerging bodies such as the "Peace Council" established by Trump, whose membership lacks the European Union and African countries, and does not possess humanitarian arms or agencies capable of implementing large-scale relief and development programs.
Odeh rules out the collapse of the United Nations, but she suggests that the next phase will see a reduction in some of its programs in a number of countries until the funding crisis is overcome, and with a change in the American administration in the future that will alleviate the political and financial pressures imposed on the international organization.

Weakening and demonizing the international organization

Areeb Rantawi, Director of the Jerusalem Center for Political Studies, explains that the deliberate drying up of the United Nations' financial resources today cannot be understood in isolation from an integrated political path that began with the first administration of US President Donald Trump, and is currently continuing and intensifying with the aim of weakening the international organization, demonizing it, and removing it from the equations of international relations as a symbol of the global system that was formed after World War II.
Rantawi explains that the United States has led an organized campaign in recent years to diminish the standing of the United Nations and question its role, reaching the point of accusing some of its institutions of supporting "terrorism," which was practically translated into a series of widespread American withdrawals from UN international organizations.
Rantawi points out that Washington withdrew, by a single presidential decree, from 39 out of 66 UN organizations, in addition to withdrawals from other international frameworks not affiliated with the UN, in a move that reflects a clear American trend to empty the organization of its content.
Rantawi considers that the fierce campaign against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) represents additional evidence of the American desire to destroy any UN role in addressing the Palestinian issue.
Rantawi notes that the accusations leveled against UNRWA, placing it in the ranks of "terrorist organizations," came without any evidence, and contrary to the results of independent and impartial international investigations that denied Israeli and American claims regarding the agency's involvement in supporting the Hamas movement.

Attempt to create a parallel world order

Rantawi points out that Trump attempted, through Resolution 2803, to infiltrate and establish a so-called "Global Peace Council" specializing in Gaza and the Middle East, with the aim of giving it international dimensions and powers beyond this framework, in an attempt to create a parallel world order to the United Nations, and perhaps as a prelude to becoming an alternative to the international community and international legitimacy.
Rantawi emphasizes that Washington's performance within the United Nations has historically been negative, as it is one of the countries that most frequently uses the veto, especially against humanitarian and just causes, and absolutely to support Israel.
Rantawi explains that the United States is feeling increasingly isolated within the international community, finding only Israel and some extremist right-wing regimes by its side, in contrast to the expanding circle of countries supporting Palestinian rights, especially after "Al-Aqsa Flood," including Western countries traditionally allied with Washington.
Rantawi points out that these policies do not express American strength as much as they reflect a desperate attempt to delay the emergence of a new world order based on multipolarity, and to prevent rising powers such as China, Russia, BRICS countries, and emerging economies in India, Brazil, and South Africa from playing an influential role in shaping the international system.
Rantawi believes that what we are witnessing today may be the "last shot" in the path of American hegemony, whose repercussions will continue for years, but it does not constitute evidence of the recovery or rise of American imperialism as much as it reflects its deep predicament.