Kamala Harris’ stepdaughter Ella Emhoff is shown here during New York Fashion Week on Feb. 10, 2024, in New York City. Photo by Edward Berthelot/Getty Images

By Jacob Kornbluh March 17, 2024

Ella Emhoff, the step-daughter of Vice President Kamala Harris and the daughter of Doug Emhoff, the second gentleman of the United States, urged her Instagram followers to donate to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), despite allegations that its staffers helped Hamas during the Oct. 7 attack. Harris has reportedly advocated the administration in recent months for greater empathy toward the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza. 

Emhoff, who has 318,000 followers, removed the link to UNRWA’s website after the New York Post published a story about it. 

The Biden administration paused funding for the U.N. agency in January after Israel provided evidence that at least a dozen of UNRWA’s 13,000 staffers in Gaza received orders from Hamas and took part in the kidnapping and killing on Oct. 7. UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini said he fired several staffers while the agency investigates the evidence provided by Israel.

The Senate’s recent $95 billion foreign aid package, which includes military assistance for Israel and humanitarian aid for Gaza, excluded funding for UNRWA, and future support is being negotiated between congressional negotiators as they attempt to prevent a partial government shutdown at the end of the week.

Emhoff previously raised funds for Gaza through the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund. (A St. Louis Girl Scout troop recently made headlines for raising money for that organization.) 

Even though her father has constantly showcased his Jewish heritage since Harris became vice president in 2020, Ella Emhoff does not consider herself Jewish. “Ella truly has no qualms with the faith,” her representative told the Forward in 2021, “but she does not want to speak on behalf of Judaism, as she does not celebrate herself.”

The office of Doug Emhoff did not reply to a request for comment.

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