Relief and Works

Western Countries Stop Funds after UNRWA Staff Participate in Oct 7 Atrocities

Fourteen years ago, the Canadian government of Stephen Harper cut off Canadian funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine (UNRWA), and redirected it to other projects in the PA. At the time, Treasury Board President Vic Toews said that this would ensure accountability for the money and promote democracy in the PA. In their 2020 book, War of Return, Adi Schwartz and Einat Wilf documented UNRWA’s role in sustaining the belief among Palestinians in the unachievable goal of Palestinian refugee return. The book shows how the abolition of UNRWA is essential to creating the conditions for peace, and offers a plan to achieve that abolition.

Sixty per cent of UNRWA’s budget goes into the operation of schools, and for many years there have been worrying reports that what those schools teach is the importance of continuing the war against Israel. Investigations have found that UNRWA is corrupt and unaccountable. Its leadership pay lip service to the UN ideals of peace and development, but this never results in any change in operations on the ground.

Image: UNRWA Logo — By The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, United Nations - Website and publications of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=75118758

In this 2019 article, written on the heels of a scandal that led to the resignation of the previous UNRWA CEO, former Canadian Ambassador Vivien Bercovici wrote

As an international human rights organization, UNRWA is required to operate on a non-political and, of course, ethical basis. It doesn’t. Anti-Semitism is spewed in educational curriculum in UNRWA schools, and even the social media accounts of staff. The organization is widely known to be operating with near total immunity, answerable to virtually no one.

This Foreign Policy article from 2021, documents the failure of UNRWA to act when investigators found that the curriculum being taught in its schools was full of antisemitism and incitement to violence and Jihad.

In spite of this, the Trudeau government (in 2016) and the Biden administration (in 2019) both reversed their predecessors’ decision to stop funding UNRWA. In November of 2023, Canada’s minister of foreign affairs Melanie Joly praised UNRWA and a Global Affairs statement highlighted that the budget included $3 million to ensure accountability in how Canada’s money was spent. Unfortunately this money does not seem to have shed light on the participation of UNRWA staff in Hamas plans for genocide against Israel.

The announcement this week that Israel had identified 12 UNRWA staffers who participated in the atrocities of October 7 has western governments scrambling to suspend funding. As of this writing the list of countries announcing a pause in support includes the United States, Canada, Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland and Switzerland.

Philippe Lazzarini, CEO of UNRWA announced that the twelve staffers identified by Israel had been fired and that the Israeli claims were “being investigated”, but the agency’s track record offers zero confidence that anything will actually be done. The CEO stated that he was shocked that donor countries were cutting off funds.

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In the Canadian media, there was push back against the government’s decision. Last night’s CTV news included an interview with the Jaime Webb, President of the United Nations Association of Canada. She highlighted the importance of UNRWA in delivering relief to displaced Palestinians in Gaza during the current conflict, and said people should understand that UN agencies “can’t be perfect”. However, Canada’s government indicated that the money previously given to UNRWA would be diverted through other NGO’s operating in Gaza.

In the same interview Webb said Israel is also accusing the World Health Organization (WHO) of complicity with Hamas, suggesting there is a campaign to discredit UN bodies generally. I’ve wrote early in the war that health NGO’s like the WHO and MSF operating in Gaza had to have been aware of the presence of Hamas weapons in Gaza hospitals.

Israel is calling for an end to the UNRWA presence in Gaza after the war and its replacement with an agency that promotes the human development of Palestinians and educates for a peaceful future instead of indoctrinating Gazan children with the values of martyrdom and jihad.

For now, the battle goes on in Khan Younis. May this be the day that the leadership of Hamas are captured and the remaining hostages liberated.

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We are packing for departure to Ashkelon on Tuesday. Expect more articles from Canadian Zionist Forum later this week from Israel. I’d like to thank the new subscribers who have joined over the weekend. If you are a paid subscriber you can leave a comment.

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