Although the International Council of Justice did not outright dismiss the shameful libel of genocide brought by South Africa, it also has not as yet stopped Israel in its pursuit of terrorists by demanding a ceasefire.
What has emerged from the case coincides with the conclusive evidence submitted by Israel that 12 UNWRA (UN Relief and Works Agency) employees were active participants in the 7 October massacre. This follows exposure of widespread support of the 7 October massacre and rape by UNRWA staff including teachers, doctors and nurses. “Oh glorious day.” “How wonderful the rape and murder of all these Israeli citizens couldn’t come soon enough, thank Allah for that,” they wrote.
The contracts of the exposed terrorists have been terminated by UNRWA. Notwithstanding Seven News Perth still described the conclusive evidence in their broadcast tonight as “Israeli allegations”.
Although only 12 employees have been terminated, the involvement of UNRWA staff in terrorism is far more entrenched. The Wall Street Journal reported that 1,200 UNRWA employees have ties to either Hamas or the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The report further stated that around 50% of the UN agency’s employees in Gaza have at least one close relative with ties to the terror groups.
Following the lead of the USA, Australia has now suspended its funding to UNRWA alongside other countries including Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Britain, Japan, France, and Finland. This is a very significant and important development.
The UNRWA was established in 1949 to respond to the needs of Arab refugees who were displaced or fled during the 1948 War of Independence conflict. The estimated number of refugees at that time ranges from 350,000 to 750,000 depending on who you believe. No similar agency was established to support the more than 850,000 Jews expelled from Arab nations, who were absorbed into Israel. Today approximately 30,000 of the first generation Arab refugees are still alive, however the UNRWA uniquely defines refugee status as hereditary and serves a second, third and fourth generation population of 5.9 million registered Palestinian refugees.
The real number of refugees today is unknown. Palestinian’s who obtain citizenship in other countries, and those who resided in refugee camps but have left are still counted in the UNRWA numbers. Applications for refugee status are submitted to UNRWA digitally, not in person, contrary to U.N. refugee protocols.
On many occasions this blog has referenced the scandal, corruption and outright lies of the UNRWA. The scale and impact of this sham is finally coming to light, and the seriousness of what our taxpayer dollars have funded in the form of terrorist infrastructure and cultural hatred directed against the Jewish nation can no longer be ignored.
Hillel Neuer of UN Watch writes:
Since October 7th, UNRWA has repeatedly disseminated pro-Hamas propaganda that criticizes any Israeli military action—be it attacks on Hamas military assets or calls on the Gaza civilian population to evacuate—while at the same time refusing to hold Hamas accountable for any violations. For example, Hamas weapons and tunnels have been found in or under UNRWA schools, including under UNRWA crates and in UNRWA sacks and Hamas has attacked from inside UNRWA schools. Nevertheless, UNRWA always blames strikes on UNRWA facilities on Israel, either directly or by implication. UNRWA never holds Hamas responsible and almost never even mentions Hamas.
UNRWA’s tweets are filled with outright lies and highly misleading information designed to generate international condemnation for Israel while giving Hamas a free pass.
Mike Wagenheim from JNS writes on 18 January 2024 as follows:
Despite the presence of a Hamas terror tunnel system in the Gaza Strip now thought to be larger in scale than the London Underground, the United Nations insists it had no idea the tunnels were being built. Asked on Wednesday whether, given the United Nations’ sizable presence in Gaza via a variety of agencies, there had been any indication to the global body that tunnels were being constructed underground, a spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said, “No is clearly the answer for that.”
UNRWA alone has 13,000 employees in more than 300 facilities across Gaza. At least a dozen other U.N. agencies operate in Gaza. It has been well-documented that many U.N. employees in Gaza have professional and personal ties to Hamas.
Still, Dujarric insisted that the United Nations was unaware of the sophisticated labyrinth of tunnels being dug and fortified throughout Gaza.
“I mean, just to see it as an observer, to think that the U.N. had any understanding of what was … any information about those operations, I think, is: No is clearly the answer for that,” he said.
A senior official from the World Health Organization also insisted that none of its staffers saw any evidence of a Hamas presence at Gaza’s Shifa Hospital, despite video footage showing terrorists whisking hostages into the facility on Oct. 7 with no pushback from hospital staff.
Some further information published in the UK Daily mail by David Patrikrakos (23 Jan 2024):
- – From 2014-2020, UN agencies alone spent $4.5 billion in Gaza. Over 80% of this went to UNRWA.
- – The theft and diversion of aid to Hamas is endemic, long-standing and well-known.
- – According to its website, UNRWA has 30,000 employees globally. ‘Most of them,’ it says, ‘are Palestinian refugees [with] a small number of international staff’.
- – In 2004, Peter Hansen, UNRWA’s former Commissioner-General, caused outrage when in an interview, he declared. ‘Oh I am sure that there are Hamas members on the UNRWA payroll and I don’t see that as a crime.’
- – UNRWA’s responsibilities for schooling in Gaza are colossal — the organisation spends 58 per cent of the donations we send it on education. Of the 500,0000 students at school in Gaza, over half attend UNRWA-operated schools and use Palestinian Authority textbooks that regularly depict Jews as enemies of Islam, glorify martyrs who commit attacks, and promote jihad for the liberation of historic Palestine.
- – Juliette Touma, UNRWA’s Director of Communication dismissed allegations of Hamas infiltration of UNRWA and confirmed there is no diversion of UNRWA aid in Gaza.
It has been evident for many years the UNRWA has been part of the problem, not the solution. Most refugee agencies resolve humanitarian crisis, they do not exacerbate and perpetuate them. The UNRWA has an annual budget of $US1.6 billion and it is in their self-interest that they continue to act as what Israel Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz describes as “the civilian arm of Hamas in Gaza”. The UNRWA has 30,000 employees. By comparison the World Refugee Agency (UN High Commissioner for Refugees) only employees approximately 10,000 people. Currently, UNRWA cares for 5.9 million “reported refugees.” By comparison, the World Refugee Agency cares for 108 million refugees and displaced persons worldwide.
The UNRWA has been complicit in Hamas terrorism. It has facilitated the normalisation of anti-Israel hatred for decades. UNRWA’s educational institutions are infested with antisemitic staff and curriculum materials that incite violence and revisionist history. UN employees are required to be neutral in politics and to avoid criminal activity. Yet their vehicles have been used to transport terrorists, their facilities have been used to store weapons, fire missiles and harbour human shields. Their cement has been used to construct tunnels under their own infrastructure. Israeli troops found missiles in sacks marked UNRWA aid.
Palestinian aid is a money-making machine, as evidenced by the billionaires who have syphoned aid and corrupted the agencies of the UN over an extended period. Recently, when 81 trucks of aid entered Gaza in a single day, the UN called this volume “woefully inadequate.” But one of the UN’s agencies, the World Food Programme, confirmed that 12 of the 13 aid bottlenecks that day were due to the limited capacity of the UN.
Whilst the suspension of Australian aid at this juncture is entirely appropriate and in sync with a global response, as far as action goes it is still far too little, too late. Our Australian taxpayer dollars, in excess of $40 million this financial year, have been ultimately directed to fund hate and terror.
In particular DFAT who describe our aid as being dedicated to the “education of future leaders” has been compromised by allowing aid to continue whilst fully aware of the continual publication of textbooks full of anti-Semitism. It’s the same rhetoric that is being sermonised in radical mosques in Australia, where no meaningful action has been taken.
Anthony Albanese has repeatedly said “There is no place for anti-Semitism in Australia”. Yet his Government is allowing it to fester within our streets, and until today’s suspension of UNRWA aid, funding it with our money.
During the period of aid suspension the Australian government must fully reassess their support of UNRWA who have played a key role in disseminating Hamas ideology.
ZFA President Jeremy Leibler said:
“While we welcome Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s decision to pause funding to UNRWA, the problems with UNRWA go far deeper than a handful of its staff participating in the 7 October massacres. We are calling on the Australian Government to desist from resuming funding until UNRWA removes all glorification of terrorism from its school text books, fires all teachers that have praised terrorism, and commits to a transparent, third-party audit of all its finances.
UNRWA knew about Hamas’ genocidal conduct but said and did nothing. All those who want a peaceful future for Israelis and Palestinians must hold UNRWA accountable. Australia must ensure that any further aid provided to Gaza does not end up in the hands of terrorists or its supporters.”
Most fair-minded Australian’s support humanitarian activity, and have historically respected the role of the United Nations. Many are unaware of the scale and extent of UN activity that is sponsored and directed by despotic regimes. It is important to expose the immoral use of aid funding in support of Hamas (that Australia has designated as a terrorist organisation), and to act as responsible global citizens. It is a criminal offence in Australia to support or fundraise for terrorism, yet our Government, despite having its attention drawn to this matter, proceeded to increase aid to an organisation that has been doing just this.
The Adelaide Advertiser reported that the collective contributions of Australia to UNWRA, our taxpayer money, exceed $200 million. How much terrorist infrastructure have we funded?
Whilst this blog has been critical of Penny Wong, and we stand by that criticism, we acknowledge that the suspension of UNRWA funding was the correct call to make. Albeit that Australia continues to be a follower, not a leader in its Gaza war decision making.
Finally, according to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) countries are expected to “punish any calls for genocide or related forbidden acts”. That should include calls for genocide against Jews. Especially today which is Holocaust Remembrance Day. Whether that relates to Jews in Israel, or Jews in Australia, we continue to hear calls of “free Palestine” and affirmations of the Hamas Charter through the mantra of the “River to the Sea”. These are calls for Genocide. Our Government was warned about UNRWA and failed to act with conviction until now. On the matter of the local racial vilification and the anti-Semitism that is endemic in our streets, the same point needs to be made. The Jewish community has made the Government aware of the threat to our community. We need actions, not words from our Government before it is too late and the invective mutates into domestic violence.
2 thoughts on “UNRWA – UNmasked, UNacceptable and UNtenable”
TY for posting this information, it’s never too late to hear (especially for those agencies/ governments who shouldn’t need reminding of their own laws and legal responsibilities) now all that’s needed is to SHARE THIS INFORMATION TO THE RELEVANT PARTIES, GROUPS AND OR REPRESENTATIVES to make it effectual. *Nb. it’s one thing to inform the informed (us, the people who belong to this group and or similar groups) but it’s quite another to PUSH IT THROUGH TO THOSE THAT MUST KNOW… NOW!