So, who provided the ‘hard evidence’ that some UNRWA employees were involved in the attacks on October 7? Israel I suppose? And who is going to verify these allegations?
As for the countries who have suspended payments to UNRWA because of them: what about ‘innocent until proven guilty’? These governments are apparently composed of spineless cowards.
Of course it was Israel - it is a dossier of video and photo evidence, with identifications. There is a reason why UNRWA has moved to dismiss employees and the Secretary General has not attempted to refute the allegations. As ISMF noted, they have likely been sitting on this for a while waiting for the ICJ.
Innocent until proven guilty is a criminal concept, not really suited to the question. Again, UNRWA itself is not saying the allegations are incorrect. Their defence is confined to the lines that ISMF set out above, that it is a few employees which should really be surprising, rather than that UNRWA has been fatally compromised by Hamas.
US, UK, EU, and a host of other countries are suspending humanitarian aids for Palestine when millions are in dire need of those. They didn’t suspended military aids to Israel when millions were suffering due to those aids.
People expect Hamas support will dwindled.
is that true…
weve seen some really shameful stuff in recent years (TBF in history) but this , if true, is just not even human… this is beyond…
https://x.com/unlazzarini/status/1751345422918959147?s=46&t=wYI1UQq4Zm7qgLRSA8YMdw
UNRWA’S LIFESAVING AID MAY END DUE TO FUNDING SUSPENSION
27 January 2024
OVER 2 MILLION PEOPLE IN GAZA DEPEND ON UNRWA FOR SURVIVAL AS WAR AND DISPLACEMENT CONTINUE
FROM PHILIPPE LAZZARINI, UNRWA COMMISSIONER GENERAL
AMMAN, 27 January 2024- “Nine countries have as of today temporarily suspended their funding to UNRWA. These decisions threaten our ongoing humanitarian work across the region including and especially in the Gaza Strip.
“It is shocking to see a suspension of funds to the Agency in reaction to allegations against a small group of staff, especially given the immediate action that UNRWA took by terminating their contracts and asking for a transparent independent investigation. The United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), the highest investigative authority in the UN system, has already been seized of this very serious matter.
“UNRWA is the primary humanitarian agency in Gaza, with over 2 million people depending on it for their sheer survival. Many are hungry as the clock is ticking towards a looming famine. The Agency runs shelters for over 1 million people and provides food and primary healthcare even at the height of the hostilities.
“In its ruling yesterday, the International Court of Justice ordered that “Israel must take immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to address the adverse conditions of life faced by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip”. These measures are aimed at preventing irreparable damage to the rights of Palestinians.
“The only way that this can be done is through cooperation with international partners, especially UNRWA as the largest humanitarian actor in Gaza. Some 3,000 core staff out of 13,000 in Gaza continue to report to work, giving their communities a lifeline which can collapse anytime now due to lack of funding.
“It would be immensely irresponsible to sanction an Agency and an entire community it serves because of allegations of criminal acts against some individuals, especially at a time of war, displacement and political crises in the region.
“UNRWA shares the list of all its staff with host countries every year, including Israel. The Agency never received any concerns on specific staff members.
“Meanwhile, an investigation by OIOS into the heinous allegations will establish the facts. Moreover, as I announced on 17 January, an independent review by external experts will help UNRWA strengthen its framework for the strict adherence of all staff to the humanitarian principles.
“I urge countries who have suspended their funding to re-consider their decisions before UNRWA is forced to suspend its humanitarian response. The lives of people in Gaza depend on this support and so does regional stability".
I understand this, but suspending these vital contributions just because a few workers have allegedly had a hand in the october attacks (still needs to be proven by another authority than the Israeli government though… I don’t trust them anymore to tell the truth on this matter to be honest) when millions of people are in immediate need of it, is not only cowardly and spineless, it’s also criminal.
I for one am very, very angry with my government to have placed us among those vile countries.
From a Swiss info website:
Des dignitaires juifs et musulmans ont lancé samedi un vibrant appel pour la paix depuis la ville martyre bosnienne de Srebrenica, à l’occasion de la Journée internationale de commémoration de l’Holocauste, au moment où des combats meurtriers continuent à faire rage dans la bande de Gaza.
Une “initiative judéo-musulmane pour la paix” a été signée dans le Centre mémorial du génocide de Srebrenica par le président de la Fédération mondiale des associations Bergen-Belsen et avocat américain, Menachem Rosensaft, et le chef religieux desq musulmans de Bosnie, Husein Kavazovic.
Tous deux ont déploré aussi bien les victimes israéliennes de l’attaque sanglante menée le 7 octobre dernier par le mouvement islamiste Hamas contre Israël, que les victimes palestiniennes de la riposte israélienne dans la bande de Gaza.
“La résistance à l’occupation ne peut pas justifier des actes criminels, comme l’appel à la lutte contre le terrorisme ne peut pas justifier des meurtres de civils et la punition collective”, a résumé le dignitaire des musulmans de Bosnie.
In English:
Jewish and Muslim dignitaries launched a vibrant appeal for peace from the Bosnian martyr town of Srebrenica on Saturday, on the occasion of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, as deadly fighting continues to rage in the strip from Gaza.
A “Jewish-Muslim peace initiative” was signed at the Srebrenica Genocide Memorial Center by the president of the World Federation of Bergen-Belsen Associations and American lawyer, Menachem Rosensaft, and the religious leader of the Bosnian Muslims, Husein Kavazovic.
Both deplored both the Israeli victims of the bloody attack carried out on October 7 by the Islamist movement Hamas against Israel, as well as the Palestinian victims of the Israeli response in the Gaza Strip.
“Resistance to the occupation cannot justify criminal acts, just as the call to fight against terrorism cannot justify the killing of civilians and collective punishment,” summarized the Bosnian Muslim dignitary.
I’ll amend your words a bit to convey my feelings.
Even if UNRWA have had few workers who were compromised with respects to their sympathies for Hamas (which might very well have led to them taking part in the October attacks) , denying funding for UNRWA is a serious mis-step (I thought of using the word crime but it’s the countries money to do as they see fit at any rate).
What’s needed is to NOT withhold funding for UNRWA and instead pressurize the UNRWA to ensure that the terrorist sympathisers (if any) are taken off the roles. Any UN organization/ NGO should not be having its workers involved in disputes which endanger their operations.
Israel needs to be punished. Perhaps its people will be in the future.
I don’t see them being punished in anyway. They are strong enough militarily and economically on their own (even without the added US funds they get).
Countries like Iran/ Pakistan might propose boycotts or their mullahs might preach hatred against them , but that’s not the attitude that the prosperous Islamic countries share.
What Israel has probably lost irrevocably is the chance to ensure peace in that region for another 2 decades. I hope the Israeli leadership is happy knowing that they’ve just led their population into an unwinnable war and their action would prompt more attacks in the future. Absolutely great leadership that , gambling on their population’s safety.
I can see terrorism on their soil being a bane for generations.
This , for sure. I’ve said as much.
They(Israeli leadership) had the opportunity to ensure safety for their citizens (alongside giving Palestinians a chance to live their lives in dignity) and they’ve proceeded to take a massive dump on it in the hopes of killing the 2 state movement.
Israelis will suffer for the actions of their govt. That’s for sure.
And to continue my feelings on UN organization’s.
Quite a lot of times , we’ve seen UN employees/representatives taking sides. This won’t be the only case where UN organization’s have employees who turn out to have links with terrorists. Look at Afghanistan for instance as well , the Taliban would push some people into UN jobs. Same case with Hamas.
It’s a classic case of money laundering in most of these cases.
There does need to be acknowledgement from the UN that they would be looking at revamping their employee structure in these sensitive areas. It’s a huge unneeded blow to the credibility of the UN Aid organisations if these cases happen and would only enable the narrative of Israel to be pushed futher.
Assuming that UN Aid workers are caught on tape (with proper evidence) , this will be very easy for say a Trump if and when to withhold funding to all other UN organizations as well (not that he needs an excuse)
And in a lot of cases , it’s a fact that the resources supplied by the UN or other aid agencies do get gobbled up by the local bigwigs.
Need not always be Hamas.
Money given for aid in terms of disaster relief for instance , how much does that trickle down to the common population ? Very negligible ?
I’m critical of UN(and related organisations) aid for primarily this reason. These organisations have given up on actually finding a solution to the problem and instead have continued to prolong the conflict. Their operations in Palestine does benefit Hamas for instance.
Israel has used this every effectively. Lazzarini provided assurances in November that UNRWA resources were not being used to directly support Hamas, and there was no institutional knowledge of Hamas’ plans. Essentially, that UNRWA is a politically neutral aid agency. A round of communications to the funding countries assured that them steps were being taken, and the organization could be trusted to secure its own neutrality.
This dossier provided abundant evidence hat UNRWA has been hopelessly compromised, to the point that a number of UNRWA employees quite literally have blood on their hands. I doubt anyone thinks Lazzarini supported Hamas’ plans, but that he and the organization are hopeless dupes that cannot meaningfully be trusted to direct resources to the actual funded purposes. Western donors aren’t going to put money into an organization that cannot meaningfully say where those resources are actually going. They are used to the usual awful UN corruption, but this diversion is different.
Lazzarini probably has to resign so that the UN can restore some credibility.
I think you’ll find the problem is that UN is unable to find more people from outside the region to work in these areas.
Who knows how the Hamas sympathizers working for the might have misled the UN in terms of reports etc ?
Fantastic piece of cynical political theatre by Netanyahu - hostage families were blockading the crossing into Gaza, which of course disrupts all traffic including aid. Netanyahu has ordered their removal in order to comply with the ICJ ruling.
The BDS movement is strongest in Europe, US, and Canada. So much so that some countries (US, UK) equated it with a threat to Israel (and hence anti-Semitic). The boycott campaigns in Malaysia and Indonesia have seriously impacted some brands (though I’m not sure if those brands are directly linked with Israel) and in Morocco (and country with normalized relation), some Israeli businesses are on verge of collapse.
I honestly don’t understand your argument. There are 13k people employed by the UNRWA. Twelve of them allegedly took part in the attacks. So, that compromises their credibility as a neutral organization? What about the 12’988 other ones, who have an utterly hard time to do their job and help civilians who bitterly need it?