They could resettle some of the Canadians to Israel…
could be a tough sell, that.
Don’t you canucks want a holiday in the sun, get aboot in your swimming trunks?
Shocking
https://x.com/macaesbruno/status/1754652754331496906?s=46&t=wYI1UQq4Zm7qgLRSA8YMdw
Unless funding is resumed UNWRA will need to suspend operations by end of February/Early March.
Seems governments acted on Israel’s word, rather than evidence.
Not a great headline for the story - because the report barely touches on the evidence at all. The summary document is addressed at about the 1 minute mark, the corollary evidence not at all. The damning 4000+ member UNRWA Telegraph channel is not mentioned, a vast amount of the compromising evidence was simply available on social media. Over half the story is a discussion of the UNRWA reaction, and the rest is around the importance of UNRWA’s work. So the piece ends up saying
i) there is no real evidence that UNRWA was compromised - which is nonsense. There isn’t any real doubt that Hamas has significantly penetrated UNRWA, and enjoys widespread sympathy within the organization. Neither of those should be a surprise to anyone.
ii) UNRWA supplied the host governments with a list of employees - leaving the implication they have no response for vetting those employees, that somehow in this instance the burden was on Israel to register objections. It isn’t, and it is not only disingenuous to suggest otherwise, it is in fact dangerous. UN agencies have to have that independent capacity to have any semblance of neutrality.
That said, one of the themes in that story is bang on. The donors have to decide what they want within the realm of the feasible. If UNRWA is removed from the picture as Netanyahu is demanding, some other organization will need to take its place. Any such organization is necessarily going to need to engage an enormous number of local staff, and will immediately be subject to the same problems - likely worse, because of the necessary haste. The hypothetical neutral aid agency that exists in a vacuum and just delivers is not in the choice set.
UNRWA needs a change in leadership, and one which prunes back the political culture that has been allowed to grow inside the organization. The donors need to think in real terms - the choice is between providing aid through an organization that has many Hamas sympathizers and demand that active support is reined in, assurances can be provided that indirect financial support is not happening (Channel 4 said nothing about the dire state of UNRWA’s books, one of the major red flags), OR see massive starvation in about 3 weeks, which is simply too soon for any possible alternative organization to assume the role.
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There’s also a severe case of guilt tripping that the UNRWA is doing.
At this point , they are a severely compromised organization whose presence is doing more harm to the Palestinian cause than good.
It needs to have a revamp, cleansed off of the Hamas supporters.
Yeah I hear the dead sea is pretty great for swimming.
Starting with Trudeau , Jagmeet and Poliviere
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Yeah. I’ve read this before.
The Indian workers would probably cost a lot less than what’s paid to the Palestinians. Even if not in terms of salary, but the overall costs including availability issues
Ironic considering how Israel as a country treated the Jews from India who settled there , but the two countries make for strange bedfellows (United only by their common hatred of muslims)
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How are they going to find anyone to work for them in Gaza who has no animosity towards Israel?
Surely anyone who has spent their life there has been subjected to so much suffering while seeing their lands and rights shrinking continuously. How are they supposed to feel neutral towards the people responsible?
That doesn’t mean they have to support Hamas, but there are likely to be shades of opinion, and different levels of willingness to act against the oppressors.
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I did raise this point before and also mentioned that it’s a huge employer for people in Palestine , not only because of the money , but also because of the status that it infers on the people working there.
This is the post I’ve made on this
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13000 people being employed is a huge number. More so in countries like Palestine where the unemployment rates are skyhigh. These jobs are almost always seen as “government jobs” and have heavy competition for them
Ifthikar would probably know what I’m talking about.
But in most of the cases, in India atleast and I dare say in other 2nd and 3rd world countries as well. There’s a strong element of referral when it comes to these jobs namely because of the salary these jobs come with and also with the power that is inherent with these positions. It won’t be unheard of for people to pay bribes to get these jobs.
And if people accepting the bribes are responsible for the verification, then whatever UNRWA maintains about testing the antecedents of the employees is ultimately gone. Because there almost certainly is corruption and nepotism involved in the appointment of these jobs.
It would be far simpler for UNRWA to trim their workforce w.r.t boots on grounds. Maintain the same level of support etc but to directly be an employer is asking for trouble…
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My suggestion as mentioned above would be for UNRWA to trim their workforce , outsource the necessity to Palestinian organizations if needed. Anything , which probably reduces their overheads as an added benefit and negates the point that Israel is making about UNRWA being compromised. A direct UN employee shouldn’t be involved in terrorism. That’s a non negotiable.
Ideally , there should be pressure on Hamas to disband as an organization. But that pressure won’t happen as long as Israel continues its atrocities.
As people have said , it’s a fucking cyclic travesty perpetuated by two similar reprehensible organizations.
I’m fairly selective where I spend my time. When I saw “that vacation was the bomb” I don’t want to literally mean that.
New York Times says it has seen a report from Israel’s military that says at least 32 of the remaining hostages are believed to be dead
They are severely compromised, but I don’t think on balance they are causing harm. Leaving aside the Palestinian ‘cause’, without UNRWA in Gaza in March, there will be a catastrophe.
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Interesting read
Sure. I’d agree on the catastrophe
But the Palestinian cause has a lot to do with it. The UNRWA provided information about the situation in Gaza. With these revelations , this will be portrayed as an organization which is unreliable.
Countries can’t right now take the word of a UN relief organization at face value because of the extremist elements which have crept in. Despite the good that UNRWA has done in Palestine, the blowback to this will be immense.
That’s a huge loss of credibility and funding to the Palestinians at this point of time and directly leads to the catastrophe that may happen in March.