The United States in April raised some eyebrows in Israel when it agreed to resume funding the UNRWA, the controversy-plagued United Nations agency that provides cradle-to-grave assistance to Palestinian “refugees.”
The decision by President Joe Biden came after his predecessor, Donald Trump, cut hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to the West Bank and Gaza Strip — in part over fears that funds earmarked for both territories would be used to either incentivize terrorism, as is the case with the Palestinian Authority’s “Pay-for-Slay” policy, or further the genocidal ambitions of Hamas.
Moreover, questions remain unanswered as to whether providing any aid to the Palestinians violates existing US counter-terrorism laws.
Nevertheless, Biden’s top diplomat, Antony Blinken, has contended that the restoration of funding to the Palestinians “serves important US interests” and contributes to “security coordination and stability.”
As part of the windfall, the UNRWA was allocated $150 million.
However, a senior US official made clear that the move was contingent on the UNRWA sticking to a number of “rock-solid commitments,” including transparency, accountability and neutrality. The official clarified that “neutrality” specifically means that “in the context of the United Nations [there] is a zero tolerance for racism, discrimination and anti-Semitism.”
It is therefore surprising the UNRWA did not feel compelled to take more robust action when Geneva-based UN Watch uncovered numerous incidents of the agency’s teachers using their social media platforms to celebrate attacks on Israelis and spread anti-Jewish conspiracy theories.
According to a report released this month, there were 22 recent cases of UNRWA staff violating the agency’s rules. In one incident, Gaza-based math teacher Nahed Sharawi posted a picture of Adolf Hitler alongside a quote encouraging people to “enrich and enlighten your thoughts and minds.” For his part, West Bank-based teacher Husni Masri openly expressed online his thoughts on how Jews created the coronavirus, are determined to eradicate Islam and, more broadly, control the world.
UN Watch also noted that the cases it found were most likely the tip of the iceberg because its findings only included evidence from social media accounts of individuals who had identified themselves as UNRWA employees. UN Watch estimates the “actual number of UNRWA staff who incite violence and hatred includes many more of the agency’s 30,000 staff.”
One might assume UNRWA would, sensing such antisemitic outbursts could fall foul of the commitment it made to the United States, cut ties from the teachers in question.
But, alas, the powers that be at the body instead decided to go on the offensive. A statement posted on UNRWA’s website earlier this month slammed UN Watch for having a “deep history of unfounded and politically-driven assertions against the Agency.”
“Personnel who were found in breach, then, were either censured and/or subjected to financial penalties,” the statement added.
In response, Israel’s Ambassador to the United States and the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, wrote a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and UNRWA’s leadership demanding that blatantly antisemitic staff be dismissed and an inquiry established.
However, the UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini evidently believes that firing someone who thinks Jewish people invented COVID-19 would be a step too far. Instead, Lazzarini wrote back to Erdan to say staff would be offered training in “neutrality” and “tolerance workshops.”
It seems UNRWA thinks a workshop for someone who posted an image of Hitler alongside inspirational quotations adequately demonstrates its “zero tolerance” to antisemitism.
Indeed, one could not be faulted for thinking that, for UNRWA, “neutrality” entails opposition to all forms of racism and discrimination besides Jew-hatred.
Or perhaps the agency simply thinks antisemitism among its staff is the least of its problems right now.
Just this week, HonestReporting revealed that at least 4,000 Palestinian children will be unable to resume their studies in multiple UNRWA-run schools in the Gaza Strip. This is because Hamas has built a sophisticated network of tunnels beneath them and, in a bid to cover up its war crimes, is refusing to allow UN inspectors access.
This is despite UNRWA Deputy Commissioner Lenny Steinseth previously thanking Hamas for its “ongoing willingness to cooperate.”
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