UNRWA fires 12 staffers who allegedly took part in October 7 Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel, US cuts funding
The United Nations organization for Palestinian refugees has fired a dozen staffers over claims they took part in the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks on Israel, the agency said Friday.
Israeli authorities handed over the information alleging that 12 United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) employees were involved in the murderous rampage in southern Israel, said the agency’s commissioner-general, Philippe Lazzarini.
“To protect the agency’s ability to deliver humanitarian assistance, I have taken the decision to immediately terminate the contracts of these staff members and launch an investigation in order to establish the truth without delay.”
The US immediately cut funding to the agency in the wake of the allegations surfacing, the State Department said — marking a significant reversal from the Biden administration’s strong support for UNRWA.
“The United States is extremely troubled by the allegations that 12 UNRWA employees may have been involved in the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel,” the department’s statement said.
“Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on January 25 to emphasize the necessity of a thorough and swift investigation of this matter.”
Soon after taking office, the Biden administration resumed the funding to the agency that had been abruptly cut off in 2018 during Donald Trump’s presidency.
Since then, the US has funneled more than $730 million to the organization for refugee assistance in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The fresh allegations sparked prompt calls among Republicans — including Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) — for the US to permanently defund the UNRWA.
“For the last three years Joe Biden’s decision to send US taxpayer dollars to Gaza with no oversight and no accountability has allowed for the proliferation of abhorrent and antisemitic educational materials to be used across Gaza and filled the coffers of Hamas,” Stefanik said in a statement.
“The Biden Administration’s limited suspension of funds to UNRWA to cover up for their disastrous mistake is unacceptable. Joe Biden must permanently cut off all funding to this antisemitic and violent organization.”
Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) added that the move to suspend funding was “long overdue” but a “feeble response to the massive and irrefutable evidence of UNRWA’s extensive and long-term connivance, complicity, and even cooperation in Hamas’s terror campaign.”
“What we need is a comprehensive, fact-based approach to UNRWA that stops all funding and conditions future funding on a complete head-to-toe reform and restructuring of UNRWA,” Smith added.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) agreed, both issuing statements saying the agency should “never receive” another dime from the US.
It comes after the White House forcefully defended UNRWA’s “great work in Gaza” earlier this month when House Republicans demanded a probe into allegations that the agency aided Hamas terrorists with “food, fuel and supplies” meant for humanitarian relief amid the war.
“UNRWA … a U.N. Relief Agency, does important work,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on Jan. 4 when asked if the US planned to reassess how it dealt with the organization.
“In fact, they’re doing a lot of heavy lifting right now in terms of trying to get food, water, medicine to the people of Gaza, all up and down the Strip. They’re doing a lot of work, and they’re doing it in harm’s way — very much so in harm’s way.”
Blinken, meanwhile, had only a month ago visited UNRWA’s offices in Jordan, where he too praised the agency’s work in Gaza and lamented the deaths of dozens of its employees in the conflict.
The latest developments involving UNRWA come after the agency has been dogged by claims in recent years that it has harbored personnel who have incited violence against Jews.
It has been accused of employing teachers who “regularly call to murder Jews” and teaching from textbooks “that glorify terrorism, encourage martyrdom, demonize Israelis and incite antisemitism,” according to a joint March 2023 report by the non-governmental organization UN Watch and the Israeli nonprofit Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education.
Some GOP lawmakers ripped the Biden administration on Friday for not taking notice of the “extensive evidence” sooner — and only just thwarting the flow of funds to the organization.
“For years there has been extensive evidence that UNRWA is not a neutral arbiter, and that their anti-Israel bias is widespread and systemic. Yet the Biden administration inexplicably re-started funding the organization in 2021,” House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Tx) said.
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) added: “For years, the Biden Administration coddled UNRWA and ignored Republican calls for reform. They’re now following our lead and it’s only a matter of time before UNRWA will have to answer for its cover ups and complicity with Hamas.”
With Post wires
