Urges U.S. and Other Nations to Do the Same
Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) National President Morton A. Klein and Director of Research & Special Projects Liz Berney, Esq. released the following statement:
The ZOA strongly praises the Israeli Knesset for overwhelmingly voting (92 to 10) to outlaw Hamas-front UNRWA from operating in Israel. ZOA is especially proud that one of the Knesset bill’s initiators was ZOA’s former Israel office director, Knesset member Dan Illouz. ZOA is also proud that Israel’s parliament acted despite unconscionable pressures from the Biden administration, the UN and others to refrain from doing what is necessary to protect Israel’s citizens from UNRWA’s support for and active involvement in Hamas’ and Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s terrorism and Jew-hatred.
The law was aptly dedicated to the victims of violence linked to UNRWA, including murder victims Aner Shapira, Jonathan Samerano and Hersh Goldberg-Polin; hostages Or Levy, Eliya Cohen and Alon Ohel, and all the hostages and victims harmed by UNRWA terrorists.
For years, ZOA has been demanding that the U.S. must defund UNRWA, and take action against UNRWA. In February 2024, ZOA Coalition initiated and successfully obtained the overwhelming passage of a resolution at the World Zionist Congress’ Zionist General Council in Jerusalem, condemning UNRWA and calling for UNRWA to be dismantled.
ZOA has pointed out repeatedly that UNRWA teaches children in UNRWA schools to aspire to murder Jews, hides Hamas weapons in UNRWA facilities, is infiltrated by Hamas members, corrupt, has bloated employee rolls, and perpetuates providing “refugee rights” to millions of alleged “Palestinian” descendants who do not qualify as refugees under any normal, accepted legal definition of refugees. Fmr. Pres. Trump defunded UNRWA; but Pres. Biden promptly rescinded that policy and sent UNRWA hundreds of millions of U.S. tax dollars. (See, e.g., “ZOA Demands Biden Stop Arab Terror Funds to Hamas-Led UNRWA Schools,” Nov. 23, 2022; “Morton Klein: Trump Wisely Ends U.S. Funding to UNRWA,” Breitbart, Sept. 6, 2018.)
Similarly, fmr. Ambassador Nikki Haley commented this week: “We knew long before Oct. 7 that UNRWA spread anti-Israel and antisemitic hate. That’s why the U.S. stopped giving them hundreds of millions of dollars when I was at the UN. Biden gave the money back, no strings attached.”
Since October 7, 2023, the need to take action against UNRWA became even more pressing. It is crystal clear now that this is not simply a situation of “a few rotten apples.” Rather, UNRWA’s terror infiltration is systematic, widespread and pervades UNRWA’s highest levels. For instance:
- On October 7, 2023, numerous UNRWA employees murdered and abducted Israelis. In January 2024, Israel gave the U.S. detailed dossiers on a dozen UNRWA employees who actively took part in the October 7 massacre of 97 Jews at Kibbutz Be’eri, kidnapped a woman, handed out ammunition, brought rocket-propelled grenades stored in an UNRWA employee’s home, received text messages to report to Hamas muster points, etc.
- An UNRWA social worker murdered Yonatan Samerano at Kibbutz Be’eri. Yonatan’s body was then abducted to Gaza in an UNRWA vehicle. Yonatan’s bereaved mother, Ayelet Samerano, implored: “An UNRWA worker kidnapped my son. How can the UN pay this man’s salary?”
Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon asked while holding up a photograph of Hamas terrorists, including an UNRWA worker, carrying Yonatan’s body to load him into the UNRWA terrorist’s car: “Looking at this horrific image, one must ask, how does kidnapping and killing civilians fit into an UNRWA employee’s job description? Where in UNRWA’s mandate is this justified?“
- Also on October 7, UNRWA employee Mohammad Abu Itiwi, who was also a Nukhba commander in the Al Bureij Battalion of Hamas’ Central Camps Brigade, led the murderous attack on a bomb shelter on Route 232 near Re’im (site of the Nova concert). In this attack, Hamas/UNRWA terrorists murdered 16 innocent Israelis (including Avner Shapira, who bravely threw Hamas’ grenades back at the terrorists, and an Israeli-Arab who begged the Hamas/UNRWA terrorists to spare them); and abducted four Israeli civilians – including pianist Alon Ohel and American-Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who lost an arm in the Hamas/UNRWA assault and was later murdered by Hamas. (Nukhba is Hamas’ “elite” terror force – the worst of the worst. Itiwi was recently eliminated by the IDF.)
- Israel provided the UN and UNRWA with information multiple times regarding Hamas’ widespread, systematic infiltration of UNRWA, but no action was taken. For instance, in a July 4, 2024 letter to UNRWA, Israel provided the names and Hamas IDs of over 100 UNRWA employees who doubled as Hamas terrorist operatives, and demanded their dismissal from UNRWA. Yet again no action was taken. Israel’s letter further indicated that these terrorists were a “small fraction” of the “terrorists, members of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) . . . employed by UNRWA in the Gaza Strip, some of them holding high-ranking positions in UNRWA or in Hamas.” (See, e.g., Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon statement, Oct. 29, 2024; and Fox News report, July 11, 2024.)
- Over 30 UNRWA facilities in Gaza were found to contain terror infrastructures, reflecting a systematic abuse of UNRWA facilities’ status for terrorism. Hamas operated a high-end server farm directly under UNRWA’s Gaza headquarters, with communication and electricity cables connecting the UNRWA and Hamas compounds. Intelligence shows that Hamas considers UNRWA an essential asset both for maintaining its rule over Gaza and for exploiting its facilities to build terror infrastructure. (Israeli Government UNRWA-Hamas Linkage report.)
- Israel recently exposed that an UNRWA clinic in Gaza was being used as a weapons depot and launch site. (Amb. Danon statement.)
- The chairman of UNRWA’s teacher’s union in Lebanon, Sharif Abu al-Amin, was also a senior Hamas commander. Al-Amin directed an UNRWA school near Tyre, directed thousands of UNRWA teachers, was responsible for 40,000 UNRWA students, and posted incitement of terrorism on social media. (Israel recently eliminated him.)
- Over 10% of senior UNRWA educators in Gaza – school principals, deputy principals, directors and deputy directors of training centers – are members (often in senior military positions) of Hamas or Islamic Jihad.
A public Israeli government report provides details on a dozen such individuals, such as Deputy School Principal of UNRWA’s Maghazi Elementary B Boys School Ahmad Samir Mahmoud El Khatib, who doubles as a squad commander in Hamas’ Khan Yunis Brigade; and Deputy School Principal of UNRWA’s Nuseirat Prep B Boys School Abd al-Rahman Atiya Salem Abu Awad, who doubles as Platoon Commander in the Hamas Central Camps Brigade, Nuseirat Battalion, and took part in the October 7 massacre; and the School Principal of UNRWA’s Zaitun Prep A Boys School Mohammad Mohammad Juma Shuwaideh, who doubles as a Squad Commander in the Hamas Gaza Brigade.
- Reforming UNRWA and the UN has proven to be impossible. UNRWA has shown no inclination to investigate or dismiss over 2,000 of its employees affiliated with Hamas and other terrorist organizations. UNRWA – and the UN – do not even consider Hamas to be a terrorist organization. In February 2024, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths stated that “Hamas is not a terrorist group for us, as you know, it is a political movement,” and promoted a “solution which includes their [Hamas’] aspirations.”
In addition, UNRWA’s structure – a few international staff members “employing 13,000 local staff members . . . in an area controlled by a terrorist organization with a genocidal agenda,” dedicated to obliterating Israel, renders reforms hopeless. Further, purported UNRWA “reforms” announced over the past decade to mislead donor nations merely involved irrelevancies such as having local staff checking building signage, and were designed to be ineffectual at ferreting out Hamas’ and PIJ’s widespread infiltration of UNRWA staff and Hamas’ abuse of UNRWA facilities. (See Israel’s UNRWA-Hamas Linkage report.)
- Moreover, since October 7, UNRWA has proven to be inept at scaling up to deliver humanitarian aid to Gazans – UNRWA’s supposed purpose. UNRWA was responsible for bringing in only 14% of the aid since October 7. This fell to 9% in May 2024. (Id.) But what else would anyone expect from an entity whose real purpose is to act as a front group for Hamas, give Hamas members influential paid employment, hide weapons in Hamas facilities and teach children to become murderers?
In sum, UNRWA is not a humanitarian organization – and UNRWA can be readily replaced by more responsible actors among the 43 NGOs and other UN entities operating in Gaza; and by local civilian authorities in a post-war Gaza. As Ambassador Danon put it: “UNRWA is beyond redemption, beyond reform. For over a year, we have exposed UNRWA-Gaza as a terrorist front posing as a humanitarian agency. The scandals tied to UNRWA-Gaza are staggering, almost countless. . . There is no longer any plausible deniability regarding UNRWA’s infiltration by terrorists. Nor are there any excuses left. . . We must turn the page now.”
Kol Hakavod (all honor) to Israel’s Knesset for starting to turn the page by outlawing UNRWA in Israel. We urge the U.S. to support this action and do the same.