UNRWA is the problem, not the solution

UNRWA, the United Nations Relief & Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, was a fatally flawed organization at its inception 75 years ago, and since then has become one of the most tangible expressions of the UN’s anti-Israel bias.

- By ILAN FLUSS

With the start of the war in October 2023 and the subsequent harm caused to both Israelis and Palestinians by Hamas’ infiltration of UNRWA in Gaza, the situation has only become more acute. Yet too many in the international community have chosen to ignore this suffering, remaining entrenched in the unsubstantiated position that there are no viable alternatives to this aberrant agency.

Although Israel’s warnings that UNRWA is tainted by terrorism have been dismissed for years, after its personnel participated in the Oct. 7 massacre, killing and kidnapping Israelis, the overlap between Hamas and UNRWA became undeniable. Very quickly it became patently obvious to anyone willing to look that large numbers of UNRWA staff members also function as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) operatives and commanders.

Israel has provided extensive information about the agency’s staffers involved in terrorism, including a list of 100 Hamas members compiled to demonstrate the scope of UNRWA’s infiltration. Additional evidence uncovered by Israel contained the names of Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists embedded in UNRWA’s school system as principals and teachers. Examples include that of Naji Abu Aziz, a school principal and Hamas operative involved in military manufacturing, as well as Ahmad al-Khatib, who was a deputy principal at an UNRWA school while also serving Hamas as a ground combat expert and a squad commander in its Qassam Brigades.

Unfortunately, this very specific and credible data were largely ignored by UNRWA and to date, no meaningful actions or effective countermeasures have been implemented.