Gaza - What's Going On? - 9 other Western Governments Follow US in Pausing Funding for UNRWA: NYTimes / Tom McDermott
In what increasingly looks like a coordinated campaign to defund UNRWA, nine more Western countries - Canada, Finland, UK, Italy, Germany, Scotland, Netherlands, Switzerland, and Australia have announced that they are joining the US in 'temporarily pausing' their funding of UNRWA in response to Israeli claims that the some of the agency's personnel were involved in the Hamas attacks on 7 October and that one staff member may have kept an Israeli hostage prisoner in her apartment.
UNRWA has fired several employees and has said that it is investigating the cases. This raises important questions about how the firings took place before an investigation and on what evidence they were based. If the staff members did in fact take an active part in the attack or in holding hostages, there will be no question about their termination.
Still, UNRWA needs to prove that they followed a fair and open process, if the staff members bring their cases to the UN Tribunal. Even if the cases do not reach the tribunal, we should ask whether the staff members had the opportunity to hear the accusations, see the evidence and present their rebuttals?
Or, did UNRWA just seek to placate Israel and its partners through summary terminations of those Israel could name?
Beyond the questions of due process and justice for UN staff looms a bigger question of why five governments have coordinated in deciding to stop - even temporarily - their funding of UNRWA at such a crucial moment for humanitarian aid. - What proof did Israel provide to UNRWA and to these governments? Were there indications that the leadership of UNRWA somehow condoned or permitted these acts? - If, however, this involves a relatively few UNRWA staff who committed violent or criminal acts without the knowledge of UNRWA management, how do these individual cases justify the actions of the five governments?
My suspicion is that the coordinated actions of the five governments may be a campaign in support of an Israeli strategy to undermine and ultimately replace UNRWA with a new entity outside the UN system - one more beholden to an Israeli semi-permanent occupation or control of Gaza. Tom
Click here for the article - U.N. Aid Agency in Gaza Says Suspensions in Funding Threaten Crucial Humanitarian Work
See also: Al Jazeera - Palestinians Slam Suspension
Times of Israel - Israel Wants UNRWA Out of Gaza
If the UN agency has been involved in terrorist acts, this is a grave issue and concerned staff should be suspended to facilitate an investigation
ReplyDeleteUNRWA works hand in glove with Hamas. No surprise that donors are reconsidering their funding.
ReplyDeleteIt is not the first time that some countries stopped support to UNRWA. The creation of a fully funded artificial civil service in a parallel world left the political leadership in Gaza off the hook, which then was at liberty to adopt extremist views. If the political leadership would have been also in charge of social services, the people of Gaza would have held them accountable - also for seeking a principled solution that could have won greater international support.
ReplyDeleteAgree with Tom's assessment. Similar to what's going on in the US with the resignation of Harvard University's first African American president. It would not be surprising to me if 12 out of 13,000 staff had some ties to Hamas, but why has it taken three months and what is the proof Israel has provided?
ReplyDeleteIsrael took several months to reveal its allegations and did so the day after ICJ ruled that it was plausible that genocidal intent by Israel occurred. Staff hired by UNRWA sign an oath that they will not engage in any activity that is not in keeping with their status as International civil servants. If they violate that oath then that is on them, and UNRWA should not be punished in what appears to be collective punishment. I cannot understand why the 12 involved were not just suspended pending investigation.
ReplyDelete