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Wednesday, September 02, 2015

EoZ interviewed by TheBlaze on UNRWA hate

Yesterday I was interviewed by TheBlaze about my research into UNRWA's online hate.

The news site nicely went through all of my research since 2012 revealing UNRWA's violations of its own policies:

The author of a pro-Israel blog who has been investigating United Nations’ employee Internet activity said he has found numerous anti-Semitic and jihad-encouraging posts from U.N. school principals and teachers.

In response to the allegations, a spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency Wednesday asserted that three postings it examined were from “imposter” accounts.

“We always investigate credible reports of neutrality violations by our staff and take appropriate action, including disciplinary action where violations by UNRWA staff members are established,” UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness told TheBlaze in an email, adding that the organization condemns “unreservedly” exhibitions of racism. He declined when asked to forward two of the offensive posts that he described as containing “racists incitement.”

If any of the allegations are true, Gunness told Israel’s Channel 10 earlier this week, “it is indeed a very big problem, and we will deal with it.”
Imposter accounts?

Let's look at the person who posted the antisemitic graphic I pointed out on Monday, Ramy Alshorbasy, making fun in Arabic of Jews being targeted by terrorists in cars:



As I noted then, his photo collection includes dozens of photos taken at his UNRWA school.


He lists scores of UNRWA employees among his many online friends.

His UNRWA affiliation is not by any measure the primary way he identifies himself, he has many posts on many topics. 

You are invited to browse his page yourself. To pretend that it is an elaborate hoax, among scores of other people pretending to be UNRWA employees who also happen to post antisemitic and pro-terror images, is one of the most bizarre excuses I can imagine.

Yet Chris Gunness would rather make that claim than admit that there are serious problems with UNRWA teachers and staff.

The rest of the Blaze article is very good too. Excerpts from my interview:

One of the more incendiary images a pro-Israel blogger found posted on the Facebook page that appeared to be by an UNRWA employee. It showed a stereotypical Jew draining the blood of a child. UNRWA’s spokesman declined to comment to TheBlaze about this or 11 other images forwarded by a U.N. watchdog to the international organization. (Image courtesy: Elder of Ziyon blog)
One of the more incendiary images a pro-Israel blogger found posted on a Facebook page that appeared to belong to an UNRWA teacher. It shows a Jew draining the blood of a child, using a stars and stripes fork. UNRWA’s spokesman declined to comment to TheBlaze about this or 11 other images forwarded by a U.N. watchdog to the international organization. (Image courtesy: Elder of Ziyon blog)
“I have discovered dozens of examples of jihadist, anti-Semitic and even pro-Hitler posts on Facebook by UNRWA employees. And I find more every day,” the author of the Elder of Ziyon blog told TheBlaze.
Since starting his probe in 2012, the blogger has found posts including Jews drinking the blood of Palestinian children, Palestinians running over Jews, Jews portrayed in stereotypically negative ways, anti-Jewish citations from Islamic texts, and incitement to terrorism.
The blogger said that nearly every time he has exposed the virulent posts and alerted the U.N. agency, they have been “silently removed” from the Internet without a public acknowledgement or apology from UNRWA.
The pro-Israel blogger Elder of Ziyon last week found this photo on another apparent UNRWA teacher’s Facebook promoting Palestinian violence. (Image courtesy: Elder of Ziyon blog)
The pro-Israel blogger Elder of Ziyon last week found this photo on another apparent UNRWA teacher’s Facebook promoting Palestinian violence. (Image courtesy: Elder of Ziyon blog)
Accusing the U.N. agency of exhibiting “reprehensible” behavior, the blogger said some teachers and principals “are not embarrassed in the least about their explicit anti-Semitism.”
“There is no doubt that their attitudes are being given over to their students, many of whom become UNRWA teachers themselves,” he said.
The blogger in 2012 found an elementary school lesson posted online that appeared to glorify jihad “against the Jews and the Crusaders” and the beauty of becoming a “martyr.” He said that after his post, the link was “silently removed.”
He also found that in both 2013 and 2014, UNRWA schools in Gaza apparently claimed to cite an Islamic text to support a clean schools initiative by suggesting it was a way they differentiate themselves from unclean Jews.
As an aside, the blogger pointed out that some of the students were being taught Koran at the U.S.-funded U.N. schools, even though some of the students are Palestinian Christians. The Bible is not taught in American taxpayer-funded U.S. public schools, but at least some students at the Palestinian schools were studying with Koran teachers.
 I'm keeping the pressure on UNRWA - more and more people are waking up to the fact that the system is based on lies that they tell the West, and this scandal proves it in a way that anyone can check the facts for themselves.