UNRWA ludicrously claims that anti-@UNRWA ads are "hate speech."

UNRWA's latest press release shows that it simply cannot defined itself based on facts, so it is claiming that Israel is engaged in "hate speech."

Using commercial advertisement including billboards in several cities around the world and paid Google ads on multiple websites, the Government of Israel has stepped up its disinformation campaign against UNRWA.  

These ads are the latest in a series of a wider campaign against UNRWA by the Government of Israel, which continues to publicly call for dismantling the Agency.  

This latest global effort by a UN member state to label a UN agency as a terror organisation may amount to hate speech using corporations that are supposed to promote commercial products.  

This campaign is creating immense reputational damage to UNRWA...

Those responsible for the spread of disinformation, including advertisement companies must stop and be held accountable. Regulations must be put in place to control the spread of such damaging and possibly dangerous messages.  

 So UNRWA is trying to pressure advertising companies to censor ads because they are "disinformation" and "hate speech."

What, exactly, is the disinformation, and how, exactly, is this "hate speech"? 

The Israeli government site that details its charges against UNRWA says this:

New intelligence collected by Israel since October 7th shows that over 10% of the 510 employees in UNRWA's education system in the Gaza Strip who hold senior positions (school principals and their deputies, directors and deputy directors of training centers) are members of Hamas or the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, both of which are designated terror organizations.

 It shows details about 10 of the over 50 school principals and directors, showing which schools they headed and their terrorist affiliations.

I can find nothing from UNRWA that disputes these facts. 

Moreover, some of these schools that they headed had Hamas tunnels underneath, and many of them employed supplemental materials - under UNRWA's name -that glorifies terror and "martyrdom." (See the IMPACT-SE report.)

Can UNRWA point to a single example of "disinformation" here? Of course not.

A careful look at UNRWA's page disputing the charges against it indicate that it is spinning furiously. For example, it appears that the media misrepresented the Israeli claim above that over 10% of UNRWA senior school officials were associated with terrorism as saying that 10% of all UNRWA staff in Gaza were members of Hamas. UNRWA says that it had not received confirmation of the media claim, but ignores Israel's actual claim. Moreover, UNRWA says that as of January, Israel hadn't shared details of terror linked individuals, while Israel says that they did - in March.

There is not a single thing on the government website pointed to by these ads that UNRWA has shown to be false. 

Other evidence of UNRWA ties to Hamas, such as this sporting event sponsored by Hamas and promoted by UNRWA's school principal/Hamas operative as having "our boys" participating, are not mentioned or countered. (There were Hamas tunnels underneath that school, Al-Maghazi Boys Preparatory School B.)

So much for "disinformation." But what about "hate speech"?

Hate speech, by definition, is abusive or threatening speech or writing that expresses prejudice on the basis of ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or similar grounds.  Criticizing an organization in no way can be considered hate speech. On the contrary, it is free speech in its most classic sense - and UNRWA is evidently against free speech.

If UNRWA is claiming that ads that expose their ties to terror are Islamophobic, that indicates that they believe that Hamas represents Islam. 

The good news is that UNRWA is admitting that the campaign is damaging UNRWA's reputation. This is seventy years too late. 

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Yes, UN facilities used by Hamas may be attacked under international law

Last month, UNRWA chief  Philippe Lazzarini said:

Attacking, targeting or using UN buildings for military purposes are a blatant disregard of International Humanitarian law. UN staff, premises and operations must be protected at all times.

Since the war in Gaza began, over 180 Unrwa buildings were hit and more than 450 displaced people were killed as a result.

Unrwa shares the coordinates of all its facilities (including this school) with the Israeli Army and other parties to the conflict.

Targeting UN premises or using them for military purposes cannot become the new norm. This must stop and all those responsible must be held accountable.

Does international law give UN facilities any additional protections beyond what all civilian objects receive?

From reading recent articles about Israel striking Hamas members in UN facilities, that seems to be the impression given. For example, NPR said, "Striking U.N. facilities is prohibited under international law. But Israel argues that Hamas' use of those facilities also violates international law and makes them a legitimate target." The use of the word "also" makes it sound like Israel's argument is that it admits that hitting the UN facilities violates international law but that the law doesn't apply in this case, when that is not Israel's argument. Israel says that when Hamas uses those facilities, they are no longer considered civilian. 

It doesn't make sense that UN facilities should be more protected than, say, a non-UN school or a mosque. If it is hosting terrorists or military assets, it becomes a military asset.

A 2017 paper published by the US Naval War College deals with exactly this point. "The Limits of Inviolability:The Parameters for Protection of United Nations Facilities during Armed Conflict" examines when UN facilities become legal to attack.

UN facilities around the world enjoy protections enshrined in the 1946 Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations (CPIUN). In particular, Article 3 affirms that “the premises of the United Nations shall be inviolable.” This protection helps to enable the UN—and its many components, agencies and other offshoots—to carry out the critical work of protecting, feeding and supporting individuals and communities around the world in tense and violent situations. At the same time, in situations of armed conflict, LOAC governs the conduct of hostilities, including the targeting of persons and objects and the protection of civilians, the civilian population, civilian objects, and specially-designated objects from attack. The interplay between these two legal frameworks provides the foundation for understanding the protection of UN premises during armed conflict—and the limits of that protection. 

The 58-page paper analyzes various situations that apply directly to the current war:

UN facilities that are used for military purposes will become military objectives and liable to attack, like any other civilian object. Indeed, the claim of absolute inviolability rests on the incorrect notion that there are some objects that can never be attacked, notwithstanding the fact that one side is using them to launch attacks or for other military purposes. LOAC simply does not include such a concept as “never target.” 

Rather, the analysis under Article 52(2) of Additional Protocol I centers on whether the use of the object in question makes an effective contribution to military action—the first part of the definition of military objective—and whether its destruction, capture or neutralization offers a definite military advantage. Many of the examples reported during the 2014 Gaza conflict and earlier conflicts—storing weapons in residential buildings, schools, mosques, churches or hospitals; and launching rockets from in or near civilian buildings—fit directly within this construct. As the U.S. Department of Defense’s Law of War Manual states, “objects that contain military objectives are military objectives,” including storage and production sites for military equipment (which certainly includes mortars and rockets) and buildings or other facilities “in which combatants are sheltering or billeting.”  For example, the 2014 UN Board of Inquiry examining incidents from the 2014 Gaza conflict noted that in one incident, where Israeli forces destroyed portions of an UNRWA school being used as an observation post and command and control structure, Israeli forces found “a Palestinian Islamic Jihad operational map and other military equipment” in the school.

The author's conclusion is that the inviobility of UN facilities is not absolute, and in fact essentially the same as for any civilian objects under the laws of armed conflict (LOAC.)

LOAC provides the appropriate analytical legal tools to understand the protections UN facilities enjoy during armed conflict and the limits of those protections. Beyond the formal relationship between the privileges and immunities law of the UN and LOAC and aside from the inherent limits on the CPIUN’s application to military operations, LOAC’s framework demonstrates precisely why absolute inviolability, even in the face of military use, cannot be the rule for UN facilities or any other protected objects during armed conflict. Each of the protections, obligations and rules examined above contribute directly to and form the foundation for LOAC’s core goal of protecting civilians during conflict. They also represent the delicate balance between military necessity and humanity that lies at the heart of LOAC. Interpreting rights, obligations and protections during conflict in a manner contrary to LOAC’s core purposes will only serve to exacerbate suffering during conflict, thus undermining the law’s central objective of enabling “armed forces to achieve their strategic military objective while mitigating, to the extent feasible, the humanitarian suffering re-sulting from armed conflict.” If UN facilities are absolutely inviolable with regard to both attacks and use for military purposes, there is no mechanism to protect against the use and exploitation of such facilities for military purposes. First, the prohibitions against such use are insufficiently enforced. Second, the armed groups and armed forces that engage in such improper use are clearly not concerned about LOAC compliance or any possible public condemnation. Third, such groups gain an unreasonable operational benefit as a result if they can shield their military forces and equipment from attack; and fourth, these groups reap a substantial propaganda windfall in the event of any attack on their forces, equipment or positions near or in such facilities because the attacking party automatically faces public condemnation and criminal responsibility. 

Inviolability of UN facilities in all locations and situations is essential. However, the idea of absolute immunity, as framed by many responses to damage to UN facilities in Gaza, runs counter to the very framework of LOAC, which balances the protection for certain sites (such as hospitals or religious and cultural property) with the legitimate needs of military operations in the face of fighters abusing that protection. Although the urge to demand that such inviolability be absolute is understandable, granting protection to those misusing protected sites ultimately harms only the civilians in desperate need of the UN’s services.

Those complaining about Israeli strikes on UN facilities that are hiding Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists rarely express any condemnation of the misuse of those facilities that force Israel to attack to begin with. 

(h/t Irene)

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Everyone in Gaza knew that Hamas built weapons tunnels under UNRWA schools - since 2008!

Rafah smuggling tunnel, 2010

The Palestine Press Agency, a pro-Fatah news site that no longer exists, reported in March 2008:

 A reliable source revealed to the Palestine Press News Agency, “The outlaw Hamas movement is digging tunnels under the densely populated western camp, specifically in the Qatatuta camp area in the city of Khan Yunis, in the south of the Gaza Strip.”

The source said, "Hamas militias are digging these tunnels that lead to the UNRWA  school in the camp as part of their plan to store heavy weapons (Dushka machine guns and missiles) in tunnels under the students' schools."

The source added, "While Hamas militias were digging a tunnel in the area, they broke one of the main water pipes in the camp, which led to water leaking onto the neighboring residents, which sparked the residents' anger at these foolish actions."

A couple of months later, the same news site reported on a network of tunnels in Khan Younis that went under a number of elementary and secondary schools as well as a Gaza City tunnel underneath the Islamic University of Gaza,

This is 2008. Residents knew about it then. And there is no way they didn't know about the thousands of tunnel shafts that Hamas dug in homes, in cemeteries and in schools since then. 

In fact, in the comments, one person named Samer from Khan Younis added information about other tunnels he knew about, under mosques and houses.

Firstly, Yunus Al-Astal has at least three tunnels around his house on the eastern line. Secondly, Fawad Abu Marouf has two tunnels, one of which is Mariout in the Halima Mosque near his house, and there is another tunnel that leads to Ibn Ummah’s house east of Khan Yunis’ license. Amjad Abu Al-Tajja has a tunnel that leads in only three directions. Al-Muttaqeen Mosque in Al-Bahr Street has a large weapons storehouse supervised by Mounir Abu Hatab, an explosives storehouse in Omar Al-Najjar’s house in the Rantissi area, a lathe, a weapons storehouse, and four tunnels near Al-Salam Hospital on the eastern line road.

At the time, in 2008 and over the next several years, Western media reported on tunnels - but only on smuggling tunnels underneath the Egyptian border. As far as I recall, no one reported about tunnels wholly inside Gaza that were planned specifically as military assets and specifically to make Gza civilians into human shields above them - tunnels that were storage for weapons systems and escape routes (and bomb shelters!) for terrorists and Hamas leaders in 2008.

Yet Gaza residents knew. Everyone knew. That includes every reporter living in Gaza.  (Have you noticed any media outlet apologizing for ignoring and covering for Hamas crimes for the past decade and a half? )

And UNRWA knew this as well. The agency officially tasked with protecting "refugees" did not do a thing or say a word about weapons caches directly under their schools. Indeed, some of the commenters complained that the publication of the article - not the tunnels themselves - put students at risk because Israel would attack the tunnels. 

Let's put to bed the lie that Hamas tunnels were secretly built and that Gazans didn't know, that the UN didn't know, that reporters didn't know. Everyone in Gaza knew about them since at least 2008, and with very few exceptions, they didn't say a negative word and chose to protect Hamas, either out of solidarity or out of fear.

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Palestinian leaders defend UNRWA - and their reasons are exactly why it SHOULD be shut down

Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority and the chairman of the PLO, criticized the nations who are suspending aid to UNRWA.

Read his words carefully, because they say exactly why UNRWA should be dismantled.

The Palestinian Presidency expressed today its strong rejection of the oppressive campaign led by the Israeli government against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA).

“The campaign aims to liquidate the issue of Palestinian refugees, contradicting UN Resolution 302, based on which the UNRWA was established on December 18, 1949, and other UN resolutions related to the refugee issue,” said the Presidency in a statement.

The Presidency emphasized that “the refugee issue is at the core of the Palestinian cause, with dozens of UN resolutions adopted on the matter. There is no solution to the Palestinian issue except for the return of refugees, in accordance with Resolution 194.”

His reasons for maintaining UNRWA are not because of humanitarian aid. He is stating - as he has stated countless times before - that the purpose of UNRWA is to keep the issue of "refugees" alive, with the ultimate aim to destroy Israel via the fictional "right of return" of millions of descendants of 1948 refugees to Israel.

Indeed, that is UNRWA's real purpose. It has taught generations of Palestinians not to accept a two state solution but that all of the area from the river to the sea is theirs and theirs alone, and Israel is an illegitimate state stealing their land. 

So when Abbas says that UNRWA must be funded, he is not talking about it to help feed or house or treat Palestinians in Gaza. He couldn't care less about them. He is saying that UNRWA is an essential Palestinian weapon to destroy the Jewish state, and that's why it should be funded to the tune of billions by the world. 

A similar message came from Hussein Al-Sheikh, Secretary-General of the Executive Committee of the PLO and possible successor to Mahmoud Abbas, who also downplayed the aid aspect funding UNRWA.

 "We urge the countries that have declared a halt to their support for the UNRWA to immediately reverse their decision, which carries significant political and humanitarian risks." 

Note how "political" is ahead of "humanitarian."

UNRWA insists, against all evidence, that it is not a political organization. But Palestinian leaders know the truth - it is little but political. 

At any rate, Palestinian leaders are explaining exactly why they want UNRWA to be funded  -and it has nothing to do with helping Gaa civilians. It is their atom bomb to destroy Israel. 

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Most UNRWA funds go towards incitement against Jews in schools, not to food or shelter

The world is finally taking a critical look at UNRWA after Israel provided its donors with a dossier showing that at least 12 of its employees were actively participating in terror on October 7.

The accusations are contained in a dossier provided to the United States government that details Israel’s claims against a dozen employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency who, it says, played a role in the Hamas attacks against Israel on Oct. 7 or in their aftermath.

The dossier said that Israeli intelligence officers had established the movements of six of the men inside Israel on Oct. 7 based on their phones; others had been monitored while making phone calls inside Gaza during which, the Israelis say, they discussed their involvement in the Hamas attack.

Three others got text messages ordering them to report to muster points on Oct. 7, and one was told to bring rocket-propelled grenades stored at his home, according to the dossier.

Predictably, UNRWA's supporters are screaming about nations withholding funds, claiming that UNRWA services are essential. 

[UN Secretary General Antonio] Guterres strongly appealed to the governments that suspended contributions to, at least, guarantee the continuity of UNRWA’s operations.

“The abhorrent alleged acts of these staff members must have consequences. But the tens of thousands of men and women who work for UNRWA, many in some of the most dangerous situations for humanitarian workers, should not be penalized,” he said.

“The dire needs of the desperate populations they serve must be met.”

A look at UNRWA's staff and budget tells a different story, though.

Most of the accused terrorists were teachers, and two others also worked at UNRWA schools. One was a social worker.

This is not surprising. The vast majority of UNRWA employees in Gaza work for UNRWA schools. According to UNRWA's 2021 budget, 83% of UNRWA employees in Gaza work in their education program. 

UNRWA controls a multi-nation school system with over half a million students - all of them in areas where there is a public education system. It is not the world's job to provide free education to Palestinians when they live in areas that the governments already provide public education to all.

We know that UNRWA schools teach incitement against Israel and Jews. They encourage students to aspire to "martyrdom" - dying while attacking Jews. The teachers have been directly supporting  terror attacks for years, - I exposed the issue over a decade ago.  And these are all being taught by thousands of employees - over 10,000 in Gaza alone - who work for the UNRWA education system. 

The bulk of UNRWA's budget doesn't go to food or housing or works programs, but to teaching kids to hate Jews and Israel. 

There are no less than 23 UN entities in Gaza, some of which actually provide essential services. There are so many UN agencies in Gaza that there are two agencies (OCHA and UNSCO)  to coordinate the other agencies. UNRWA is by far the largest, but given that most of its budget is spent on schools that are not even open and paying teachers who are not teaching, the appeals to keep it funded ring hollow. 

If critics of defunding UNRWA really cared about Gaza civilians, they would be asking for nations to compensate for suspending UNRWA funds by giving more money to UN agencies that actually do important work as their main functions, like the World Food Programme or the World Health Organization. While they are also biased against Israel, they at least do real work, and have professionals who create plans on how best to help Gaza civilians under trying circumstances. 

Those who insist on funding an agency where most of its budget does not help people in need of food or medicine don't really care about Gaza. They care about UNRWA's main mission of keeping the fictional "refugee" issue alive forever and delegitimizing Israel. 

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Why isn't UNRWA publicizing the names of their employees that were killed?

Since October, UNRWA has been keeping a tally of how many of its employees have been killed in Gaza. As of now, the total is 151.

But for some reason, they  aren't releasing a list of their names.

A few of them are mentioned in specific communications, but there is no single online memorial where people can see their biographies, their positions, or the circumstances of their deaths. 

The closest that they do are videos showing the first names only of the casualties. 

Isn't that strange? What organization doesn't publish the names of its victims?

The only reason I can think of is that if they would publish the names, people could look up the their social media and see that many of them were celebrating October 7, or otherwise support terrorism.  And it is altogether possible that many of them were legitimate targets themselves - either performing  military support for Hamas, or sheltering Hamas members or weapons in their homes. 

There is something odd going on. 

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UNRWA teachers celebrated massacre of Jews on Telegram group

UN Watch reports:

A Telegram group of 3,000 UNRWA teachers in Gaza is replete with posts celebrating the Hamas massacre of October 7th minutes after it began, praising the murderers and rapists as “heroes,” glorifying the “education” the terrorists received, gleefully sharing photos of dead or captured Israelis and urging the execution of hostages.

“This is the motherlode of UNRWA teachers’ incitement to Jihadi terrorism,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, the Geneva-based non-governmental organization that monitors the world body.

The Telegram chat group is meant to support UNRWA teachers, and contains dozens of files with UNRWA staff names, ID numbers, schedules and curriculum materials.

In addition, UNRWA teachers regularly share videos, photos and messages inciting to Jihadi terrorism, and openly celebrating the Hamas massacre and rape of civilians.

Read the whole thing - they list a lot of specific examples.

I looked at the group myself (UNRWA will probably take it down in the coming hours) and saw a number of celebratory posts.

'"Umm Youssef" wrote a number of pro-jihadist posts ("Yousif's Mother" above), including "I want a mother from the mothers of these heroes to teach me how to raise my children."

"Shams Al-Shamousa" praised the terrorists: "They were taught in mosques with the established faith.

They breastfed jihad and resistance with their mothers’ milk."

"FR Mohamed" added, "They were raised on the sound faith and the Qur’an...and that death for the sake of God is our highest wish."

"Ibrahim Ibrahim" wrote, "After these scenes, there is no worry that people will die. These are historic moments. It doesn't matter what comes after that."

"Israa Mahmoud Abu Rizq" also praised the terrorists: "Decorations and the best of the youth of the sector, no women, no drugs, no corruption, no Tik Tok dancing, most of them are well-off, between newlyweds and couriers, memorizers of the Book of God, attending mosques, hearts as white as snow, fasting and standing. They are better than all of us. May God accept them in Paradise.♥️"

There were also rumors the next day that Hebron youth would repeat the attack in Kiryat Arba, with much anticipation. 

Only one person I found seemed irritated, saying that the purpose of the group was not war news but UNRWA jobs. Everyone ignored him.

These are the people teaching the youth of Gaza, paid by the West. Are they any better than Hamas teachers?

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