An investigation by the international human rights group UN Watch revealed close ties between the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and Palestinian terrorist organizations.
As discovered by the human rights advocates, Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad not only infiltrated the UN-funded agency with a budget of $1.5 billion but also actively influence its activities.
The research results show that UNRWA provided Hamas militants with cover in the form of employment within the organization, allowing the terrorist group to interfere in the agency's key policies and operations in Gaza and Lebanon.
«UNRWA is not just a bystander in the Arab-Israeli conflict, but its main accomplice,» notes Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch. — By allowing terrorists to infiltrate its ranks and incite violence, UNRWA does not promote peace but perpetuates hatred and war.»
The report includes photographs of terrorist leaders with agency staff, as well as a detailed description of years of close cooperation between the UN agency's leadership and terrorist groups. The report accuses many members of UNRWA's leadership, including the current Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini, who in May last year at a meeting in Beirut made a deal with jihadist terrorist groups, allowing Hamas leader Fathi Ash-Sharif to remain as the director of a major UNRWA school and head of the UNRWA Teachers' Union. For many years, Ash-Sharif openly praised Hamas terrorist attacks, including on his Facebook* page, and published photos of his interactions with heads of terrorist organizations.
«People need to understand that UNRWA is not a firefighter, but an arsonist. The US and other Western countries, which allocate billions to the agency, need to wake up. Your money is being used to employ terrorists and create an infrastructure of hatred and violence,» noted Neuer.
UN Watch calls for the immediate disbandment of the agency, stating that the organization has become a conduit for terrorism and an accomplice to violence in the Middle East.
* Belongs to the Meta campaign, recognized in Russia as an «extremist» organization.