The controversial United Nations aid agency serving Palestinians in Gaza was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on October 7, despite some of its staff being accused of killing and kidnapping Israelis. Nominated for an award.
Norwegian Labor Party lawmaker Asmund Aukrst told a local newspaper that he recommended the United Nations Relief and Works Agency “in recognition of its long-term work providing vital support to Palestine and the region in general.”
“This work has been extremely important for more than 70 years, and has become even more important in the last three months,” said Auskurst, who is also vice-chairman of the Norwegian parliament’s foreign affairs committee.
The nomination for the iconic award comes after Norwegian authorities joined the Western ally over an Israeli document describing how more than a dozen UNRWA employees, including several teachers, took part in the Hamas massacre in October. The move comes amid efforts to persuade the government to reconsider its decision to cut funding to the agency. This includes staff who have kidnapped and murdered people.
Approximately 1,200 UNRWA personnel are known to have ties to terrorist organizations, the document claimed.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the document’s findings were “very reliable.”
After last week’s revelations, the United States was among the first to cut funding to UNRWA.
“The United States is deeply troubled by allegations that 12 UNRWA personnel may have been involved in the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel,” the State Department said in a statement.
Other countries quickly followed suit, including Canada, Italy, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Finland.
But the group’s supporters say it is providing needed aid to residents of the Gaza Strip, many of whom are facing hunger and disease as the war rages on.
The United Nations says a halt to aid by major donors could jeopardize UNRWA’s operations within weeks, with top U.N. humanitarian official Martin Griffiths telling the world body’s Security Council on Wednesday that Operations there are “completely dependent on UNRWA’s operations.” It is well-funded and operational. ”
“Withholding funding for the alleged actions of a small number of individuals is a highly disproportionate issue,” he said.
Griffiths’ comments were echoed by Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Wald Eide, who said the approach was “in a sense tantamount to collective punishment for millions of Palestinians.” According to the New York Times.
But support for the aid agency remains low among U.S. lawmakers, and Congress is considering several measures to cut off more than $1 billion in total funding to the organization.
On Thursday, a coalition of 26 state attorneys general sent a letter to Congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle calling on the federal government to permanently end U.S. financial aid to UNRWA.
“It is time for Congress to stop funding this organization that rapes, murders, and kidnaps innocent people. “It shows that he does not have the will, desire or ability to walk away from the United States,” the group wrote. letter, Retrieved by Washington Free Beacon.
“There is no reason to fund organizations that support terrorist activities,” the statement said. “It has been clear for some time that UNRWA is doing just that.”
Since the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, UNRWA leaders have faced threats and attacks as they seek to remain neutral in the conflict. The Wall Street Journal reported.
A staffer who once oversaw the firing of UNRWA staff suspected of links to Hamas and the removal of weapons from schools was prompted to leave the area in 2015 after receiving a box full of grenades.
The newspaper said that in the year before he left, weapons were found at three schools run by UNRWA, and some went missing.
Some UNRWA schools are also believed to be hiding tunnels where Hamas officials may be holding hostages.
The United Nations is currently investigating reports that UNRWA officials took part in Hamas’s brutal invasion of Israel and fired most of the 12 people accused.
Two of the personnel named in Israeli documents died in the war.
The investigation into the allegations could take up to four weeks, the Times said.
with post wire
