The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has faced numerous allegations and accusations over its ties to terrorists, including its involvement in Hamas's terrorist massacres in Israel, but the scandal-hit agency is facing new challenges. is facing serious allegations of fraud.
Geneva-based NGO UN Watch has published part of the report. 150 page document “High-level UNRWA officials who are colluding with terrorists meet regularly,” Director-General Hillel Neuer told the Fox News Digital program.
Before releasing his document to the world, Neuer attempted to raise the matter directly with UNRWA Director-General Philippe Lazzarini. In his letter to Lazzarini, Mr. Neuer explained that Mr. Lazzarini's staff had previously complained that UN Watch did not submit its report to UNRWA for comment before publishing it. Mr. Neuer then detailed several attempts to meet privately with Mr. Lazzarini to discuss UN Watch's findings, noting that when UN Watch published its report, Mr. He explained that he would not be able to “claim without providing evidence.”
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A United Nations vehicle enters the UNRWA office in Jerusalem. April 2, 2024. (Yoav Dudkevich/TPS)
Neuer's group then published photos of Lazzarini and other UNRWA executives, including former officials. Mr. Pierre Krahenbuhl, UNRWA Executive Director; Meeting with an alleged terrorist leader. “You won't find these photos. [UNRWA officials’] “We found social media in our own way, and they don't post it,” he said.
Neuer pointed to two undated photos to Fox News Digital showing Lazzarini meeting with groups including members of terrorist organizations such as the Jihad Islamic Movement, Ansar Alliance and Hamas.
In another photo from late 2014, several UNRWA regional directors meet with Hamas official Ali Baraka. Neuer said he confirmed a report in Al Watan Voice that UNRWA officials wanted to “congratulate them.” [Baraka] On Hamas Day. ”
Hamas terrorists participate in military parade. (Reuters/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/File Photo)
In another example, Mr. Neuer posted a photo of a February 2017 meeting between former UNRWA chief Pierre Krahenbühl, Mr. Baraka, members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). He said he was able to find the records. And others. “We are united and no one can separate us,” Krahenbühl told parliament, according to UN Watch.
In September 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a “terrorist investigation” against Mr. Barakah and five other Hamas leaders for their role in the October 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attack that killed more than 40 Americans. , conspiracy to commit murder, and evasion of sanctions.'' 1,000 others.
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UNRWA Executive Director Pierre Krahenbühl speaks at a press conference in Amman, Jordan, August 30, 2018. (AP Photo/Raad Adayleh, File)
Krahenbuhl and his staff were investigated in 2019 for reports of “sexual misconduct, nepotism, retaliation, discrimination, and other abuses of power.” Krahenbühl resigned from his post but was appointed chair of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in April 2024. Key voices in Congress have called on Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Agency for International Development Director Samantha Power to “reconsider this appointment,” given Krahenbühl’s “disastrous tenure” as head of UNRWA. “We must persuade the ICRC.”
Fox News Digital spoke to the ICRC about photos of Krahenbühl posing with terrorist leaders and about Congressional concerns about his suitability for the position at the Red Cross. I asked a question. A spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the ICRC was “not present at the meeting and therefore cannot discuss the full scope of the discussions.”
They also note that Krahenbühl has “demonstrated through his work with the ICRC and decades of humanitarian experience that he has one objective: to secure aid to civilians in conflict areas. “Meetings with all the organizations that control access to the world are an important part of the International Cooperation Committee.” ICRC operations and other humanitarian organizations in conflict areas. ”
Allegations of hate in UNRWA education
The latest UN Watch documents also include interviews with UNRWA students filmed by a local Palestinian film crew over a three-week period in the summer of 2024. In one interview, The 14-year-old, a former pupil of UNRWA's Ain Alik co-educational school, said that at school he was taught to 'fight back and resist' so that 'Palestine will be liberated and our land will return to us by the grace of Allah'. I was taught,” he said. ” The child later explained that the solution for Jerusalem was “to kill the Jews.”
A second NGO, IMPACT-se, has reported extensively on educational materials used in UNRWA schools for more than 20 years. In its November 13 report, IMPACT-se named 12 high-ranking UNRWA principals, deputies, and training center directors or deputy directors who were members of Hamas or PIJ. The report notes that nine of the 12 people took part in the October 7 terrorist attack, with some “working as Nukba operatives” who are members of Hamas's special forces. There is. Two of the principals, who are members of both UNRWA and Hamas, led schools “underneath which Hamas tunnels were built.”
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June 20, 2023, UNRWA in Gaza. (Ahmed Zakot/SOPA Images/LightRocket, Getty Images)
The latest IMPACT-se review complements a March 2023 finding that two UNRWA schools were “promoted” by members of Hamas.[d] Now, IMPACT-se has named three more schools where Hamas operatives worked as UNRWA employees. The NGO found that the schools promoted “defamation and disapproval of Israel” and engaged in “unwarranted insertion.”[ed] Incorporates content that encourages hatred and violence against Israel into grammar practice. ”
IMPACT-se found UNRWA schools to be “shamelessly disrespectful”.[ing]“UNESCO’s standards include “peace-building, respect for non-Palestinian groups, and avoiding incitement to violence.”
The group's report cites information claiming that “more than 10% of 510 people.” [senior] “Employees of UNRWA's education system in the Gaza Strip” are members of PIJ or Hamas. Members of UNRWA are not permitted to be participants in terrorist groups designated by the United Nations Security Council. However, as Neuer explained, “the United Nations terrorist list,” Neuer said, means “there are virtually no Palestinian groups” on the list.
Fox News Digital spoke about the contents of the IMPACT-se and UN Watch documents, claims that UNRWA schools are not complying with UNESCO standards, and Lazzarini's response to his refusal to meet with Neuer. , contacted UNRWA media personnel multiple times.
UNRWA Secretary-General Philippe Lazzarini addresses the General Assembly on the opening day of the World Refugee Forum in Geneva. (Jean-Guy Payson/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
“UNRWA Director-General Philip Lazzarini has warned against the spread of disinformation against UNRWA,” Bill Dear, director of UNRWA’s representative office in Washington, told Fox News Digital. “It's meant to distract from the objective.” It's about dismantling the agency. ” repeat what was said Lazzarini shared on X After Neuer's document was made public, Deer said: “UNRWA double-checks its sources before giving oxygen to such accusations, becoming an echo chamber of disinformation and effectively inciting hatred and encouraging others. “We recommend questioning the intention to avoid condemnation.” People's lives are at risk. ”
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“What they don't tell you is that these children were filmed without their parents' knowledge or permission,” Deer said in an interview with UNRWA students for UN Watch. “Children were isolated and asked a series of leading questions designed to elicit answers that were not only misleading, but distorted and hopeless.”
The United States was among a number of countries that suspended support to UNRWA in January after initial evidence emerged that member states participated in the October 7 terrorist attacks. Congress has suspended funding to UNRWA until March 2025.
