A new federal lawsuit alleges that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) “aided and abetted” Hamas’ terrorist attacks in Israel on October 7 by sending $1 billion in aid to the Gaza Strip, then embezzled the cash to smuggle weapons and explosives into the Gaza Strip.
According to the lawsuit, UNRWA continues to send funds from its Manhattan bank accounts to war-torn areas to fund schools and hospitals and pay staff, knowing that Hamas is diverting some of the funds to fund terrorist attacks.
“Hamas did not commit these atrocities without assistance,” said the complaint filed Monday in Manhattan federal court by about 100 Israeli plaintiffs, including survivors of the Oct. 7 attacks.
The sneak attack on Israel, which included the killing of innocent civilians at the Nova music festival, was “aided and abetted” by senior officials at UN agencies who knew that they had funded Hamas’ “terror infrastructure” for more than a decade and “provided Hamas with the U.S. dollar in cash to pay smugglers of weapons, explosives and other terrorist materials,” the lawsuit charges.
“Whether the defendants knew of the exact plans for the attack or its scale is irrelevant to their culpability. They knew that Hamas had an openly declared goal of targeting and killing innocent civilians in violation of international law and its treaties with the United States, and they knew that the material support they were providing would enhance Hamas’ ability to do so,” the complaint added.
“The resulting atrocities were foreseeable and the defendants are guilty of aiding and abetting Hamas’s genocide, crimes against humanity and torture.”
The suit seeks unspecified damages and names a number of defendants, including the aid agency’s director general, Philippe Lazzarini, and the agency’s former chief, Pierre Krähenbühl.
It is unclear whether the lawsuit will be successful, as diplomats typically have immunity from lawsuits filed in local courts.
“The United Nations, including UNRWA, enjoys immunity from legal process, as do UN personnel, including those who work for UNRWA,” UNRWA spokeswoman Juliette Touma told The New York Times.
The U.N. group has not yet received a subpoena to respond to the lawsuit, according to court records.
Similar lawsuits, including one filed earlier this year by Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) and victims of Israeli terror attacks, accuse the Biden administration of “knowingly and unlawfully” providing more than $1.5 billion in aid to Gaza and the West Bank.
The lawsuit alleges that President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken “knew for years” that U.S. aid was providing “material support” to Hamas and other terrorist organizations, including its “tunnels, rockets, weapons procurement, and command and control infrastructure.”
The US federal government had transferred $122 million to UNRWA since October, before the State Department suspended funding following reports that UNRWA staff were involved in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, a State Department spokesman told The Washington Post in February.
