Israel calls on countries to freeze donations to UNRWA until terror-inciting teachers are fired

A new report by UN Watch recorded dozens of overtly anti-Semitic statements made by staff of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA). 

The watchdog NGO’s 49-page report published on Thursday added 10 names to a list of 113 UNRWA teachers and staffers that have been found inciting anti-Semitism or supporting terrorism.

Of these 10, Lebanon-based teacher Elham Mansour, has called on social media for the slaughter of Jews and Israelis multiple times. This past month, she wrote, “By Allah, anyone who can kill and slaughter any Zionist and Israeli criminal, and doesn’t do so, doesn’t deserve to live. Kill them and pursue them everywhere, they are the greatest enemy… All Israel deserves is death.”

Other UNRWA teachers in the West Bank and Gaza, who are identified in the UN Watch report, expressed support for Hamas terrorism, including the firing of missiles at Israel during Operation Guardian of the Walls in May 2021. 

A UNRWA computer teacher in the West Bank, Nihaya Awad, endorsed Hamas rocket attacks on Israeli civilians after last year’s war and encouraged Palestinian terrorists’ exploitation of child soldiers.

She posted on social media a photo of a Hamas terrorist instructing a child in Hamas military uniform, with text praising the terror organization: “We testify by Allah that you have demonstrated your faithfulness… and conveyed the message… and have won for your al-Aqsa… and have broken your enemy’s nose… and have rekindled hope in your faith… may Allah accept your obedience… and raise your matter.”

Jordan-based UNRWA teacher Hana’a Daoud shared a photo of masked Hamas terrorists holding submachine guns and called on Muslims to “fight against the Jews, until a Jew will hide himself behind a stone or a tree, and the stone or the tree will say: ‘O Muslim, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.’”

According to the report, “these teachers of hate were funded last year by state donations to UNRWA, including $338 million from the United States, $177 million from Germany, $118 million from the European Commission, $54 million from Sweden, $40 million from the United Kingdom, $32 million from Switzerland, $30 million from Norway, $28 million from France, $28 million from Canada, and $27 million from [the] Netherlands.”

After publishing the latest evidence of incitement in the halls of UNRWA, UN Watch called on UNRWA’s major funders to ensure that their hundreds of millions of dollars no longer go to funding teachers of hate. 

The NGO noted that although its efforts to expose UNRWA staff incitement are well known by the agency, UNRWA has fundamentally failed to address the issue.

UNRWA and the United Nations as a whole have compounded the problem, according to Israel’s Ambassador to the U.N. Gilad Erdan.  

“Not only does UNRWA not help resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it causes enormous damage, incites hatred and terrorism and perpetuates the conflict, all under the auspices of the UN, which buries its head in the sand and refuses to see reality,” Erdan stated this past Thursday at a U.N. Pledging Conference.

The conference entreats countries to donate to the UN agency, which has been facing an ongoing budget crisis in recent years, according to its leaders.

“The discussion should have focused on the despicable conduct of UNRWA,” Erdan told an audience that included UN Secretary-General António Guterres, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini and representatives of participating countries. 

“I call on all countries to stop donating money to UNRWA until it ceases its anti-Semitic acts, fires the workers inciting these acts, and stops allowing Hamas and terrorists to use its infrastructure. UNRWA is a UN body whose actions only perpetuate the conflict in our region.”

Last year, the Israeli ambassador sent a letter to UNRWA following an earlier report, demanding the dismissal of teachers involved in anti-Semitic acts and calling for an investigation into each case. Despite promises by Lazzarini that an investigation had been opened, it is not known if any staff were fired. 

“Not only has UNRWA not properly addressed the manifestations of anti-Semitism among its employees, but now we see that the phenomenon is only expanding and that more workers are openly calling for the murder of Jews, while the UN and the organization [UNRWA] are doing nothing. The UN must be held accountable for the UN-funded incitement and hatred,” Erdan said. 

“UNRWA unfortunately does not help advance a resolution of the conflict at all, but on the contrary: It disseminates false Palestinian narratives and turns a blind eye to incitement to murder Israelis and blatant anti-Semitism. Can this agency fall any lower?” he stated.