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UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer has called on the Albanese government to “stop lying for UNRWA” after nine of the agency’s employees were linked to the October 7 attacks.
Findings from an investigation by the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) into shocking allegations at least a dozen employees had links to the terror incident.
Mr Neuer accused a senior Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) official several months ago of lying to the Senate about claims the Australian government was taking allegations of links between UNRWA and Hamas seriously.
When asked about UNRWA’s links to Hamas at Senate Estimates in February, DFAT First Assistant Secretary Marc Innes-Brown admitted the allegations had been raised “for years” before disparaging groups critical of the United Nations body like UN Watch.
“I think it’s generally known that there are at least several organisations that, their agenda is to focus on misconduct by UN,” Mr Innes-Brown said.
Speaking to Sky News host Gabriella Power on Thursday, Mr Neuer slammed the Albanese government for “lying for UNRWA” and attacking UN Watch reports linking UNRWA with Hamas “without any basis”.
Mr Neuer went on to mention several UNRWA employees who actively promote anti-Semitism or have links to Hamas.
“Teachers like Elham Mansour of Lebanon, who works for UNRWA as a teacher at UNRWA, who openly says, in the name of Allah, we need to slaughter the Jews,” he said.
“The head of the teachers’ union in Lebanon is Fathi al-Sharif. He is a senior Hamas official. Doesn’t hide it on his Facebook page, UNRWA knows that they refused to fire him.”
He said an individual called Suhail al-Hindi, who was head of the UNRWA teachers’ union in Gaza for many years, is now on the Hamas Politburo (Political Bureau) with Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’ newly appointed political chief.
“The Australian government needs to stop fronting for this agency that is corrupted by terrorists,” Mr Neuer said.
“There are many other options if you want to help Palestinians, and sadly, Australia is embracing a group, UNRWA, that is only promising further education for generations of resentment, grievance and war.”
Despite temporarily halting its funding to UNRWA during the investigation, the Albanese government restored the funding only two months later despite the probe into the claims not having been completed.
The move came despite Opposition Leader Peter Dutton in February calling for Labor not to restart the funding after the possibility was floated by the Foreign Minister.
The government is now being hit with condemnation for reinstating funding when the probe was not yet complete, with Coalition figures calling for Labor to reconsider its involvement with UNRWA.
Mr Dutton criticised the government’s “bad judgement” on Tuesday, saying it “has a lot to answer to”.
UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer has called on the Albanese government to “stop lying for UNRWA” after nine of the agency’s employees were linked to the October 7 attacks.
Findings from an investigation by the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) into shocking allegations at least a dozen employees had links to the terror incident.
Mr Neuer accused a senior Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) official several months ago of lying to the Senate about claims the Australian government was taking allegations of links between UNRWA and Hamas seriously.
When asked about UNRWA’s links to Hamas at Senate Estimates in February, DFAT First Assistant Secretary Marc Innes-Brown admitted the allegations had been raised “for years” before disparaging groups critical of the United Nations body like UN Watch.
“I think it’s generally known that there are at least several organisations that, their agenda is to focus on misconduct by UN,” Mr Innes-Brown said.
Speaking to Sky News host Gabriella Power on Thursday, Mr Neuer slammed the Albanese government for “lying for UNRWA” and attacking UN Watch reports linking UNRWA with Hamas “without any basis”.
The Albanese government has come under fire for restoring funding to UNRWA before an investigation was concluded. Picture: NewsWire / David Beach.
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Mr Neuer went on to mention several UNRWA employees who actively promote anti-Semitism or have links to Hamas.
“Teachers like Elham Mansour of Lebanon, who works for UNRWA as a teacher at UNRWA, who openly says, in the name of Allah, we need to slaughter the Jews,” he said.
“The head of the teachers’ union in Lebanon is Fathi al-Sharif. He is a senior Hamas official. Doesn’t hide it on his Facebook page, UNRWA knows that they refused to fire him.”
He said an individual called Suhail al-Hindi, who was head of the UNRWA teachers’ union in Gaza for many years, is now on the Hamas Politburo (Political Bureau) with Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’ newly appointed political chief.
“The Australian government needs to stop fronting for this agency that is corrupted by terrorists,” Mr Neuer said.
Hillel Neuer, UN Watch Executive Director, accused the Albanese government of “fronting” for UNRWA following an investigation linking nine of its employees with the Oct 7 attacks.
“There are many other options if you want to help Palestinians, and sadly, Australia is embracing a group, UNRWA, that is only promising further education for generations of resentment, grievance and war.”
Despite temporarily halting its funding to UNRWA during the investigation, the Albanese government restored the funding only two months later despite the probe into the claims not having been completed.
The move came despite Opposition Leader Peter Dutton in February calling for Labor not to restart the funding after the possibility was floated by the Foreign Minister.
The government is now being hit with condemnation for reinstating funding when the probe was not yet complete, with Coalition figures calling for Labor to reconsider its involvement with UNRWA.
Mr Dutton criticised the government’s “bad judgement” on Tuesday, saying it “has a lot to answer to”.
Peter Dutton has called on the government to reconsider UNRWA funding in light of the investigation’s findings. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman.
“It’s completely and utterly unacceptable that a UN agency would have employees involved in, or alleged to have been involved in, the October 7 tragedy,” he told Sky News Australia.
“It’d like to see more information, I think as most Australians would, because Australian taxpayers’ dollars are being given to these organisations with an understanding that they’re going to provide aid and support to people who are in need.
“And if that turns out not to be the case, then really think the government has a lot to answer to here.”
UNRWA had received more than AU$2 billion in 2023 from government partners including the United States, European Union and Australia.
