The United Nations announced this week it has fired more staff from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the organization that supports Palestinian refugees in Gaza, after its own investigation revealed they were involved in the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel.

The agency previously fired 12 staff and put seven more on unpaid administrative leave while the claims were investigated. The UN did not release details of what roles the staffers played in the horrific attacks. More than 1,100 civilians, including children and babies, were slaughtered and hundreds of others were wounded or taken hostage in the action that precipitated Israel’s military incursion into Gaza. 

In January, when reports of the agency’s involvement in the attacks surfaced, Canada and other Western nations ceased funding UNRWA activities in Gaza. It turned out Canada didn’t so much halt funding as “pause” it. Two months later, Canada reversed that decision, along with Australia and Sweden. The U.S. has since followed suit. In total, this country is giving $65 million in aid to Gaza, including $25 million in “recurring” funding for UNRWA. 

In light of these latest admissions, it’s time to reconsider if the UN is the best agency to provide that aid. Other organizations such as Red Cross or Red Crescent might be more trustworthy. 

In supporting UNRWA, Canadian tax dollars were indirectly supporting terrorist activities. 

This is more of the same double-talk we’ve heard from the UN on the Middle East for decades. The UN persists in calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza/Hamas war, without ever mentioning who started it. Last October, it called for a “humanitarian truce” and the UN General Assembly deliberately avoided assigning blame or responsibility to Hamas. 

If the UN truly wanted a humanitarian ceasefire, it would have helped if it had discouraged its employees from taking part in the aggression that triggered the hostility in the first place. Now, they should encourage Hamas to return the hostages, thus paving the way for an end to hostilities. 

Sure, they’ve fired those employees, but it seems UNRWA was a festering cauldron of Hamas sympathizers before Oct. 7. 

The UN has consistently failed to condemn Hamas for the terror, yet it explicitly condemned Israel in an Oct. 26 resolution. 

And Canadian taxpayers are funding that hypocrisy. 

-Postmedia Network 

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