Fourteen issues UNRWA’s chief must address before Congress

Swiss diplomat Phillipe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the U.N.’s Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA, has just been asked to appear on the record and in person before the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Following the recent discovery of Hamas arsenals inside and below UNRWA schools, the new Palestinian Authority educational curriculum is of immediate concern. This curriculum indoctrinates Palestinian Arab children, encouraging them to conquer all of “Palestine” by force of arms. This is hardly an appropriate goal for a U.N. agency.

1. UNRWA textbooks violate U.N. principles of peaceful reconciliation. For example, the agency has reintroduced a new textbook that lionizes terrorist Dalal Mughrabi. In 1978, Mughrabi’s terror squad commandeered a bus and murdered 38 passengers, including 13 children. The textbook presents her as a role model for UNRWA pupils. She is depicted in full terrorist garb. The lesson plan portrays her life story as suited for adulation and emulation.

2. In Judea, Samaria, Jerusalem and Gaza, UNRWA makes exclusive use of Palestinian Authority textbooks. Like all U.N. agencies, UNRWA is supposed to run schools based on the U.N. slogan “Peace Begins Here.” P.A. schools, however, promote the ideology of the Palestine Liberation Organization: Conquest of “Palestine” by force of arms. Lazzarini could immediately cancel the UNRWA-P.A. contract.

3. UNRWA schools are adorned with posters and murals of “martyrs” who died while murdering Jews. Lazzarini could order the removal of all such images from UNRWA facilities.

4. El Kutla youth clubs in UNRWA schools inculcate pupils with the mantra of the armed struggle from a young age. Lazzarini can order these clubs to end violent incitement.

5. Military parades are frequently held on UNRWA premises. Lazzarini can end this practice immediately.

6. Hamas members lead UNRWA’s teachers and workers unions. Lazzarini can stipulate that any agency employee who runs on a “Hamas ticket” must be dropped from the payroll. After all, even the U.N. defines Hamas as a terrorist organization.

7. “Nakba Day” events are held at UNRWA facilities each year on May 15, the day the PLO mourns the defeat of the Arab armies that invaded Israel in 1948. These rallies call for violence. Lazzarini can issue a directive banning any incitement to violence at such events.

8. Popular Gazan singer Mohammad Assaf, who claims to be a “UNRWA Youth Ambassador,” routinely incites crowds to violence. Lazzarini can issue a policy statement banning Assaf from UNRWA premises.

9. Memorial events for Arabs killed while murdering Jews occur regularly in UNRWA schools. Lazzarini can cancel them.

10. Lazzarini can ensure fiscal transparency. UNRWA receives $1.6 billion in annual donations from 67 nations and 32 NGOs, mostly in cash. Lazzarini must ensure that this money is used for humanitarian needs, not stolen by terror groups. He must also put an end to all cash donations, which make transparency almost impossible.

11. Using the diplomatic pouches of donor nations, UNRWA exports textbooks promoting the “right of return” of Palestinian Arab refugees and their descendants, along with the replacement of Israel with an Arab supremacist “Palestine.” Lazzarini can end this practice immediately.

12. UNRWA has never revealed its financial practices, including how it spends its budget. Lazzarini can immediately release an accounting of expenditures to the public.

13. UNRWA distributes world and regional maps that erase Israel and replace the names of all Israeli cities with Arabic names. Should Israel, a U.N. member in good standing, not appear on a map issued by a U.N. agency? Lazzarini can end this practice of cartographic ethnic cleansing immediately.

14. Over the past 25 years, thousands of UNRWA students aged 9-16 have participated in summer camps that feature arms training with live weapons. With summer approaching in a few months, Lazzarini can act to stop this training of child soldiers that violates U.N. resolutions protecting the health and well-being of children.

Demand OSU Shut Down Antisemitic BDS Referendum

Last week, the Undergraduate Student Senate at the Ohio State University (OSU) rightfully removed an antisemitic referendum urging students to vote for the university to divest from companies doing business with Israel, America’s greatest ally in the Middle East. This decision stemmed from OSU Divest, the organization behind the discriminatory campaign, violating the Student Government’s bylaws by using social media to garner more signatures for their hateful initiative.  

However, less than 24 hours before voting opened, OSU’s Jewish community received an email stating that the Judiciary Panel reversed course and caved to anti-Israel detractors on campus by placing the hateful referendum back on the ballot. This disturbing decision followed an appeal by the university’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter, which serves as an extension of the notorious hate movement that, following the October 7 massacre by Hamas — the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust — championed that its members are part of the same “resistance” movement.

By not informing students about the appeal, OSU’s Jewish and pro-Israel students could not attend the hearing to argue why the bylaw violations must be upheld, with the absurd referendum remaining off the ballot. As a consequence of this disgusting decision to appease radical, anti-Israel groups on campus, OSU is giving wind to the bigoted BDS movement, which aims to economically strangle the sole democracy in the Middle East at a time when antisemitism is surging worldwide as Israel defends civilians against Hamas’s terrorism.  

Even more alarming is the reality that this referendum is coming at a time when Jew hatred is at an all-time high at American colleges and universities, with OSU being far from excluded. Since October 7, two Jewish OSU students were physically assaulted just off campus. The school’s Hillel building was also vandalized, and Jewish students were spit on. As if this wasn’t enough, OSU is also under federal investigation by the U.S. Department of Education following damning allegations of discrimination against Jewish students. 

The OSU administration and Board of Trustees must intervene and exclude the referendum from the ballot, mirroring the actions taken at the University of Michigan in November 2023. In that instance, during an antisemitic referendum campaign, anti-Israel activists similarly breached regulations by distributing a mass email encouraging the student body to vote for the divestment referendum. Call on the OSU administration to adopt a similar course of action to ensure the safety of Jewish and pro-Israel students on campus today and in the future.

Their dovish hopes clipped, some Gaza border residents make peace with becoming hawks

The fact that the Hamas terrorists who invaded her kibbutz on October 7 wanted to murder everyone there came as no surprise to Irit Lahav, a peace activist from Nir Oz, where one in four residents were killed or kidnapped.

Even before the massacre, Lahav had entertained no illusions about Hamas. Like many other kibbutzniks and moshav residents with dovish attitudes near the border with Gaza, she had seen how the group deliberately targeted civilians, including by firing rockets into residential areas at specific times to increase loss of life.

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FM slams UNRWA after it launches anti-Israel investigation

Despite the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) coming under fire and being investigated for its staff complicity in the October 7 massacre, the New York Times reported Sunday that the organization was investigating Israel for allegedly abusing hundreds of Palestinian detainees during the war.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz attacked UNRWA’s report, writing on X: The audacity of @UNRWA, with employees complicit in the October 7th massacre and thousands linked to Hamas, is unacceptable. Their facilities were exploited by terrorist networks. @UNLazzarini, who remained silent, must step down. UNRWA’s presence in Gaza post-Hamas is untenable. This marks the end of Hamas’s influence in the @UN.”

The Times report claimed that the investigation was over the alleged abuse of more than a thousand civilians released without charges, among them women and men aged 6 to 82 who were held in three military bases in Israel, with some of them supposedly dying in custody. The allegations further allege that among the detainees were cancer and Alzheimer’s patients and other injured individuals, and that most of them were arrested while seeking shelter in hospitals and UN buildings.

The Times said the investigation report compiled by UNRWA alleges detainees were held at three Israeli military sites, with some dying in custody, and describes beatings, stripping, robbery, blindfolding, sexual abuse, and denial of access to lawyers and doctors to extract confessions, intimidate, humiliate and punish. Based on interviews with over 100 of the 1,002 released detainees, the report estimates around 3,000 other Gazans remain in Israeli detention without lawyer access. Its findings echo allegations of abuse from Israeli and Palestinian rights groups as well as separate UN investigations into the Israeli detention centers.

House bill proposes official US recognition of ‘Judea and Samaria’ instead of ‘West Bank’

The legislation would require all official U.S. documents and materials to reference ‘Judea and Samaria’ rather than the ‘West Bank.’

 

A new bill in Congress aims to stress the holiness and ancient Jewish history of the Holy Land.

Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.). introduced the “Recognizing Judea and Samaria Act” on Feb. 29. The legislation would require all official U.S. documents and materials to reference “Judea and Samaria” rather than the “West Bank.”

“The Israeli people have an undeniable and indisputable historical and legal claim over Judea and Samaria, and at this critical moment in history, the United States must reaffirm this,” Tenney stated.

The congresswoman, whose bill is cosponsored by Reps. Randy Weber (R-Texas) and Anthony D’Esposito (R-N.Y.), said that the Biden administration was “misguided” to “revoke the Pompeo Doctrine,” a decision which “undermines our greatest ally in the Middle East.”

“This bill reaffirms Israel’s rightful claim to its territory. I remain committed to defending the integrity of the Jewish state and fully supporting Israel’s sovereignty over Judea and Samaria,” Tenney stated.

The N.Y. Republican noted that the term “Judea and Samaria” dates to ancient times, to the kingdoms of Judah and Samaria.

“In 1967, after Israel’s Arab neighbors launched the Six-Day War, Israel reclaimed Judea and Samaria from Jordan. The term ‘West Bank’ is used to delegitimize Israel’s historical claim to this land,” she stated.

In November 2019, then Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that Washington formally recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights and Judea and Samaria.

“Recently, Secretary of State Antony Blinken reversed this position, stating the Biden administration’s disappointment in Israel’s recent decision to expand its settlements in the region,” Tenney stated. “This condemnation comes in spite of the fact that under the Oslo Accords, a bilateral agreement between Israel and Palestinian representatives, Israel was granted full military and civilian control over the majority of Judea and Samaria.”

On Oct. 8, the day after Hamas terrorists attacked Israel, Tenney introduced the “Operation Swords of Iron” Iron Dome Supplemental Appropriations Act.

“Fifty years ago, the U.S. was reluctant to support Israel during the Yom Kippur War. We cannot make the same mistake today,” she stated at the time.

UN Report Finds Hamas Committed Sexual Violence and Torture on Oct. 7

Hamas likely committed mass acts of gang-rape and torture against women during its massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7 and may today still be abusing women kept as hostages in Gaza, the United Nations Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary General said on Monday in a new long-anticipated report.

The findings follow a two-week investigation by undertaken UN experts on sexual violence in conflict from January 19-February 14. Pramila Patten, the team’s special envoy, led the inquiry.

“Credible circumstantial information, which may be indicative of some forms of sexual violence, including genital mutilation, sexualized torture, or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment was also gathered,” the report said, according to quotations shared by various news outlets, including Reuters and Times of Israel. It also said that the team “found clear and convincing information that some hostages taken to Gaza have been subjected to various forms of conflict-related sexual violence has reasonable grounds to believe that such violence may be ongoing.”

On Oct. 7, the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, which controls Gaza, invaded neighboring Israel and massacred 1,200 people, mostly civilians, injured thousands more, and kidnapped over 200 hostages. In the day following the tragedy, the brutality of Hamas’ violence shocked the world as numerous eyewitnesses and victims shared accounts of rape, torture, beheading, and the mutilation of bodies. Since that day, far-left agitators, who in other contexts argued that no accusation of sexual assault should even be scrutinized, have discredited the testimonies of rape victims, attempting to bury them under counter accusations of anti-Palestinian racism and Islamophobia.

“You heard accounts of rape and heinous sexual abuse,” Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan said in a speech on Monday. “These testimonies will receive official recognition from the UN special representative on sexual violence in conflict Pramila Patten. Will you still continue with your silence and indifference? What if these were your daughters, your granddaughters? Would you continue to ignore them or would you demand immediate action?”

Last month, the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel issued a report detailing harrowing accounts of Hamas’ sexual violence. In 35 pages, it recounted numerous sexual assaults reported by Israel women, several of which were perpetrated in the presence of their loved ones. Some women were killed after the act, some during it. Hamas terrorists also desecrated the bodies of victims they murdered, mutilating their genitalia, and they raped men.

“The latest UN report starkly details Hamas’ atrocities on October 7th, including mass murders, rapes, and systematic sexual offenses,” Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Israel Katz said on Monday in a statement posted to X. “It’s time for action [Secretary General of the UN] Antonio Guterres. Hamas must be globally recognized as a terrorist entity, its supporting nations labeled as terrorism sponsors. [The United Nations Relief and Works Agency’s] removal from Gaza is imperative, and the immediate release of hostages must be prioritized.”

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

‘We have hostages, I caught one’: IDF uncovers recordings of UNRWA employees from October 7

The IDF revealed Monday new evidence based on military intelligence regarding the involvement of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in Hamas’s October 7 attack.

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Odious odours

The residents of Cape Town recently complained about an overpowering, noxious smell that was permeating their city.

After investigations, it transpired that the source of the problem was a vessel anchored off shore, which was transporting livestock to Iraq. Once the ship moved away the air quality improved much to the relief of the residents.

Meanwhile, another more obnoxious and potentially lethal emission was circulating in Cape Town. Not only was it threatening the health of many of the city’s inhabitants but it also had the very great potential to cause murder and mayhem on a grand scale.

A Member of Parliament from one of South Africa’s political parties gave a speech in which he threatened a “bloodbath” if Cape Town was “given to the Zionists.” In case this was not clear enough he proceeded to launch into a denunciation of Israel and Zionists and issued a warning against South Africans who supported the Jewish State.

This should come as no surprise given the poisonous atmosphere that has been created by the ANC South African Government’s indictments of Israel at the International Court of Justice and its embrace of Hamas. Many decent South Africans are horrified at their Government’s love affair with terrorist groups and its frenetic vilification of Israel defenders. The problem remains, unfortunately, that constant rhetoric of delegitimisation inevitably leaves an impression on gullible minds which in turn results in potential violence.

This is the dilemma faced by the Jews of South Africa as they fight a rearguard action in an endeavour to hold back the resultant backlashes of incited mobs. Once the constant brainwashing has permeated the ignorant minds of the masses the eruptions of mayhem will follow. Inciting sermons in Mosques combined with anti-Israel education in Islamic schools only needs a wink and a nod from ruling political parties for violence to follow.

This is the lethal concoction being brewed not only in South Africa but also in every country where the authorities are cowed into shameful inaction in the face of jihadist intimidation.

One has only to look at what is occurring not only in Europe and Scandinavia but also in Canada, USA, UK and even in Australia and New Zealand.

Threats of violence against legislators because of their support for Israel are now commonplace. It has become so bad in the UK that one MP has decided to throw in the towel while others now require security protection. Mobs shouting the vilest threats against Jews march unmolested and unchallenged through the streets of London on a weekly basis. The House of Commons is thrown into mayhem and incitement to genocidal cleansing “from the river to the sea” is projected onto Parliament’s Big Ben.

The same phenomenon can be witnessed in Sydney, where a Jewish man carrying an Israeli flag is detained while the pro-Hamas mob screams threats against Jews and Israel. In Melbourne, two Jewish men are detained and threatened with arrest for lawfully trying to attend a City Council meeting. Despite being assaulted, the Jews were detained while their assailants were given a pass by the police.

The refusal of law enforcement authorities in the UK, Australia and elsewhere to confront blatant Jew hate is a symptom of a woke collapse of moral backbone so evident these days. It is obvious that political cowardice and hypocrisy in the face of jihadist intimidation is infecting the reluctance of police to pull the rug from under the feet of the inciters.

The political writing on the wall is now clear for all who take the trouble to read the omens.

As the electoral clout of those who demonise Israel and Jews grows, the question needs to be asked as to how long beleaguered Jewish communities can hold on. Rearguard action, outreach to open-minded people, education, and appeals to common sense and decency are all valuable tools, but can they hold back the gathering clouds of noxious fumes? In many countries it is already too late as the effects of this pervasive poisoning are likely irreversible.

The antidotes to this massive threat are no longer working.

Once upon a time there was bipartisan support in the USA for Israel. Today that is vanishing as fast as a desert mirage. The progressive socialists of the Democrat Party are joined by an increasing number of leftist apologists for Islamic terror. The isolationist wings of the Republicans are seeking to revert back to the 1930s when standing up against Nazism and Fascism was not part of the agenda. Those under the age of 50 have no clue about history or historical facts, and a whole generation of university students and graduates have been inculcated with anti-Israel dogmas.

In other countries, the knee-jerk anti-Zionist perversions have mutated into the green generation. Their concerns for climate change and environmental matters now embrace anti-Israel conspiracies as part and parcel of the new gospels of hate. The patron saint of climate change, Greta Thunberg, is a cheerleader for anti-Israel incitement. The polluting poisons supposedly influencing our weather have now also produced a generation of Israel haters.

An insidious smog of diseased discourse is spreading worldwide and infecting large swathes of humanity.

One of its manifestations is a hallucinogenic effect causing many to embrace beliefs hitherto consigned to the realms of science fiction.

That is the only explanation one can give when faced with the irrational belief that a “revitalized and reformed” Palestinian Authority will be the perfect peace partner. With the resignation of the PA Prime Minister and his colleagues the experts in Washington and elsewhere are seized with paroxysms of ecstasy. What all of them refuse to acknowledge is that anything which comes afterwards will be just as corrupt. In fact, the objective is to unify all the terror groups.

Joe Biden has declared that “the overwhelming majority of Palestinians are not Hamas.” He is wrong again because polls have shown an overwhelming majority supporting Hamas and the terror agenda of associated groups.

While grasping an ice cream cone, Biden was asked about a ceasefire and hostages release. With a dazed look, he mumbled that, hopefully, by Monday, something should be agreed to. The brutal truth is that he doesn’t have a clue. Obviously, licking an ice cream is preferable to facing up to brutal realities.

China has argued at the World Court that the Palestinians have a perfectly legal right to engage in an armed struggle against Israel. In other words, it is perfectly OK to murder and kidnap Israelis. The fact that a country with a track record like Communist China can stand in front of a UN Court and speak such garbage is an indication of how low matters have sunk these days.

The Hashemite monarch of Jordan stood next to President Biden and pontificated that “seven decades of occupation is the reason for the current plight of the Palestinians.” By my calculation seven decades takes us back to 1954. From 1948 to 1967 Jordan illegally occupied what they erroneously call the West Bank and half of Jerusalem without creating the so called much desired Arab Palestine. Of course Biden did not react to this blatant piece of chutzpah most probably because his mind was elsewhere.

The annual Eurovision extravaganza is again about to take place. It is being held in Malmo. This city, from which most of the Jewish community has been driven out, is now the capital of Islamic jihadists in Sweden. The competition has nothing to do with artistic or musical quality and everything to do with political shenanigans. It is somewhat of a minor miracle that Israel has managed in the past to win first place. That is definitely not likely to happen this year. Already, there are demands to disqualify Israel from competing. If the country does not succeed, there is apparently another “drei” (Yiddish for stitch-up) that will be used. The lyrics of Israel’s song are being challenged because they are not sufficiently politically correct. Referring, even obliquely, to Israelis murdered or kidnapped, is forbidden. If Israel does not agree to omit the offending verses it will be banned from Eurovision.

It now transpires that Israel has substituted an alternative song. This too has been banned because the lyrics are not suitable. The offending words are “”Hope doesn’t stop, it just spreads its wings,” It’s like a million stars that suddenly light up in the sky.”

A clearer case of cynical hypocrisy would be hard to find.

Presumably, the next step in this international theatre of the absurd will be a demand at the UN General Assembly for “Shema Yisrael” to be deleted as an article of Jewish Faith because it represents a colonialist apartheid oppressive belief that is incompatible with the lofty and sacred gospels of the world body.

If nothing is done to prevent the odious odours emitted by the unhinged masses from spreading it will threaten to engulf all sane and decent humanity.