Once again this summer, Hamas  operates military preparation summer camps for 250,000 teenagers who attend UNRWA schools during the school year.

Working with an Israeli-Palestinian team of journalists over the past few years, I run a news agency that  documents  and films how UNRWA allocates cash from donor nations to conduct military training for children in the UNRWA classroom along with weapons training camps which Hamas organizes for UNRWA children.

Al-Kutla al-Islamiya, a division of Hamas, runs military activities, which attract UNRWA’s younger students, paving the way for recruitment in al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas.

UNRWA “education” teaches children how to fight, shoot lethal weapons, use hand grenades, and climb through various spaces all in preparation for war.

After exposure to al-Kutla, elementary and middle schoolers join a week long war games program, held in a military campment, where they study “jihad, determination, to trust Allah and other Islamic values” in addition to military tactics.

In other words, a  UN agency OPENLY violates the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child, which states “children… should not be forced or recruited to take part in a war or join the armed forces”.

Binding legislation passed by the US Congress requires UNRWA to vet personnel to see determine if there are terrorists on their payroll is ignored.

Yet the US  has never insisted that  that UNRWA vet its personnel:

The US Congressional Research Service reports that the US has never even asked if UNRWA humanitarian funds wind up in the hands of HAMAS or if HAMAS is present in UNRWA.

UNRWA therefore remains in violation of  US penal code § 2339B  – providing material support or resources to a designated FTO.

On the record, the Hamas Minister of Religion told us on camera “Hamas’ relationship with UNRWA is good, very good! We assist UNRWA and Hamas cooperates with UNRWA on many levels. Now a direct connection exists between UNRWA and Hamas.”

(Click at 5:34 at “Children’s Army of Hamas” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iO4UKXmr8zk )

Now, the US Congress has directed the General Accounting Office, the GAO, to determine if UNRWA is indeed engaged in cooperation with act of terrorism and terror incitement. .

Senator James Risch (R-Idaho), chairman of the US Senate Near East Subcommittee of the US Foreign Relations Committee, disclosed to me  that his office o made an official request in June of the GAO, the US General Accounting office, for an investigation of the alleged involvement of terror groups with UNRWA education..

All this will provide background material for the newly formed Knesset Lobby for UNRWA Reform, which was convened at the Knesset on July 19, just before the UNRWA summer recess, and which  will reconvene in late October,, when the US GAO report on UNRWA terror involvement will be released

Knesset Member Avi Dichter, former head of ISA, the Israeli Security Agency, who now chairs the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee, points an unusually harsh finger at UNRWA, warning from the rostrum of Israel’s Knesset Parliament that “almost 100 percent” of UNRWA workers in Gaza are active in the Hamas terrorist organization.”

David Bedein is the director of Israel Resource News Agency and also administers the Center for Near East Policy Research. He is also the author of “Roadblock to Peace – How the UN Perpetuates the Arab-Israeli Conflict: UNRWA Policies Reconsidered” and “The Genesis of the Palestinian Authority.” His website is www.israelbehindthenews.com.

 

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David Bedein
David Bedein is an MSW community organizer and an investigative journalist.   In 1987, Bedein established the Israel Resource News Agency at Beit Agron to accompany foreign journalists in their coverage of Israel, to balance the media lobbies established by the PLO and their allies.   Mr. Bedein has reported for news outlets such as CNN Radio, Makor Rishon, Philadelphia Inquirer, Los Angeles Times, BBC and The Jerusalem Post, For four years, Mr. Bedein acted as the Middle East correspondent for The Philadelphia Bulletin, writing 1,062 articles until the newspaper ceased operation in 2010. Bedein has covered breaking Middle East negotiations in Oslo, Ottawa, Shepherdstown, The Wye Plantation, Annapolis, Geneva, Nicosia, Washington, D.C., London, Bonn, and Vienna. Bedein has overseen investigative studies of the Palestinian Authority, the Expulsion Process from Gush Katif and Samaria, The Peres Center for Peace, Peace Now, The International Center for Economic Cooperation of Yossi Beilin, the ISM, Adalah, and the New Israel Fund.   Since 2005, Bedein has also served as Director of the Center for Near East Policy Research.   A focus of the center's investigations is The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). In that context, Bedein authored Roadblock to Peace: How the UN Perpetuates the Arab-Israeli Conflict - UNRWA Policies Reconsidered, which caps Bedein's 28 years of investigations of UNRWA. The Center for Near East Policy Research has been instrumental in reaching elected officials, decision makers and journalists, commissioning studies, reports, news stories and films. In 2009, the center began decided to produce short movies, in addition to monographs, to film every aspect of UNRWA education in a clear and cogent fashion.   The center has so far produced seven short documentary pieces n UNRWA which have received international acclaim and recognition, showing how which UNRWA promotes anti-Semitism and incitement to violence in their education'   In sum, Bedein has pioneered The UNRWA Reform Initiative, a strategy which calls for donor nations to insist on reasonable reforms of UNRWA. Bedein and his team of experts provide timely briefings to members to legislative bodies world wide, bringing the results of his investigations to donor nations, while demanding reforms based on transparency, refugee resettlement and the demand that terrorists be removed from the UNRWA schools and UNRWA payroll.   Bedein's work can be found at: www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com and www.cfnepr.com. A new site,unrwa-monitor.com, will be launched very soon.