COMMENTARY: Agency's 'good work' comes at a very high cost for truth-seekers


By Berl Falbaum

Nine days after Hamas conducted its unfathomable massacre against Israel on October 7, beheading civilians, burning some alive, taking hostages, and gang-raping women, The Washington Post published a story on the United Nations Rights and Works Agency (UNRWA), touting the good work it was doing in Gaza.

In glowing terms, here are some facts, the paper said, “you should know about the UN agency vital to Gaza:”

– It provides schools for more than 500,000 students as well as health care, social services, and other humanitarian aid to Palestinian refugees.

– UNRWA operates 706 schools in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria.

– The schools aim to ensure students become “confident, innovative, questioning, thoughtful and open-minded, to uphold human values and tolerance, proud of their Palestinian identify and contributing positively.”

Because of Israel’s military operations, the paper quoted UNRWA Chief Philippe Lazzarini that the “siege of the enclave has sapped its essential resources and unless essential supplies can move into Gaza aid workers will not be able to continue humanitarian operations.”

These are just a few of the highlights in a feature story that Lazzarini surely taped into his scrapbook.

About three weeks after The Post published its story, the United Kingdom-based Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) and the Geneva-based UN Watch issued a scathing 123-page joint report on UNRWA. Compare the facts the paper felt you should know, to the following:

– Teachers at UNRWA schools in Gaza praised Hamas’ attacks on social media and the two organizations said they found ties between Hamas terrorists and UNRWA schools.

– More than 100 Hamas terrorists graduated from UNRWA schools, and “it is statistically likely that the majority of the 3,000 terrorists who perpetrated the October massacre attended UNRWA institutions ...”

– UNRWA ... uses textbooks written by the Palestinian Authority which have been found to consistently promote Jihad, antisemitism, and suicide attacks against Israelis.

– While an UNRWA spokeswoman said the agency has “zero tolerance” for “incitements, anti-Semitism and discrimination,” the two agencies reported that UNRWA has itself “directly published material containing the glorification of terrorism and anti-Semitism.”

– The report quotes numerous UNRWA employees to “assail Jews” and “to sharpen the blades of your swords. Allah is great, Allah is great, Reality surpasses our wildest dreams.” One teacher affiliated with UNRWA wrote, “7th October, 2023! Sculpture the date!”

– The report documents how senior-ranking members of UNRWA were “gloating” about the October 7 atrocities, with one director calling a terrorist a “hero” and “prince” for his actions.

– At least 14 teachers praised the massacre on social media both while the atrocities were ongoing and weeks later.

– In one textbook, a woman who fatally stabbed a Jew is glorified as “justly an example of a brave Muslim woman in defense of the Muslims.”

– A textbook illustration depicts a Palestinian spraying bullets at an Israeli soldier. The story describes how the soldiers’ bodies and body parts became “food for wild animals on land and birds of prey in the sky.”

– An UNRWA school principal justified the massacre as “restoring rights,” and “redressing Palestinian grievances.”

There is, tragically, much more in the report. Said Marcus Sheff, IMPACT-se CEO:

“Time and again we have warned that UNRWA staff and school materials have created aa breeding ground for terror. Our worst fears have now been tragically realized with the horrific attack on October 7.

“All governments that fund UNWRA, including the United States, must urgently review and concurrently freeze financial support of UNRWA to help ensure that another generation is not lost to the evils of hatred and incitement.”

UN Watch said:

“The report only examined a sample of Facebook users who publicly identified themselves as UNRWA employees, and therefore UN Watch estimates that the number of UNRWA’s staff who incite violence and hatred includes hundreds, if not thousands, among the agency’s 30,000 [member] staff.

“We call on the governments that fund UNRWA to declare that they will stop enabling a system that teaches generations of Palestinians to hate and murder Jews. Let us be clear: The problem is not the social media posts but rather the unconscionable employment of teachers who preach anti-Semitism and terrorism.”

According to UNRWA’s website, the Biden administration has provided it $618 million since 2021, making the U.S, according to Sheff, UNRWA’s “most significant” financial supporter.

Some might respond: Perhaps The Post did not know of the relationship between UNRWA and Hamas; after all the report was published after The Post story. Well, the paper is no amateur tabloid; it is one of the most powerful media institutions in the country. It has an obligation to check out its story.

But most indicting, there had been charges before the most recent report about UNRWA’s relationship with Hamas and the spreading hate of Israel and Jews. As Sheff said, his organization had issued warnings about UNRWA “time and again,” including a major report in March. The evidence was there for The Post to see.

(Martha Raddatz, co-host of “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” interviewed an UNRWA official without mentioning the organization’s ties to Hamas.)

It is incomprehensible that a paper like The Post practiced such deplorable journalism. But while The Post is guilty of gross incompetence and negligence, if not worse, the rest of the media did not even use one drop of ink to publish a story on the two reports.

In The Post story, Lazzarini said, “It seems the world right now has lost its humanity.”

Lazzarini is absolutely correct, and for proof of his insight, he might look at the organization he leads.
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Berl Falbaum is a veteran journalist and author of 12 books.