In the middle of his address to the Swiss National Day ceremony in Lausanne, UNRWA commissioner-general Philippe Lazzarini was confronted by Ayelet Samerano, whose murdered son Yonatan was kidnapped to Gaza by an UNRWA social worker on October 7th. Afterwards she addressed a UN Watch press conference.
Remarks of Ayelet Samerano:
Ladies and Gentlemen,
My name is Ayelet Samerano.
I have come to Lausanne today to protest the head of UNRWA, Mr. Lazzarini. It was wrong for the Mayor of Lausanne to invite him tonight as the speaker of honor.
It is now 300 days since the horror of October 7th, when my son was kidnapped by an UNRWA employee.
My son, Yonatan, was full of life. Always smiling and joking.
He was the light in the lives of everyone who knew him.
And people always sought his company and friendship.
Many would say: Yonatan is life, and life is Yonatan!
As you can see in the video that is online, on October 7th an UNRWA employee entered Israel and actively participated in the massacre, brutally murdering and kidnapping my boy’s body, with a United Nations car, into Gaza.
My personal tragedy was just one of many crimes against humanity committed by UNRWA employees.
UNRWA is Hamas and Hamas is UNRWA - they are one and the same.
How can the “noble” United Nations be directly involved and turn a blind eye from the atrocities done by UNRWA workers, Hamas and its counterparts of October 7th ?
How can the United Nations ignore the facts pointing to massive use of UNRWA infrastructures by Hamas in favor of gaining terror-tactical advantages, using schools, clinics and hospitals for tunnel digging, storing weapons, ammunition and explosives, deliberately using babies, children and elderly as human shields?
I’m not a politician nor an international lawyer that can answer any of the legal questions raised following the tragedy of October 7th. I’m just a mother, a mother who lost the most precious thing in the world - my beloved son. But I know what is right.
I hope and pray that you will never turn a blind eye to the plight of my Yonatan and the over 1,000 burned alive, raped, mutilated and murdered on October 7th.
The world wants us to forget and move on, but none of us in Israel can forget, so long as 115 hostages are still held in Gaza. Every night I scream in silence.
Every morning, I cry on my way to work. Every waking moment I think about my son. And I live like that through each day, over and over again.
Can you imagine what it is like for a mother not to know what they did with her son?
Where are they keeping him? Will they ever give him back to me?
The most basic wish of a mother is to kiss her son before saying goodbye forever.
Thank you for listening. Thank you for knowing what is right, and what is evil.
Shut UNRWA down.
