DAN ABRAMS: An IDF spokesperson put it slightly differently with a post directed at UNRWA: “Nine of your employees might have participated in the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. Your relief agency has officially stooped to a new level of low, and it’s time that the world sees your true face.”
The investigation started in January after the Israelis provided evidence that was strong enough for UNRWA to immediately fire some of the accused employees, and all work for the United Nations aid agency tasked with educating, sheltering, and feeding Palestinians in Gaza.
Someone who’s been on top of this story since October 7th is Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch. He’ll join us in a minute.
He testified before Congress six months ago, shortly after the initial firing of several UNRWA employees in the aftermath of the accusations. He testified that none of this should have come as a surprise.
HILLEL NEUER (in Congress): “Secretary General Guterres announced that he was horrified to learn that members of his UNRWA staff were implicated in terrorism. We’ve been uncovering, publishing, and submitting to the UN, to UNRWA, evidence of widespread and systematic incitement to Jihadi terrorism, praise of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, calls to slaughter Jews on the part of UNRWA teachers, school principals, and other employees.”
ABRAMS: And all of that was allegedly before October 7th. Hillel Neuer joins us now. For years, he’s been critical of the UN’s perspective when it has come to the conflict. He is also an attorney, executive director of UN Watch. Thanks very much for coming on the program. Appreciate it. All right, so what do you make of this? I mean, it sounds like it’s a concession, but yet the actual language says “may have been involved.”
NEUER: Look, thank you for having me. The investigation is complete, and all they can say is, now we really fired nine people because they “may have been” involved. Actually, the language says, “if the evidence is authenticated,” it “could indicate” that they “may have been” involved.
So you have three different qualifications. It amounts to an incredible amount of weasel words. This UN agency, UNRWA, is unable to take seriously and take the blame for the fact that nine of their staffers engaged in mass murder, rape, sadistic atrocities.
Actually, the UN won’t even tell us which particular atrocities caused them to be fired.
ABRAMS: Let’s be clear. They would never have fired these people if they weren’t convinced that they were involved. Is that fair?
NEUER: Absolutely.
ABRAMS: Right. So there’s no ambiguity. We always say actions speak louder than words, right? The words are a mealy-mouthed mix of nonsense,
but the actions make it clear that they’re convinced that these nine were actually involved in October 7th.
NEUER: Absolutely. Despite those three qualifications - “if…” “could indicate…” “may have been…” - in a press conference the UN spokesperson acknowledged that basically it’s either “likely or highly likely” that they were implicated. And of course, they wouldn’t have done anything if there wasn’t compelling evidence that they were given.
.@UN_Spokesperson: Internal inquiry found that UNRWA humanitarian aid workers in Gaza “likely or highly likely” took part in the Hamas October 7th massacre of 1,200 Israeli men, women and children. https://t.co/Hy0hGxFeJf pic.twitter.com/dxvDc5Wt8j
- Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) August 6, 2024
ABRAMS: There is a video that I was stunned actually exists of an alleged UNRWA staffer dragging one of the bodies.
Talk to us about what this is.
NEUER: Well, this is on October 7th, a young 21 -year -old Israeli named Jonathan Samarano was apparently murdered,
and his lifeless body is what you’re seeing being kidnapped by an UNRWA social worker, Faisal Ali Musalam Naami, and this was authenticated by the Washington Post back in February. We brought his mother, his poor mother, we brought her to Switzerland in Lausanne a few days ago to confront the head of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, where he was, shamefully invited as the guest of honor at a ceremony in Lausanne. And she confronted him, and she shouted, “UNRWA kidnapped my son, where is he, Mr. Lazzarini?” He had no answer.
ABRAMS: Very quickly, when it comes to funding of UNRWA, the U .S. used to be the top funder internationally, but now the U .S. has halted funding for UNRWA, is that correct?
NEUER: That is correct. The Congress forced the Biden administration to stop funding UNRWA until at least March 2025. And let’s be honest, this isn’t really just about a few bad apples. UNRWA is rotten to the core. The heads of their teachers’ unions, in Lebanon, in Gaza, are senior Hamas terrorists,
like Suhail al-Hindi of Gaza, close colleague of Yahya Sinwar on the Hamas Politburo, was head of the Gaza URWA Teachers Union. The heads of UNRWA are terrorists. We shouldn’t be giving them a dime.
Left: Hamas terrorist leader Suhail al-Hindi honored for 27 years of service with UNRWA where as teachers union chief until 2017 he oversaw the 8,000 teachers educating 240,000 UNRWA students in Gaza
Right: Addressing Hamas terrorist rally pic.twitter.com/H8hRZilSs1
- Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) August 6, 2024
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