Their efforts were funded in part by U.S. taxpayers, Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pennsylvania), who has become an expert on UNRWA and terrorism, pointed out on the "Washington Watch" program Tuesday.
The Times of Israel reported that of the 12 accused by Israel, seven were teachers at an UNRWA school, two were educational consultants, and others were humanitarian aid warehouse managers.
UNRWA relies on humanitarian aid to operate 278 schools in Gaza. Last June, the U.N. announced a U.S. contribution of $153.7 million to UNRWA.
In the wake of the allegations, there have been mixed signals from Americans.
According to The Times of Israel, Sec. of State Antony Blinken called Israel’s intelligence “highly credible,” but the White House has rushed to UNRWA’s defense.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby (pictured at left) was vague last week when asked to provide a specific figure for U.S. dollars sent to UNRWA.
The State Department has announced it is temporarily pausing U.S. funding for UNRWA while Israel’s claims are investigated.
Kirby went to lengths to point out that not all UNRWA employees faced accusations of involvement in the Oct. 7 attacks.
“It certainly looks as if there’s cause to be concerned about the actions of some members of UNRWA, but that does not, nor should it, impugn the entire agency and the body of work they’re doing,” Kirby told reporters.
UNRWA more than just few bad apples
Hillel Neuer, a human rights lawyer and executive director for Geneva-based United Nations Watch, disputed the just-a few-bad-apples defense in an address before Congress on Tuesday. For many on UNRWA’s payroll, he said, it’s hard to turn around without bumping into someone who has ties to a terrorist.
“The world also learned yesterday that 1,200 UNRWA employees in Gaza are part of Hamas, or Islamic Jihad, meaning actual operatives within the political and military organizations. Finally, an estimated 6,000 UNRWA employees, being half of the work force in Gaza, have close family members in these terrorist organizations,” Neuer said.
The U.S. is UNRWA’s largest benefactor at more than $300 million a year.
Neuer testified his group routinely charts the social media activity of UNRWA teachers who call for death and violence to Israelis. He referenced a Facebook post that he said was written by UNRWA teacher Elham Mansour which said, “By Allah, anyone who can kill and slaughter any Zionist and Israeli criminal and doesn’t do so doesn’t deserve to live.”
Perry told show host Tony Perkins the Tuesday hearing showed that some people have a hard time wrapping their mind around a relief agency as a tool for terrorists.
“A hearing to discuss the failures of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency would be a no-brainer, but some people were trying to walk a fine line, parse the words," Perry said. "Let's be clear, and I let everybody in the room know in case they were wondering. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency sponsored, by the United States of America and many (other) countries, is supporting terrorism. Unfortunately, unwittingly, your tax dollars are paying for the terrorism that you saw on Oct. 7."
As far as suggesting U.S. dollars are not funding terrorism directly, the Congressman said those funds are helping bring electricity to Gaza which is then used to provide lighting in terrorist tunnels built with cement paid for by the United States.
UNRWA isn’t new on Perry’s radar. He put forth a bill to defund it last September but came up five votes short. It was almost a strict party-line vote. The majority of Democrats voted in opposition to the bill, and a handful of Republicans joined them.
Perry said one argument he often hears for continued support of UNRWA is that absence of another mechanism for aid funding. Through the years, there’s been too much evidence of UNRWA’s support for Hamas terrorism to be ignored, he said.
Perry: Cut funding now
“There’s not going to be an alternative unless we stop paying for this one. One of the witnesses said, ‘Well, we need to keep paying for this until we make an assessment.’ This assessment has been going on for decades and decades and decades, and what you have is literally what would be a two-state solution where Israel's here, and Gaza’s there, two different states, but one continues to attack the other. I'm just saying that the United States taxpayers should not be involved in paying for that,” Perry said.
The allegations brought by Israeli intelligence are not new, but many in Washington have responded as though they are, Perry said.
“What was surprising to me is that other people in Washington, D.C., and on this committee act as though they’re surprised," he pointed out. "Many of us have been ringing the alarm bells for years and years and years.
“People that literally are working for this relief agency were also the perpetrators of mass atrocities. That’s widely known, unfortunately,” he said.
