UNRWA: Israel appeals to members of the Bundestag relating to German assist to Gaza | EUROtoday

Status: 15:08 | Reading time: 2 minutes

IIn the controversy about funds to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinians (UNRWA), the Israeli authorities has appealed to members of the Bundestag to forestall German tax cash from being diverted to terrorists. This is clear from a letter obtained by WELT. “We ask you to make a clear request that UNRWA immediately dismiss all terrorist employees employed by the organization,” it says.

A doc despatched by the Israeli embassy to members of the Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday additionally criticizes the UNRWA motion plan, which the UN company used to reply to Israeli accusations that it had been infiltrated by Hamas supporters.

“The UNRWA action plan completely ignores the most important question, namely how to address the problem of the massive employment of terrorists at UNRWA in Gaza,” the letter states. The UNRWA motion plan mentions “neither Hamas nor the massive infiltration of terrorists” into the ranks of the company. It continues: “The action plan ignores the fact that several UNRWA school principals are Hamas activists, including some who belong to the Nukhba, the elite Hamas force that led the October 7 massacre.”

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German cash for UNRWA

At the tip of January it grew to become identified that no less than twelve UNRWA staff had been concerned within the Hamas terrorist assault on October 7 in Israel. According to a report within the Wall Street Journal, ten % of the help company's roughly 12,000 staff working within the Gaza Strip are stated to have hyperlinks to Hamas or the terrorist group Islamist Jihad.

In the wake of the allegations, UNRWA dismissed a number of staff. Several Western international locations quickly stopped funds to the help company, together with the 2 largest donors, the USA and Germany. An unbiased fee of inquiry revealed a report in April on attainable abuses at UNRWA – however the outcomes fell wanting the allegations made by Israel.

UNRWA has established a lot of “robust” mechanisms to make sure that the precept of neutrality is upheld. However, there may be room for enchancment.

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Aid cash from Germany is now flowing into the Palestinian autonomous territories once more – the Foreign Office introduced on the finish of April that it could additionally prefer to resume cooperation with UNRWA within the Gaza Strip. Germany is at the moment the most important contributor to UNRWA internationally.

On Wednesday, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini even known as for a rise in funds within the Bundestag's Foreign Affairs Committee. Frank Müller-Rosentritt (FDP), a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, sharply criticized Lazzarini's habits. “I hope that Lazzarini's current visit to Berlin is not a promotional tour, but his farewell tour as UNRWA chief. Anyone who has looked the other way for years and done nothing in the face of massive accusations is no longer acceptable,” stated Müller-Rosentritt.