[WSJ via Hot Air] The Wall Street Journal is reporting on an intelligence report that shows the links between United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and Hamas in Gaza are more complicated than was first reported.Readers here at Hot Air know that we’ve been on this topic. UNRWA fired some employees when it was uncovered that they participated in the horrific massacres of Jews, Americans, and others on October 7, 2023 in Israel. Joe Biden temporarily came to his senses and cut U.S. funding to UNRWA. The U.N. agency did the bare basics in response to the connections exposed between UNRWA and Hamas by firing a few employees. Now the agency is calling for funding to be restored.
Donald Trump stopped the funding of UNRWA during his term in office. Joe Biden started the funding back again when he came into the White House. It’s a good reminder that Joe Biden has been wrong about foreign policy decisions for the duration of his decades in office. He is particularly agreeable to funding Iran. Hamas is an Iranian proxy. Hamas controls Gaza. UNRWA employees are more embedded into working with Hamas than was reported.
Twelve employees of UNRWA had connections to the October 7 massacres. Intelligence reports find that about 10% of all its Gaza staff have ties to Islamist militant groups. The Wall Street Journal has reviewed the intelligence reports.
Six United Nations Relief and Works Agency workers were part of the wave of Palestinian militants who killed 1,200 people in the deadliest assault on Jews since the Holocaust, according to the intelligence dossier. Two helped kidnap Israelis. Two others were tracked to sites where scores of Israeli civilians were shot and killed. Others coordinated logistics for the assault, including procuring weapons.
Of the 12 Unrwa employees with links to the attacks, seven were primary or secondary school teachers, including two math teachers, two Arabic language teachers and one primary school teacher.
The intelligence reports hold sensitive information gathered from cellphone tracking data, interrogations of captured Hamas fighters, and documents recovered from dead fighters. The information was delivered in a briefing given by Israel to U.S. officials. This briefing led to the end of funding aid to UNRWA.
Originally the conclusion could be made that just a few employees were bad and working for the wrong side. Just12 employees were fired. However, the problem is much broader. The problem is the institution as a whole. It’s a haven for Hamas’ extreme ideology. About 1,200 of UNRWA’s 12,000 employees in Gaza have links to Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad. About half have close relatives who belong to Islamist militant groups.
The intelligence report finds UNRWA employees were considered to be operatives for terrorist groups. They actively took part in the military and political framework. About 23% of UNRWA’s male employees had ties to Hamas. That is a higher percentage than the 15% of adult males in Gaza. This means that there is higher politicization in UNRWA than in the population at large. About 40% of UNRWA employees have close relatives who also have official ties to Hamas and other militant groups.
| The Times of Israel has more details here. |
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