A watchdog group called on the UN agency that supports Palestinian refugees to reveal which employees were recently suspended for allegedly inciting antisemitism and violence.
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The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) reportedly suspended at least six of its employees after a report by United Nations Watch named 113 of its educators and other staffers who have publicly promoted antisemitism and violence on social media. In his letter on Tuesday, UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer asked UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini to identify which of the named employees were suspended.
Neuer accused Lazzarini of "refusing to engage with the extensive research and documentation of UN Watch, which demonstrates UNRWA's failure to apply its purported 'zero tolerance' policy towards teachers who incite racism and violence, while at the same time seeking to kill the messenger by maliciously defaming United Nations Watch for providing a minimal form of oversight that UNRWA itself has failed to exercise."
BREAKING: Ahead of a donors conference where UNRWA seeks to raise $800 million from Western states, today I called on @UNLazzarini—head of the agency that runs schools for Palestinians—to identify which teachers were suspended for antisemitism & terrorism.https://t.co/5LJiOhTij7
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) October 26, 2021
Neuer also said that UNRWA "owes basic transparency and accountability to its donors before they transfer vast sums of taxpayer dollars," a reference to the UN agency's international donors conference slated for mid-November, where UNRWA will seek $800 million for its education, health and social services.
"UN Watch calls on the US, Germany, the UK, Sweden, Italy, France, Canada, Australia and other donor states to demand that UNRWA clarify whether it continues to employ any of the more than 100 teachers and employees who glorify Hitler, incite antisemitism and promote terrorism against Israelis," he continued.
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"Palestinian children have the right to an education that is free from racist poison, free from teachers who publicly propagate antisemitism and incitement to terrorism," said Neuer. "When UNRWA repeatedly places teachers who glorify Hitler in front of a classroom of young Palestinian students, that is child abuse."
The Biden administration recently restored more than $300 million in US funding for UNRWA, contingent on a Framework Agreement in which the agency promised "clear, consistent and prompt administrative or disciplinary action for staff violations of UNRWA's Neutrality Framework."
Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.
