The UNRWA Degringolade: And Then There Were…

While UNRWA’s Director-General Philippe Lazzarini bitterly laments that donor nations dare to demand that his agency investigate those staff members who participated with Hamas in committing atrocities on October 7, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pleads for an immediate resumption of aid to UNRWA because “the situation in Gaza is dire,” every day another country announces that it, too, will be suspending its contributions to UNRWA. UNRWA says it will “run out of funds” sometime in February. No one appears to think the Palestinians’ fabulously rich Arab brothers should be asked to step into the breach and supply the $1.1 billion that UNRWA receives each year — a sum that Saudi Arabia makes in a day. Why is it that so many expect the Western countries to support the Palestinians, and not the Arabs themselves? This makes no sense.

Here, as of January 30, is the latest list of countries that have come to their moral senses and suspended, or in some cases, judging by their language, have chosen to end altogether, aid to UNRWA, that most corrupt and corrupting of UN agencies.

• United States, $343.9 M: “The United States … has temporarily paused additional funding for UNRWA while we review these allegations and the steps the United Nations is taking to address them.” (U.S. Department of State)
• Germany, $202.1 M: “Until the end of the investigation, Germany, in coordination with other donor countries, will temporarily not approve any new funds for UNRWA .” (German Foreign Office)
• European Union, $114.1 M: “Currently, no additional funding to UNRWA is foreseen until the end of February. … The European Commission expects UNRWA to agree to carrying out an audit of the Agency to be conducted by EU appointed independent external experts.” (European Commission)
• Japan, $30.2 M: “Japan is extremely concerned about the alleged involvement of UNRWA staff members in the terror attack on Israel on October 7 last year. In response, Japan has decided to suspend additional funding to UNRWA for the time being while UNRWA conducts an investigation into the matter and considers measures to address the allegations.” (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan)
• France, $28.9 M: “France has not planned any further payments in the first quarter of 2024, and will decide when the time comes how to act in conjunction with the United Nations and the main donors.” (French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs)
• Switzerland, $25.5 M: ” The Swiss foreign ministry indicated that the contributions to UNRWA planned for this year, which have not yet been paid, would only be paid once it had more information on these serious allegations.” (SwissInfo.ch)
• Canada, $23.7 M: ” I am deeply troubled by the allegations relating to some UNRWA employees. I have instructed Global Affairs Canada to pause all additional funding to UNRWA pending the outcome of the investigation.” (Ahmed Hussen, Minister of International Development of Canada)
• United Kingdom, $21.2 M: “The UK is temporarily pausing any future funding of UNRWA whilst we review these concerning allegations.” (United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office)
• The Netherlands, $21.2 M :“The Netherlands will closely follow and weigh the outcome of the investigation when considering future Dutch financial contributions to UNRWA.” (Dutch Minister for Trade and Development Geoffrey Van Leeuwen)
• Australia, $13.8 M:“Australia welcomes UNRWA’s swift response and will engage closely on investigations. We are speaking with partners and will temporarily pause disbursement of recent funding.” (Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Senator Penny Wong)
• Italy, $18 M: “The Italian government has suspended funding after Hamas’ heinous attack on Israel on October 7th. Allied countries have recently made the same decision. ” (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Italy)
• Austria, $8.1 M: “Until these allegations are fully clarified, and there is clarity about the resulting consequences, Austria, in coordination with international partners, will temporarily suspend all further payments to UNRWA.” (Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs)
• Finland, $7.8 M:“Finland’s payments to UNRWA will be suspended due to the allegations. We must make sure that not a single euro of Finland’s money goes to Hamas or other terrorists. The suspicion that employees of an organisation receiving humanitarian assistance are involved in a terrorist attack is the reason for suspending the payments. The case must be investigated thoroughly.” (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland)
• New Zealand, $560.8 K: “The allegations are incredibly serious, it’s important they are properly understood and investigated, we won’t be making any further contributions until the Foreign Minister says it’s good to do so.” (New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, RNZ)
• Iceland, $558.7 K: “The Icelandic Foreign Minister, Bjarni Benediktsson, called for a thorough investigations and said contributions would be frozen until consultations, with the other Nordic countries.” (United Nations Regional Information Center)
• Romania,$210.7 K:“No new [Romanian] voluntary contribution to UNRWA until the investigation is finalised.” (Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
• Estonia, $90 K: “Concerning the recent very serious allegations against UNRWA, Estonia will not continue with the funding of the organisation.” (Margus Tsahkna, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Estonia)

Why stop there in the attempt to make UNRWA start to behave? Why not use the occasion, with UNRWA on its uppers, to do the following, and make a resumption of aid dependent as well on whether UNRWA complies with the following:

Demand that UNRWA at long last remove the schoolbooks that inculcate violent antisemitism, which is what leads those children, when they grow up, to support or take part in Hamas’ atrocities.

Demand that UNRWA justify its existence, and explain to the world why there should be a separate agency for “Palestinian refugees” while all the other refugees in the world must make do with a single UN agency.

Demand that UNRWA explain why, since its founding in 1949, it has treated the status of “Palestinian refugee” as an inheritable trait, so that the children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and more distant progeny are also declared to be “Palestinian refugees” and provided with cradle-to-grave assistance by UNRWA, while no other group of refugees is allowed to pass on their refugee status to their progeny. Henry Kissinger was a German Jewish refugee; his son David is not. Vladimir Nabokov was a Russian refugee. His son Dmitri was not. If we were to apply the same rules for defining Palestinian “refugees” as now apply to all other refugees, there would be not “five million refugees,” but fewer than 30,000.

Demand that UNRWA focus its fundraising on the fabulously rich Arab states of the Gulf, that until now have gotten away with providing derisory sums. Why haven’t those Arab states stepped into the breach right now, when we are told that conditions in Gaza are “dire”? Why are they being given a pass, ignoring the needs of thier “Arab brothers” and expecting the West, as always, to provide 95% of UNRWA’s funding?

Now let’s wait to see how UNRWA, already in a world of woe, responds to these quite reasonable requests. And if they don’t meet these demands, then keep the aid tap firmly closed.