Brendan O’Neill
Spiked, Jan. 29, 2024
“Most striking is the left’s attempts to downplay the seriousness of the charges against UNRWA.”
I long ago lost faith in the left. But even I wouldn’t have believed it if you’d told me that one day they would spend Holocaust Memorial Day cheering an organisation whose members stand accused of slaughtering Jews. That as everyone else was lighting candles for the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis, they would be swarming the internet to praise and even fundraise for a group whose staff are suspected of massacring Jews. That on the very day we remember the worst act of anti-Semitism in history, they’d be heaping love and cash on an organisation whose people allegedly played a part in the worst act of anti-Semitism of the 21st century. The left is bad, I know, but are they that bad, I’d have wondered?
Now we know the answer to that question. It’s yes. Yes they are.
This is the story of UNRWA – the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. On Friday, it announced that it was investigating allegations that 12 of its employees in Gaza took part in the Hamas pogrom of 7 October. Israel alleges that these UNRWA staff, people literally on the payroll of the UN, carried out acts including abduction, distributing ammunition, coordinating attacks and actual murder. UNRWA says it has dismissed the suspects and is investigating the claims.
In response, some Western nations, including the US, the UK and Australia, have suspended funding to UNRWA. As well they might. Who wants their hard-earned tax dollars going to an organisation that reportedly harbours neo-fascists? Which allegedly counts among its workforce Jew-haters of such a twisted, devoted nature that they’re willing to assist in the worst anti-Semitic rampage since the Holocaust? Suspending the flow of money to UNRWA while officials figure out whether its staff really did take part in that racist, rapacious onslaught against Jewish men, women and children seems a reasonable decision to me. … [To read the full article, click here]