March 20, 2023
Doris Strub Epstein
“The Palestinian culture of violence is fed and nourished by UNRWA.”
The latest Palestinian shooting in Huwara concerned an ex-Marine, David Stern while driving his car with his wife and three children in the backseat. Despite being shot in the head, he managed to kill the terrorist. Miraculously, he survived.
Several weeks before, brothers Hallel Yaniv and Yagel 19 were less fortunate. They were shot and murdered by a terrorist while sitting in traffic in Huwara. The town’s people celebrated, cheering and passing out sweets. As usual, crowds assaulted the IDF soldiers who surrounded the house where the terrorists hid, throwing explosives and shooting at them.
Huwara is one of the most dangerous towns in Judea and Samaria. Almost every building along its main street has served as a hideout for terrorists. Israelis must run a gauntlet of boulder-sized rocks, Molotov cocktails, and gunfire. Every day Jews living nearby drive through this town. There is no bypass road or way around. Every day at least 20 Jewish cars are stoned while going through Huwara. They can’t stop for help because a mob is waiting to finish the job.
Huwara did not happen by chance. It, and hundreds of other Palestinian towns and cities, are products of the widely attended UNRWA school system that “glorifies terrorism, encourages martyrdom, demonizes Israel and calls for the murder of its Jews,” according to a new report by 21 NGOs. The Palestinian culture of violence is fed and nourished by UNRWA schools. The hatred is systemic.
Henry Koppel, author of ‘War on Hate: How to Stop Genocide, Fight Terrorism and Defend Freedom,’ writes: “ The spike in terrorism (in Israel) happens in part because of over 6 billion dollars in US, Canada, and EU aid, given to the PA and UNRWA since 2008.”
In a recent report, UN Watch and The Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education noted that UNRWA’s teaching materials “glorify terrorism, encourage martyrdom, demonize Israel and incite Antisemitism.”
In a social studies lesson, ninth graders celebrated a Palestinian firebombing attack on an Israeli bus as a “barbeque party.” The curriculum instilled armed struggle against Israel as a “divine right.”
The report also identified 133 teachers and staff who, aside from indoctrinating students, promoted hatred and violence against Israelis on social media. Head of UN Watch, Hillel Neuer, called the ”exploitation of children as child soldiers” a form of “child abuse and a violation of international law.”
In 2022, there were more than 5,000 attacks against Israeli Jews, including car rammings, shootings, stabbings, rock throwing, and the bombing of innocent men, women, and children. In the past month alone, Palestinian terrorists murdered 15 Israelis.
The past six months have seen dramatically increased terror attacks, especially in Judea and Samaria.
There is no peace movement among the Palestinians; no leadership presently exists or emerging willing to negotiate a compromise. There is no desire to give up terrorism. A new Palestinian poll rated 71 percent of the population supported terrorism; only 21 percent were against it.
UNRWA’s influence in the Middle East is gigantic. It has a budget of 1.6 million dollars, a staff of 29,000, and operates in six countries. It oversees 59 refugee camps, increasing from roughly 600,000 refugees to a staggering 6.7 million. There is no intention to resettle these “Palestinian refugees.” They are kept in horrific living conditions and used as festering sores – weaponized in the war against Israel. UNRWA is accountable to none of its donors. They act with impunity and have declared they have no intention of changing their policy.
The US congress met last week to consider legislation to cut funding to UNRWA.
On the other hand, the Canadian government increased funding to UNRWA to over 27 million in 2022, with more on the horizon. As usual, there were no prior conditions or demands for changes aligned with Canadian values and morality.
In a Bedein Center for Near East Policy Research report, founder and Director David Bedein states: “The Canadian government must be held to account: it is doublespeak to condemn antisemitism while funding the very purveyors of the worst Antisemitism in the world.”
Canada must suspend funding UNRWA until it establishes an educational system and social environment that promotes mutual respect rather than hate, statesmanship rather than terrorism, and peace rather than war.
