Next month marks the 75th anniversary of the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, drafted in response to the “barbarous acts which ... outraged the conscience of mankind" during World War II.
But in the wake of Hamas’ brutal Oct. 7 attack on Israel, when more than 1,400 Jews were murdered, thousands of others injured, and more than 200 taken hostage, one would be hard-pressed to find the same resolve. Not only has the UN treated Israel as its enemy No. 1, it has enabled atrocities like the one witnessed last month, argued Jonathan Schanzer of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies Wednesday in a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing on the UN’s “bigotry towards Israel.”
Specifically, lawmakers probed how the UNRWA’s anti-Semitism “poisons Palestinian youth”—an organization U.S. taxpayers gave $344 million in 2022.
“Under the slogan 'Peace Starts Here,' UNRWA tells donor states that they educate Palestinians about human rights and peace, that they promote stability,” explained witness Hillel Neuer of UN Watch. In reality, however, “UNRWA staff regularly call to murder Jews, and create teaching materials that glorify terrorism, encourage martyrdom, demonize Israelis and incite antisemitism."
The watchdog group released a new report this week looking specifically at how UNRWA staff responded to Hamas’ attack, finding that when news broke of the horrific massacre, they took to social media to celebrate.
I told the Congress: “The UN misrepresents basic facts, falsely accusing Israel of bombing a hospital when it was Islamic Jihad; falsely terms Israel’s legitimate self-defence as ‘collective punishment’; and creates a false moral equivalence between self-defence and terrorism.” https://t.co/A119XL1G80 pic.twitter.com/GrkbJVaNVd
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) November 9, 2023
As Schanzer noted, “this is not a case of a few rotten apples.”
"UNRWA ... has blood on its hands," he said, explaining that UNRWA refuses to identify Hamas as a terror group and “openly promotes hatred and violence while masquerading as a humanitarian body.” In its hiring process, UNRWA does not even attempt to screen members of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and other terror groups. And children are taught that Israel is the “enemy” in official UNRWA educational material, they learn to count by adding up “martyred” terrorists, and practice grammar with phrases such as, “Jihad is one of the doors to Paradise.”
Given that millions in taxpayer money is going toward the organization, Schanzer said accountability and oversight of operations is paramount, as is a proper vetting system of employees, and an overhaul of the educational material—at a minimum.
“Either the UN begins to reform itself or it should be dismantled,” he said.