After Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre of more than 1,400 Jews, teachers at the UNRWA-run schools, which are funded by U.S. taxpayers and the EU, took to social media to celebrate.
This behavior is nothing new, UN Watch’s Hillel Neuer pointed out to lawmakers last week in a hearing on how the agency "poisons Palestinian youth."
“UNRWA staff regularly call to murder Jews, and create teaching materials that glorify terrorism, encourage martyrdom, demonize Israelis and incite antisemitism,” he said.
What does that look like in practice? Arithmetic lessons teach children to count “martyred” terrorists while grammar lessons include phrases such as, “Jihad is one of the doors to Paradise,” and kids are taught Israel is the “enemy.”
All of this is well documented, as are the teachers’ celebratory responses to the brutal attack. But that didn’t stop Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the UNRWA, from accusing those who spoke candidly about it of “false & insidious claims.”
X users slapped his post with a community note, while Neuer brought the receipts.
“This is wrong. Textbooks used by UNRWA contain pages of Israel-hatred,” the community note read. “Problematic passages with ‘anti-Semitic things, calls for violence and glorification of killers,’ (Quote from Matthias Schmale, head of UNRWA in Gaza until 2021.)”
Excellent community note. https://t.co/2i30OOy2HP pic.twitter.com/4WAXOhuXMn
— Lahav Harkov (@LahavHarkov) November 13, 2023
Meet Rawya Halas, head of UNRWA's Khan Younis training center. On October 7, she eulogized one of the Hamas murderers: “Hero, hero, hero, a thousand mercies, may light shine on your soul! Prince of Khan Younis, Muhammad Walid Sabah, the raider. Pray for mercy be granted to him.” pic.twitter.com/YMh6lQvqXW
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) November 12, 2023
2/ Meet UNRWA teacher Mohammed Adwan. He defends the Hamas massacre: “What we do is resistance, regaining our rights...” He eulogized terrorist Jamal Abu Samhadana, who murdered Tali Hatuel & her 4 daughters, as a “resistance legend.” https://t.co/Mq4Txu4IsW pic.twitter.com/bW0Aliyoui
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) October 12, 2023
4/ Meet UNRWA school counselor Niveen Afana. On the day of the massacre, she prayed for the murderers: “O Allah, have mercy on our martyrs, steadfast our mujahideen, grant them victory over the unbelievers and a good ending.” https://t.co/g2mzq08idl pic.twitter.com/M0LjHyyU3k
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) October 12, 2023
6/ Meet UNRWA teacher Osama Ahmad. On Sunday morning, while Hamas terrorists invaded Israeli towns and slaughtered families, proudly live-streaming their atrocities, this UNRWA teacher celebrated: “Allah is the greatest... Above imagination.”
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) October 13, 2023
His post:https://t.co/FFLLzPgDuR pic.twitter.com/xDEEE2CKMX
Neuer's thread continues, highlighting other terrorist-praising UNRWA teachers, which are all documented in the group's report.
As Foundation for Defense of Democracy's Jonathan Schanzer argued in last week's hearing, it's past time for the UN to "reform itself or ... be dismantled."