Einat Wilf speaks at UN Briefing on UNRWA

Click above for the video

Einat Wilf is a peace activist, many years working with Labour members of Israeli government. She knows whereof she speaks. And makes the strong case that the UNRWA* is the main stumbling block on the path to peace in the Middle East. Because it is run and owned, essentially, by Hamas. Its existence requires the existence of Palestinian refugees, therefore it does nothing to reduce their numbers. That’s just in the nature of incentives. 

I’ve been banging on about how awful UNRWA is, for at least a decade. The evidence of its harm is right there in front of us. We have the receipts, as we say these days. And yet nothing is done. Because of the powerful pro-Islam lobby in the United Nations. And the reluctance of western governments to be seen as uncaring and uncharitable. It’s easier just to go along with the corrupt UNRWA. At least then you can pretend to be virtuous. 

Donald Trump removed US funding for UNRWA during his presidency. That was a good move. But was excoriated on the Left. And by most countries. He would “lose US power to act as a broker” they claimed. Yet that power increased: he gave us the Abraham Accords, the most significant move towards peace in the middle east in 70 years. 

Of course the minute Joe Biden was in power, he resumed aid to this most corrupt of organisations, the UNRWA.

The above video is very revealing, from someone who’s been inside the beast. 

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* UNRWA = the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. The only refugee agency in the world that is focussed on one lot of people alone, the Palestinians. It’s been going since 1949, and in that time -- 75 years !! -- the number of Palestinian refugees that it’s overseen has only risen, from under a million to now more than 5 million. As has its employees, now number some 30,000. By rights this should be classified as a major failure and should be disbanded. But it’s not; it’s seen as indispensable and any moves to disband or even restrict it are denounced. 

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, by contrast, looks after refugees from all over the world, has a smaller workforce than UNRWA and has housed and resettled millions of refugees.