We know the U.N. is corrupt on a multitude of levels. So corrupt that employees of the UNRWA relief agency in Gaza are members of Hamas and were purported to be directly involved in the October 7 attacks on Israel.

At least 12 employees of the U.N.’s Palestinian refugee agency had connections to Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel and around 10% of all of its Gaza staff have ties to Islamist militant groups, according to intelligence reports reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

Six United Nations Relief and Works Agency workers were part of the wave of Palestinian militants who killed 1,200 people in the deadliest assault on Jews since the Holocaust, according to the intelligence dossier. Two helped kidnap Israelis. Two others were tracked to sites where scores of Israeli civilians were shot and killed. Others coordinated logistics for the assault, including procuring weapons.

Keep this in mind, this agency is “supposed” to help Palestinian refugees and their descendants who were displaced or something by the 1948 war. This relief includes money, food, medical care, and education. As Deanna wrote the other day, the U.N. would rather lecture the U.S and Israel instead of admitting there’s a real problem in their ranks. Supposedly, according to UNRWA itself, they are funded nearly entirely by voluntary donations. If that is the case, then how is it that those voluntary donations come from our tax dollars?

UNRWA benefits from the generous support of UN Member States including regional governments and the European Union. Together, these sources represent close to 89.2 percent of financial contributions to the Agency. In 2022, UNRWA resource mobilization efforts yielded a total pledged amount of US$ 1.17 billion (including UN Secretariat regular budget support for international staff).

In light of the information regarding UNRWA involvement in Hamas last week, the gravy train to the agency came to a screeching halt…sort of.

The U.S. only “paused” the funding. 

Wow. The State Department “has temporarily paused additional funding” to UNRWA amid allegations that 12 of the UN agency’s employees were involved in the Hamas attack, per States spokesman Matt Miller. “Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke with United Nations Secretary…

— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) January 26, 2024

How much funding are we talking about? A. LOT. 

https://twitter.com/UNWatch/status/1751707470328655982

That’s a lot of dough flowing to the agency housed in Gaza. And now, with information provided to the U.S. and others, we find out that a good portion of that funding went to salaries of workers who were also members of Hamas. 

The most detailed accusations in the dossier concerned a school counselor from Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, who is accused of working with his son to abduct a woman from Israel.

A social worker from Nuseirat, in central Gaza, is accused of helping to bring the body of a dead Israeli soldier to Gaza, as well as distributing ammunition and coordinating vehicles on the day of the attack.

In fact, the information regarding U.N. employees’ involvement is even more concerning when one drills into the details. 

Intelligence estimates shared with the U.S. conclude that around 1,200 of Unrwa’s roughly 12,000 employees in Gaza have links to Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and about half have close relatives who belong to the Islamist militant groups. Both groups have been designated as terrorist organizations by the U.S. and others. Hamas has run Gaza since a 2007 coup.

~Snip

Two officials familiar with the intelligence said the Unrwa employees considered to have ties with militant groups were deemed to be “operatives,” indicating they took active part in the organization’s military or political framework. The report said 23% of Unrwa’s male employees had ties to Hamas, a higher percentage than the average of 15% for adult males in Gaza, indicating a higher politicization of the agency than the population at large.

That’s definitely problematic for both the U.N. and for Hamas. Unless you are the head of UNRWA, who took to the airwaves to complain about how people will starve if the funding dries up. 

UNRWA lifesaving assistance is about to end following countries decisions to cut their funding to the Agency.

Our humanitarian operation, on which 2 million people depend as a lifeline in Gaza, is collapsing. I am shocked such decisions are taken based on alleged behavior of a…

— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) January 27, 2024

Or, if you are the Secretary-General of the United Nations, you want the funding spigot opened up again now that the culprits have been identified and fired. 

Look again at the statistics provided by Israeli intelligence. 23% of the employees that WE KNOW OF, are tied to Hamas in some way. The relief agency employs over 12,000. Somehow between the employees and their families, I’d say there are more Hamas terrorist or sympathizers involved in UNRWA than we know of.  

Yet the talking points are coming out. According to Hamas and UNRWA, stopping funding means caving to Israel’s blackmail and ensuring that Gaza citizens will starve. Here’s an idea, maybe do a better job of vetting your agency employees? Furthermore, until the citizens of Gaza are willing to boot Hamas to the curb, it’s a fair bet that organizations such as the United Nations Relief agency will continue to house Hamas sympathizers and even terrorists. 

Feature Photo Credit: United Nations flag via iStock, cropped and modified