NZ should also cease funding UNRWA

The Herald reports:

The secretary-general of the United Nations on Sunday called on countries to continue funding the main agency providing aid in Gaza after several of its employees were accused of taking part in the Hamas attack on Israel that ignited the war four months ago.

The UN only has itself to blame. The involvement of UNRWA staff with the Hamas attacks may be the catalyst, but there has been numerous scandals over the last decade ranging from UNRWA teachers promoting Jew hatred in schools, to anti-semitic textbooks to teaching kids how to kill Jews etc. This is not a case of a few bad apples, but a culture that has been allowed to flourish for years.

And every time these issues have been raised, the UN did nothing but deny and dissemble. They had the chance to sort them out, but didn’t.

We should join Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the UK and US and cease funding an organisation that is part of the problem, not part of the solution.

The funding should be transferred from UNRWA to agencies that actually have a history of neutrality such as the Red Cross. We should definitely fund relief for those in the Palestinian Territories – but not through UNRWA.