British Channel 4 has examined “confidential Israeli documents” regarding Israel’s claim that UNRWA staff were involved in the Oct. 7 attacks.
The network reports Israel has “provided no evidence” in its charges against UNRWA personnel.
CHRISTOPHER GUNNESS, cgunness@outlook.com
Gunness is former spokesperson for UNRWA and is featured in the Channel 4 report. He calls the halting of funding to UNRWA, which provides food, education and other forms of relief for Palestinian refugees “utterly shocking” and a “violation of international law” and a “violation of the orders by the International Court of Justice.”
In the suit brought by South Africa, The ICJ on Jan. 26 ordered: “Israel must take immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to address the adverse conditions of life faced by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.”
Hours later, Israel made its charges regarding UNRWA and the U.S. government and other donors then halted funding.
See in-depth interview with Gunness on the Electronic Intifada.
The Electronic Intifada reports: “The Israeli allegations appear to be based off of confessions made by Palestinian detainees, likely under conditions of torture.”
The noted Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert asked: “Why is Israel not being investigated for the killing of 154 UNRWA employees in Gaza?”
See: “International Coalition to Stop Genocide in Palestine Demands Full Funding of UNRWA.”
See from Ryan Grim of The Intercept: “What Are We Doing?? By cutting funding from UNRWA, the U.S. moves Israel closer to its goal” and “Republicans Move to One-Up Biden and Permanently Defund UNRWA.”
Also see from Jonathan Cook: “In waging war on the UN refugee agency, the West is openly siding with Israeli genocide,” which notes among other things: “UNRWA is separate from the UN’s main refugee agency, the UNHCR, and deals only with Palestinian refugees. Although Israel does not want you to know it, the reason for there being two UN refugee agencies is because Israel and its western backers insisted on the division back in 1948. Why? Because Israel was afraid of the Palestinians falling under the responsibility of the UNHCR’s forerunner, the International Refugee Organisation. The IRO was established in the immediate wake of the Second World War in large part to cope with the millions of European Jews fleeing Nazi atrocities. Israel did not want the two cases treated as comparable, because it was pushing hard for Jewish refugees to be settled on lands from which it had just expelled Palestinians.”
In 2021, AP reported: “A confidential Israeli dossier detailing alleged links between Palestinian human rights groups and an internationally designated terrorist organization contains little concrete evidence and failed to convince European countries to stop funding the groups.” And in 2022: “Dutch stop funding Palestinian NGO, question Israeli charges.”
