Senior Israeli officials have charged the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) with providing political cover for the Hamas terrorist organization in its dealings with the United States.
The accusation comes in the wake of an incident in which a letter written by a top Hamas official was allegedly passed to U.S. Senator John Kerry through UNRWA head Karen Abu Zayed when the American lawmaker was in Gaza for a visit last week.
Sen. Kerry is the chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Affairs Committee. The letter, addressed to U.S. President Barack Obama, was sandwiched in among a sheaf of promotional papers handed to the senator by the United Nations agency head, he told Fox News. Kerry added that he handed the letter, unopened, to the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem. He later visited Syria and Lebanon as well.
Hamas later denied having sent the letter. UNRWA spokesman Sami Mshasha told reporters it was dropped off at the gate to the UNRWA compound and that the envelope bore the seal of the Palestinian Authority. "We just delivered it to the intended party," he said. "We did not open it. We are not in the business of opening other people's mail. We did not know its contents."
An Israeli government source quoted by The Jerusalem Post pointed out that such an action makes UNRWA a conduit for messages from Hamas to the outside world.
"That no one finds it strange that UNRWA, whose mandate is humanitarian, is the vehicle through which Hamas passes messages on to the U.S., just shows where UNRWA is at," said the source.
He added that UNRWA is also advocating for the international community to drop the three conditions set by the Quartet of nations for negotiating with Hamas: formal recognition of the State of Israel and its right to exist, renouncing terrorism and upholding agreements with Israel negotiated by previous PA governments.
UNRWA spokesman Sami Mshasha denied the accusations, saying "We are not in the business of supporting one side over the other. We are in the business of supporting Palestinian refugees and helping them."
During the counterterrorist Operation Cast Lead carried out by the IDF in January, UNRWA also echoed Hamas's calls for a ceasefire without preconditions. Jerusalem-based UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness told Israel National News in an interview during the military operation in January that the need for a ceasefire, due to humanitarian concerns, overrode all other issues as far as the agency was concerned.
Israel has insisted that Hamas terrorists cease their rocket and mortar fire on western Negev communities, halt weapons smuggling and return kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit before it will agree to an Egyptian-brokered deal to reopen the Gaza crossings and establish a formal ceasefire with Hamas.