"Canada is not reducing the amount of money given to the PA, but it is now being redirected in accordance with Canadian values." So said Canadian Treasury Minister Vic Toews, who met last week with senior Palestinian Authority officials in Ramallah.
Bnai Brith Canada has issued a statement of praise for the Government of Canada for “redirecting aid for which there was no accountability from UNRWA... to specific institution-building projects in the Palestinian Authority (PA). “ UNRWA is the UN agency that runs refugee camps for hundreds of thousands of Arabs who have not yet been rehabilitated by Arab countries.
According to some reports, the Canadian funding will now apparently go towards Palestinian Authority justice system needs, including the training of prosecutors, the Office of the Attorney-General, and the Public Prosecution Office.
“We are grateful that Canadians have a government that truly understands the situation in Israel and the territories and has acted to redirect funding from UNRWA to specific projects in the Palestinian Authority,” said Frank Dimant, Executive Vice President of Bínai Brith Canada.
Hamas Infiltrated UNRWA?
“For many years, we have been calling on the Canadian government to ensure that the aid money we send to the PA is closely monitored and that the process is transparent,” he continued. “Canadian funding of UNRWA has always been problematic due to the fact that numerous reports spelled out the degree to which Hamas and other Islamic terrorist organizations have infiltrated UNRWA and diverted funding intended to benefit the Palestinian people.”
The Canada-Israel Committee also released a statement applauding the government's reallocation of UNRWA's funding, but noted that the money would now go to “direct food aid” to the Palestinian Authority.
A report in the Toronto Star said that the exact state of UNRWA's future Canadian contributions remains vague. This, despite the newspaper’s attempts to “get clarification” from the both the Treasury and the Minister of International Cooperation, another funnel of Canadian UNRWA funds.