UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees) is "disseminating crude, anti-Semitic caricatures on the Internet that incite to the murder of Jews," according to a letter of protest on the topic written by UN Watch, a non-governmental organization that monitors human-rights abuses in the United Nations.
Two anti-Semitic cartoons in particular – both added on Facebook by the "Rameh UNRWA School" in Syria - were noted by UN Watch. They both promote and praise the car-terrorist attacks perpetrated several times this year by Palestinian terrorists against Jews and Israelis.
One cartoon (above) shows a young Arab boy happily sending off a toy car by remote-control towards a long-nosed Jew dressed in black running away in fear.
A second cartoon shows a road sign with the picture of a car running down pedestrians; the caption reads "Cars intifada Daes" - using the Arabic term “Daes” (Run-over), which is a play on the Arabic word for the Islamic State (ISIS, Daesh).
In a letter today to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, UN Watch Executive Director Hillel C. Neuer writes that his organization is "gravely concerned that [UNRWA], which received some $400 million from the U.S. last year in exchange for its signed promise to refrain from supporting terrorism and to uphold neutrality, is nevertheless disseminating crude, anti-Semitic caricatures on the Internet that incite to the murder of Jews."
"We respectfully demand," Neuer adds, "that you take action immediately to remove the images, apply accountability to the highest levels of UNRWA, and apologize for inciting to racism."
Just a few days ago, Arutz Sheva reported that UNRWA teachers in Gaza, Judea and Samaria, Lebanon and Jordan received no disciplinary action for supporting anti-Semitism and terrorism on social media.
The two cartoons in question are among the first ten items on the UNRWA Facebook page of the Rameh school, based in the Jaramaneh camp outside Damascus. They praise the type of car terrorism that has killed at least eight people, including two Arabs, and left many dozens wounded in and around Jerusalem over the past year. Among the victims were Shalom Cherki, 25; 3-month-old Chaya Zissel Braun; Karen Jemima Mosquera, 22, of Ecuador; and Dalia Lemkos, 26, of Gush Etzion.
"This vile campaign," Neuer writes, "praises car attacks as a form of 'resistance,' and incites others to perpetrate similar attacks and… features violent expressions of anti-Semitism. At a time when UNRWA claims to be in crisis, it is shameful that a UNRWA facility featured on a UN video asking for help for victims in Syria would be the same one engaged in incitement to racism, terrorism and murder."
In view of the above, as well as "the April report of the UN board of inquiry which found that UNRWA effectively turned a blind eye to Hamas rockets and other terrorist weapons being stored in its facilities," UN Watch demands that UNRWA "take action immediately to remove the images, apply accountability to the highest levels of UNRWA, and apologize."
A copy of the letter was sent to Ambassador Samantha Power, U.S. Mission to the UN.
UNRWA states on its website that it "provides assistance and protection for some 5 million registered Palestine refugees" – but also notes that the number of such refugees who were displaced as a result of Israel's 1948 War of Independence was less than 15% of that number.
The more than seven-fold increase in the number of refugees whom UNRWA was supposed to help resettle and "achieve their full potential in human development" (as written on UNRWA's website) is precisely why many have accused UNRWA of perpetuating the refugee problem, instead of solving or alleviating it.
"Palestinian refugees" are the only refugees in the world granted their own UN agency, instead of UNHRC which deals with all other refugees around the world. Only those treated by UNRWA "inherit" refugee status infinitely, and are not integrated and naturalized into their host state, meaning the "refugee" issue is held in perpetuation.
No UN organization was established to aid the 850,000 Jewish refugees who fled or were expelled from Arab countries following 1948, losing their property and possessions. Some communities, such as the Jewish communities in Yemen and Iraq, had been there for thousands of years.