Steve Apfel is a veteran authority on anti-Zionism and a prolific author in general. His works have appeared in many journals and sites. After “Hadrian’s Echo: The why’s and wherefores of Israel’s critics,” a new book, “Hitlers at Heart: anti-Zionism and its Believers” is with publishers. A selection of Steve’s works can be accessed at https://steveapfel.substack.com and https://enemiesofzion.wordpress.com/
Too many reports and statements to keep tally have appeared since people from UNRWA were discovered to have ‘lent a hand’ in the Oct 7 atrocity.
I shall quote from the latest report. Study it. Then come up with the question begging, crying copious tears, to be put to Philippe Lazzarini, the chief culprit.
If by the end you cry out, ‘Talk of a game changer!’ take a bow; you hit on the question that not even PM Netanyahu has thought to ask.
Identify from this report the question to ask UNRWA, so terribly obvious but eludes the brightest and the best.
“Although UNRWA says that it has taken reports that its employees were members of Hamas seriously, Israel says that UNRWA has not gone far enough to root out Hamas in the organization and was unwilling to clean up the issue systematically, the New York Times reported. UNRWA officials say that those who were revealed to have ties to Hamas were fired or left the agency. However, (says Israel) the issue was not dealt with systematically but rather on a case-by-case basis and in private.”
Let’s do this one step at a time.
Note that UNRWA has “taken reports seriously” that its employees were caught in acts of rape, butchery, burning alive and decapitation on Oct 7 in the Gaza envelope.
Now ask yourself two things:
- Are such acts a capital crime against humanity or,
- Are such acts a matter of improper work practices?
Don’t smile. The employer by the action taken, plumped for improper work practices. UNRWA fired the errant workers involved. They broke their conditions of employment and paid the price.
Hold your anger. Israel concurs. Go back to the report. Israel’s gripe is that UNRWA did not deal with the problem, “systematically but rather on a case-by-case basis and in private.” What exactly does this mean? The clear meaning of Israel’s gripe is that UNRWA did not go far enough. Since there are thousands of UNRWA people who work for or fight for Hamas they should be treated the same as the dozen “bad apples” and fired.
Members of the jury! UNRWA did not have the “bad apples” arrested on a charge of murder.
No. It laid them off.
For all we know they got a slap on their bloody wrists, followed by a redundancy package.
Yet no one, Israel above all, has confronted Philippe Lazzarini with the million dollar question: ‘You paid the dozen “bad apples” a monthly salary. They raped, butchered, burnt alive and decapitated. Why did UNRWA let them go? Why did it not have them arrested?