David Bedein is head of Israel Resource News Agency at the Nahum Bedein Center for Near East Policy Research, located at Beit Agron in Jerusalem. He has provided news coverage of UNRWA since December 1987, assisted by a team of Jewish and Arab journalists and has produced 24 short films shot on location in UNRWA, along with two books and hundreds of news features about UNRWA, including its textbooks, in 12 languages. For decade,s Arutz Sheva, even threatened with a lawsuit by UNRWA then spokesman Chris Gunness, has been a platform for disseminating this information. (Read this prescient article from 2021.)
Swiss diplomat Phillipe Lazzarini, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency commissioner general, has been asked by the US House Foreign Affairs Committee, to meet with their committee - on the record and in person.
Following the discovery of arsenals of weapons inside UNRWA schools over the past few months and the Hamas data center under its headquarters, of immediate concern is the new Palestinian Authority curriculum which indoctrinates Palestinian Arab children to conquer all of 'Palestine' by force of arms, a goal hardly appropriate to a UN agency.
Here are policy challenges which the UNRWA commissioner will have to answer to the US Congress
1. UNRWA textbooks do not match UN values of peaceful reconciliation. The agency has reintroduced a new schoolbook which features Dalal el Mugrabi – whose terror squad commandeered a bus and murdered 38 passengers, including 13 children – as a role model for UNRWA pupils. In the new UNRWA text, Dalal is portrayed in full terror garb, followed by a lesson plan which presents her life story for adulation and emulation.
2. UNRWA contracts for exclusive use of Palestinian Authority schoolbooks in Judea, Samaria, Jerusalem and Gaza. Like all UN agencies, UNRWA is supposed to run schools based on the UN slogan “Peace Begins Here.” PA education, however, runs schools based on the ideology of the Palestine Liberation Organization: Conquest of Palestine by force of arms. The commissioner can cancel the UNRWA-PA contract.
3. UNRWA schools are adorned with posters and murals of “martyrs” who died while murdering Jews. The new UNRWA commissioner can order the removal of all violent images in agency facilities.
4. El Kutla youth clubs in UNRWA schools inspire pupils with the mantra of the armed struggle from a young age. The UNRWA commissioner can order El Kutla clubs to cease and desist from violent incitement.
5. Military parades frequent UNRWA premises. The commissioner can order an end to military parades in any UNRWA facility.
6. Hamas terror groups lead the agency’s teachers and workers unions. The UNRWA commissioner can demand that any agency employee who runs on a “Hamas ticket” be barred from the payroll. Even the UN defines Hamas as a terrorist organization.
7. Nakba events are scheduled each year on May 15, the day when the PLO mourns the defeat of the Arab armies that invaded Israel in 1948. These rallies call for violence. The UNRWA commissioner can issue a directive to refrain from any call to violence at the Nakba ceremonies in UNRWA facilities.
8. Popular Gazan singer Mohammad Assaf, claiming to be “UNRWA Youth Ambassador,” whips up crowds to violence. The UNRWA Commissioner can issue a policy statement that does not allow Assaf on the UNRWA premises.
9. Memorial Events for Arabs killed in the act of murder occur in UNRWA schools. TheUNRWA commissioner can cancel any such ceremonies.
10. Fiscal Transparency. With a flow of $1.6 billion in donations from 67 nations and 32 NGOs, much of which arrives in cash, the UNRWA commissioner must ensure that all funds and equipment are used for humanitarian needs – and not stolen or , transferred to the hands of terror groups or sold on the open market. The time has come for the UNRWA commissioner to put an end to cash payments, which makes donor transparency nearly impossible.
11. Export of UNRWA school texts. Using the diplomatic pouch of donor nations, the agency exports schoolbooks promoting the violent “right of return” and the replacement of Israel with “Palestine.” The UNRWA commissioner can put an end to this.
12. Obfuscation of the UNRWA At no time has UNRWA ever specified financial situation. how it spends its budget. The UNRWA commissioner could immediately publicize an accounting of expenditures.
13. Non-recognition of Israel on the map. UNRWA distributes world and regional maps which obliterate Israel and replace all cities in Israel locations with Arab names. Should Israel, a UN member in good standing, not appear on a map issued by a UN agency? The new UNRWA commissioner can now make it his business to ensure that all maps show Israel.
14. Arms training in summer camps. For the past twenty-five years, thousands of UNRWA students aged 9-16 have participated in summer camps that feature arms training with live weapons. With summer approaching in a few months, the UNRWA commissioner can act to curb arms training of “child soldiers,” which flies in the face of UN resolutions that protect the health and well-being of children.
15. Arutz Sheva adds: Perhaps the UNRWA comissioner should be asked why UNRWA exists at all instead of its joining the UNHRC and IOM which work to resettle refugees instead of perpetuating them.