The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, denounces that the Israeli government is intensifying its disinformation campaign against the agency with messages that incite hatred and endanger its staff
The campaign includes billboards in various cities around the world and Google paid ads on multiple websites.
“This latest global effort by a UN Member State to Labelling a UN agency a terrorist organisation may amount to incitement to hatred using corporations that are supposed to promote commercial products,” the agency said in a statement.
The campaign “is creating immense reputational damage to UNRWA, currently the largest humanitarian provider to the population of Gaza"and seriously endangers the lives of UNRWA staff.
Since the war began, 251 UNRWA team members have been killed in Gaza. Two-thirds of its buildings in the Strip have been bombed, many directly or several times.
In East Jerusalem, UNRWA headquarters was set on fire and local authorities are trying to deprive us of these facilities to build settlements.
“Those responsible for spreading disinformation, including advertising companies, must stop doing so and be held accountable. Regulations must be put in place to control the dissemination of such damaging and potentially dangerous messages.“UNRWA added.
A long campaign
UNRWA has long faced disinformation campaigns about its staff and operations. This has intensified since the war in Gaza began on 7 October.
From the beginning, Israeli officials have pointed to the dismantling of UNRWA as a war objective.
“In addition to physical and legislative attacks inside the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the Agency has also been subject to a fierce global campaign “disinformation,” said Philippe Lazzarini in a speech at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, United States, last November.
Diplomatic pressure exerted by the Government of Israel and affiliated groups has targeted parliaments and governments in major donor countries. In addition, civil lawsuits have been filed in several countries against members of UNRWA's senior management team.
These efforts culminated last month with the adoption by the Israeli parliament of a legislation to end the Agency's operations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Accusations without evidence
Attacks against UNRWA are justified by repeated accusations, especially since 7 October last year, that the agency collaborates with Hamas or has been infiltrated by it.
In January this year, the Israeli government alleged that 12 UNRWA employees in Gaza (out of a total of 13.000) were involved in the 7 October attacks.
As a result, 16 donors decided to suspend funding to the agency for a total of $438 million in less than 48 hours.
The United Nations has launched an independent investigation into the allegations against 19 employees (the 12 who reported in January and 6 more who were added later. It concluded that, if authenticated and corroborated, the available evidence could indicate that nine employees may have been involved in the attacks. These employees were dismissed in the interest of the Agency.
“I must emphasize that UNRWA, like other UN entities, does not have police, military or intelligence capabilities.“Lazzarini said, explaining that it is up to member states when these capabilities are needed, especially when operating in environments controlled by militant groups.
For over 15 years ago, UNRWA shares the names of its staff with the Government of Israel on an annual basis. They are now sharing these names on a quarterly basis.
This includes the names of employees about whom the Israeli government had never expressed concerns, but who now appear in lists alleging armed militancy.
“We have repeatedly asked the Government of Israel to provide evidence, and even proposed ways to share sensitive evidence. We have received no response.“This lack of good faith engagement puts UNRWA in the difficult position of being unable to address allegations for which it has no evidence, while these allegations continue to be used to undermine the Agency.”
The outcome of the independent review and extensive collaboration with Member States has led to the resumption of funding to the agency by all donors except the United States.
However, UNRWA's financial situation remains extremely precarious, and the disinformation campaign against the Agency continues unabated.
Stripping Palestinians of their refugee status
Lazzarini believes that efforts to dismantle UNRWA “are not about neutrality””. “The real purpose of these efforts is to strip Palestinians of their refugee status, unilaterally changing the parameters for a future political solution.”
However, even if UNRWA were to be dismantled, in violation of the mandate granted by UN resolution 302, General Assembly, the refugee status of the Palestinians would be maintained, since it is conferred by a different resolution, 194 of the General Assembly, which precedes the creation of UNRWA.
Disastrous consequences
“The Israeli government claims that UNRWA can simply be replaced and that its services can be taken over by other UN entities. This is false,” Lazzarini explains.
UNRWA is unique among UN entities in that it is a direct provider of public services such as education and primary health care. There is no other agency that can take on these functions on the scale required.
In Gaza, dismantle UNRWA the United Nations humanitarian response will collapse, which relies heavily on its infrastructure and thousands of employees.
Furthermore, only UNRWA can provide education to more than 650.000 children in Gaza, who live among the rubble and are deeply traumatized.
In the West Bank, the collapse of UNRWA would deprive at least 50.000 children of education and hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees of primary health care.
If UNRWA operations end in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the responsibility for providing services to Palestinians – and bearing the cost of these services – will fall not on the United Nations, but on Israel as the occupying power.