During the May Gaza war, an official working for UNRWA—the UN organization that provides humanitarian assistance to descendants of Palestinian refugees—created a sensation by telling the truth, as Jonathan Schanzer and Richard Goldberg write:
Matthias Schmale, the director of operations for UNRWA in Gaza, told Israel’s Channel 12 that Israeli military operations during the war were carried out with “sophistication” and “precision.” This ran counter to the Hamas narrative that Israel was attacking Gaza indiscriminately. . . . Schmale also noted, to the surprise of the Israeli anchor interviewing him, that during “the eleven days of war, we did not run out of food, water, and supplies.”
Finally, Schmale conceded that UNRWA “cannot work in a place like Gaza without coordinating with the local authorities [i.e., Hamas]; that’s true for any autocratic regime of this nature.” . . . Not surprisingly, Hamas authorities soon declared Schmale to be persona non grata in the Gaza Strip. . . . His organization for more than a decade had toed the Hamas line, parroting the [terrorist group’s] false accusations against Israel.
Worse still, evidence accumulated that Hamas has been digging tunnels through which to attack Israel under UNRWA schools, and using the schools to store munitions—turning students into human shields. Since the White House has requested $150 million dollars in support for UNRWA, Congress has an opportunity to hold the agency accountable:
Bilateral assistance provided through the U.S. Agency for International Development is already subject to strict terrorist-vetting protocols. . . . The same standard, however, does not apply to multilateral assistance provided to UNRWA. Congress can change that quickly by tying aid to UNRWA to a simple requirement: UNRWA must first submit information about would-be beneficiaries and contractors to the State Department for terror vetting—and only release funds after receiving a stamp of approval.
Read more at Washington Examiner
More about: Congress, Gaza Strip, Hamas, UNRWA