UNRWA: A Wholly Compromised Entity - Has Always Been Part of the Problem Not the Solution

A Temporary Mandate Turned Permanent

On Friday 20th December, in The Guardian, Commissioner-General of UNWRA, Philippe Lazzarini, made a heart felt plea for his UN agency dedicated to Palestinian refugees, set up some seventy-five years ago. 

He really goes for it, lauding the agency, its staff and its good work on behalf of the Palestinians, while outlining the injustice and dire consequences of shutting down his beloved agency. Of course, he couldn't pass up the chance to attack Israel and its "brazen effort to thwart the will of the international community".

As written, his argument could seem hard to fault. Sadly however, UNWRA is a wholly compromised entity, rotten to the core. His protestations are hollow indeed, with little or no basis in fact, where his omissions are frankly, inexcusable.

UNWRA is not and has never been part of the solution for the Palestinians. It has always been a significant part of the problem, preserving the unique refugee status of the Palestinians, along with their poverty and suffering. UNWRA has allowed itself to be manipulated and exploited by bad actors, corrupt leaders, extremists and terrorists to perpetuate and even exacerbating the conflict, ultimately harming ordinary Palestinians, the very people whose welfare it was set up to protect.

Selective Outrage & Conflict of Interests

Lazzarini claims that were UNWRA to be shut down, it “would also eliminate a vocal witness to the countless horrors and injustices Palestinians have endured for decades.” Of course, the countless horrors Lazzarini refers to are the alleged “horrors and injustices” perpetrated by Israel.

Since the very beginning, his agency has chosen to ignore the many horrors and injustices perpetrated against Palestinians by their own leaders, by their fellow Arabs, and by bad actors all over the world, looking to exploit the Palestinians cause for their own nefarious purposes.

In the Syrian civil war, along with hundreds of thousands of his own people, Assad slaughtered thousands of Palestinians. He starved over four thousand to death in the Yarmouk refugee camp. In September 1970, Jordan slaughtered between 20,000 and 40,000 Palestinians, who make up most of the population of Jordan. Not a word from UNWRA.

Who Really Benefits? 

In Lebanon, for decades, Palestinians are treated as second class beings with no status. Like many Arab countries, Lebanon refuses to naturalise Palestinian refugees, even second and third generation “refugees”. As such, in Lebanon. Palestinians have no access to government services such as health, education or welfare. Palestinians are barred from thirty-nine desirable professions, including, law, medicine and engineering. Palestinians are not allowed to buy land or property. Interestingly, Lebanese authorities were accused of racism when they built a protective wall (sound familiar) around the Ein Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp, claiming that it is full of terrorists and extremists. Similar restrictions are applied to Palestinians across the Arab world. Did anyone say “apartheid”?

Yet UNWRA says nothing, makes no complaints, makes no accusations of horror or injustice. Such comments and complaints are reserved exclusively for the demonization of the Jewish State. 

As Lebanon denies rights and basic services, ordinary Palestinians remain wholly dependent on UNWRA. Could it be that UNWRA benefits from the maltreatment of Palestinians in host countries? Does UNWRA have an interest in perpetuating their unique refugee status and in keeping them down, feeding their addiction to victimhood and grievance? Is there incentive for UNWRA to collaborate with corrupt and extremist Palestinian leaders to maintain the status quo and feed the flames of the conflict? Just saying...

In the Beginning

When UNRWA was established in 1949, its mandate was clear: provide temporary relief and assistance to Palestinians displaced by the 1948 Arab, Israeli War, until a permanent solution could be found. Unlike the UNHCR, which has successfully resettled refugees worldwide, UNRWA has entrenched Palestinian refugee status, sense of impotence and addiction to international aid, across generations.

Palestinians remain the only group in the world with two dedicated UN agencies, the “UN Works & Relief Agency”, (UNWRA), along with the” Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People”. The UN also marks an annual International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people. Don’t get me started on the General Assembly, Human Rights Council, and others within this deeply flawed institution. With the disproportionate amount of attention Palestinians receive, the Palestinians are arguably the most uniquely supported (pampered) group in the world, which flies in the face of any claim of neglect or abandonment.

Perpetuating Dependency and Victimhood

For more than seven decades, UNRWA has created a system that fosters dependency rather than empowerment. By inheriting refugee status across generations, Palestinians are trapped in a cycle of statelessness and poverty, reliant on aid, unable to build a prosperous and stable future. Instead of promoting self-reliance and encouraging Palestinian leaders to build civil society and accountable institutions, UNRWA reinforces a culture of victimhood and impotence, preventing progress while promoting a narrative of eternal grievance. 

Schools of Hate, Not Education

Lazzarini touts UNRWA’s role in providing education, but the curriculum taught in its schools tells a different story, tantamount to child abuse. Palestinian children are exposed to content that glorifies violence, delegitimizes Israel, and promotes martyrdom. Many teachers are Hamas and PIJ operatives, or supporters of these terrorist groups. Rather than encouraging and preparing the next generation for the possibility of peace and coexistence, UNRWA schools cultivate hostility, hatred, resentment. They brainwash young minds with genocidal ideology, sowing the seeds for terror, violence and endless conflict. Their summer camps are little more than terrorist training camps for children.

Supporting, Facilitating & Actively Participating in Terror

Perhaps the most damning aspect of UNRWA’s operations is its documented complicity with terror groups like Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). During the current war, Israeli forces uncovered Hamas command centres operating within UNRWA schools, hospitals and clinics, as well as other civilian infrastructure, and just about every home in Gaza. Weapons caches and tunnels have been found beneath UNRWA facilities, while the agency’s vehicles, including ambulances, have been used to transport Hamas operatives and armaments. During the October 7th massacre, an UNRWA vehicle was reportedly used to smuggle a Hamas terrorist, while numerous UNWRA personnel actively participated in the slaughter.

Contrary to what Mr Lazzarini would have you believe, such actions are not “isolated incidents”, but part of a broader pattern of corruption and cooperation with terrorists in what is now a wholly compromised and discredited organisation.

To add insult to injury, in an official document filed in a US court, the United Nations, with support from the US Department of Justice, has argued that UNRWA employees who were involved in the October 7 massacre are immune from legal action. When questioned, the UN stated that, "Since the UN has not waived immunity in this instance, its subsidiary, UNRWA, continues to enjoy absolute immunity from prosecution”.  In short, the UN is protecting UNWRA staff involved in rape, mutilation, immolation, mass slaughter and kidnap! You really couldn’t make that shit up!

Corruption and Mismanagement

The billions of dollars in international aid funnelled into UNRWA have been woefully mismanaged, with much of it diverted for nefarious purposes. UNWRAs mandate is to “provide education, health, relief and social services, microfinance and emergency assistance to refugees as well as protection and infrastructure and camp improvement services. 

But funds intended for humanitarian relief have been siphoned off. In it’s seventeen-year brutal and oppressive rule, Hamas hasn’t built hospitals, schools, or clinics. It hasn’t built civil society and a burgeoning economy. Instead, it has built a considerable terror infrastructure, including a complex tunnel network larger than the London underground. While these tunnels provide shelter and operational security for Hamas fighters, civilians are forbidden from using them, leaving ordinary Gazans exposed and unprotected, underscoring the group’s cynical exploitation and sacrifice of its own civilian population. UNRWA’s failure to prevent, or even acknowledge this corruption and diversion of resources only exacerbates the suffering of the people it claims to serve. Yehya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza (now deceased) stated that civilian deaths are a “necessary sacrifice”.

Aiding Hamas’s Strategy of Human Shields

Lazzarini accuses Israel of endangering civilians, yet he conveniently ignores Hamas’s deliberate use of human shields. By operating from within civilian infrastructure, including schools, hospitals, and homes, Hamas ensures that any military response will risk civilian casualties. The casualty figures quoted as gospel by UNWRA come straight form the Gaza health Ministry, i.e., Hamas.

UNRWA not only trumpets these distortions and propaganda, it turns a blind eye to these practices, and even enables them by failing to hold Hamas accountable. Aid supplies intended for civilians are routinely stolen by Hamas, sold on the black market, or redirected to support its military operations. Ordinary Gazans are left without. Recently, UNWRA cancelled the delivery of aid due to armed groups attacking and hijacking the aid trucks. UNWRA is all to aware that Hamas and PIJ are behind these actions. UNWRA only encourages more theft and lawlessness as it trumpets Hamas propaganda, blaming Israel for these attacks, accusing Israel of failing to secure aid deliveries.

A Legacy of Theft & Corruption

Palestinian leaders have enriched themselves at the expense of their people, with billions in international aid diverted to personal coffers. Figures like Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas built personal fortunes for them and their families. So too, Hamas leaders, Ismail Haniyeh (deceased), Moussa Abu Marzuk and Khaled Mashal maintain a luxurious lifestyle with a combined fortune of more than $11 billion. Hamas leaders certainly owe a great deal to UNWRA and international donors. Ordinary Palestinians... not so much!

What one might term at best, UNRWA’s lack of oversight, or at worst, full cooperation with the terrorists and criminals, has facilitated grand theft on a huge scale, making the agency complicit in the corruption that has stymied Palestinian progress, and ensured continued poverty and suffering for the majority of Palestinians.

Sabotage and Racism of Low Expectations

UNRWA’s existence perpetuates and even exacerbates the conflict by sustaining grievances, inciting hatred and preventing accountability. By maintaining the unique perpetual refugee status of the Palestinians, the agency obstructs and sabotages efforts to integrate Palestinians into host countries or to incentivise and encourage Palestinian leaders on the ground to build independent, accountable institutions and infrastructure for a future state.

The Palestinians are undoubtedly, some of the best-educated, most capable people in the Arab world. However, rather than help Palestinians build civil society, sustainable growth and a healthy economy, something of which they are more than capable, should they choose to do so; UNWRA prefers to encourage dependence on international aid, in what can only described as a patronising and racist approach of low expectations, abdicating Palestinian leaders of any and all responsibility for the welfare and future of their people.

Palestinian leadership can continue with its extremist ideology and obsession with destroying Israel, while ignoring the needs of their own people. They have UNWRA and international donors who will facilitate their negligence and take on that responsibility, albeit to the detriment of ordinary Palestinians. This continued approach has had dire consequences, preventing meaningful progress toward a brighter future for Palestinians, sabotaging any hope for peace and coexistence, and ultimately empowering extremist groups like Hamas to exploit the status quo for their perverted world view and genocidal agenda.

Contrast with UNHCR

A comparison with the UNHCR reveals just how “exceptional” UNRWA’s approach is. While the UNHCR has successfully resettled tens of millions of refugees, UNRWA has doggedly maintained the refugee status of Palestinians for over 75 years. UNHCR operates with far fewer staff (18,000 for circa 105m refugees, many of whom are in far worse situations then the Palestinians), and a more streamlined mandate.

With a staff of well over 30,000 for circa 5.9m refugees, UNRWA’s bloated bureaucracy perpetuates inefficiency, compromise and corruption. The numbers speak for themselves: UNHCR operates with one employee for every 5,800 refugees, while UNRWA operates with one employee for every 196 refugees. How and why is that exactly?

Not the Solution, Part of the Problem

UNRWA is not and has never been the solution to the Palestinian crisis. It is a significant part of the problem and has been for decades. The international community must redirect aid toward initiatives that empower Palestinians, build civil society, infrastructure, and foster self-reliance. Responsibility for Palestinian refugees should be transferred to the UNHCR, whose track record demonstrates its ability to resolve refugee crises effectively.

Simultaneously, Hamas must be rejected as legitimate partner and recognised for what it is, a brutal and extremist terrorist organisation. It must be held accountable for its brutalization, exploitation and cynical sacrifice of ordinary Gazans, not to mention its crimes and genocidal attacks against Israel. Rather than aiding and abetting the terrorists, why is UNWRA not demanding that Hamas return all hostages and lay down its arms. The war will stop immediately, and ordinary Gazans will be freed from the yoke of an oppressive and brutal terrorist regime which brings them only death, destruction and ongoing suffering.

Time to Shut Down UNWRA For Good!

The international community can no longer ignore the failures and complicity of UNRWA. Its operations have perpetuated dependency, enabled corruption, promoted terror and obstructed peace. Dismantling UNRWA is not only a moral imperative but a practical necessity for the future of Palestinians and the region. It is time to move beyond the status quo, confront the uncomfortable truths about UNRWA, and take decisive action toward a sustainable and just resolution. The Palestinians deserve better, and so does the world.