The Trudeau government continues to fund the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees despite several of its employees having participated in the October 7 terrorist attack against Israel.
On Monday, the UN announced the results of an internal investigation by the Office of Internal Oversight Services into UNRWA’s involvement in the Oct. 7 attack against Israel. The OIOS investigation found that an additional 9 UNRWA workers are suspected to have participated in the massacre with the total reaching 19 UNRWA workers implicated in the attack.
UN Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said that he fired the implicated employees while maintaining that UNRWA continues to do “lifesaving” work.
“The allegations were brought to the Agency’s attention in January. In close consultation with the United Nations Secretary-General (SG), I immediately terminated the contracts of the staff in question, in the interest of the Agency, while the SG tasked OlOS to launch an investigation,” said Lazzarini.
“The Agency’s priority is to continue lifesaving and critical services for Palestine Refugees in Gaza and across the region, especially in the face of the ongoing war, the instability and risk of regional escalation.”
The UN did not announce the nature of the UNRWA workers’ involvement in the terrorist attack.
HonestReporting Canada’s Executive Director Mike Fegelman told True North that he is not surprised by UNRWA’s involvement in the Oct. 7 attack and that Canada’s news media have ignored the agency’s radicalism.
“Nobody should be surprised to learn that UNRWA staff participated in Hamas’ genocidal massacres on October 7, the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust,” said Fegelman.
“Although widely ignored by the news media, UNRWA textbooks provided to Palestinian schoolchildren have long been rife with hateful antisemitic incitement, a Hamas command centre was found underneath their Gaza headquarters, an UNRWA teacher reportedly held an Israeli hostage and UNRWA has long been a problem, not a solution.”
These firings are in addition to 10 UNRWA workers that the UN fired in January after Israel brought the issue to the UN’s attention.
The Trudeau government temporarily paused funding to the UNRWA along with the United States and 15 other countries after the initial allegations came to light.
However, the Trudeau government restored funding to UNRWA less than two months after the funding pause despite calls within the Liberal caucus not to do so.
The Trudeau government decided to renew Canada’s funding for UNRWA in 2016 after the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper cancelled its funding in 2010.
True North reached out to Minister of International Development Ahmed Hussen for comment, but his office did not respond.
Fegelman said that Canadians need to reconsider whether they feel comfortable funding UNRWA.
“Canadian taxpayers are helping to foot the bill for this irredeemable agency, and need to ask themselves if this is an expense they consider to be worthwhile.”
The NDP and leader Jagmeet Singh were among the most vocal in urging the Trudeau government to restore funding to UNRWA after the funding pause, claiming the funding pause is a punishment against innocent Palestinians.
True North reached out to the NDP for comment, but the party did not reply.
In a comment to True North, deputy leader of the Conservative party Melissa Lantsman touted her party’s revoking of UNRWA funding and promised to defund UNRWA once again upon forming government.
“Conservatives cut funding to UNRWA when we were in government and warned against Trudeau’s decision to restore funding to the organization that is financing Hamas and even employed Hamas terrorists,” said Lantsman.
“Justin Trudeau should be ashamed that he ignored the warnings and funded the same organization whose members helped carry out the genocidal October 7th attack on Israel. Common sense Conservatives will cut foreign aid to dictators and terrorists and we will carry out a full review of every dollar we send out of this country.”
