Why It’s Time to Defund UNRWA | 1.12.25

Summary

Morning Wire Podcast Summary: "Why It’s Time to Defund UNRWA" | Episode 1.12.25

Introduction

In the January 12, 2025 episode of Morning Wire, hosted by John Bickley and Georgia Howe, the focus centers on the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). The episode delves into the organization's controversial role in the aftermath of the Hamas October 7 terror attack against Israel, highlighting allegations of terrorist affiliations among UNRWA staff and the implications of continued funding by Western nations.

UNRWA Under Scrutiny

John Bickley opens the discussion by addressing the intensified scrutiny UNRWA has faced since the October 7th attacks. He states, “Since the Hamas October 7 terror attack against Israel, a highly controversial Palestinian aid group has come under intense scrutiny” (00:03). The episode sets the stage for a deep dive into the organization's operations and funding, questioning the efficacy and intentions behind its continued support.

Evidence of Terrorist Ties

The primary guest, Hillel Neuer, Executive Director of UN Watch, provides a detailed account of UNRWA’s alleged connections to terrorism. Neuer explains, “Over the past 10 years… we discovered that UNRWA teachers regularly were glorifying terrorist attacks, glorifying Adolf Hitler, calling to slaughter Jews, jihad against the West” (01:07). He highlights the case of Fatih al Sharif, a key figure within UNRWA’s education system in Lebanon, who was found to be inciting violence and maintaining ties with Hamas. Neuer recounts, “They sent him a slap on the wrist, but they wouldn't fire him” (02:24), emphasizing the organization's inadequate response to these revelations.

US Funding and Policy Shifts

A significant portion of the discussion revolves around US funding. Neuer points out, “The Biden administration directed over a billion dollars to the group before pausing funds last year” (00:03). He criticizes the administration for reinstating funding after the Trump administration had cut it, noting the lack of due diligence. “The State Department… were funneling over a billion dollars to UNRWA every year” (05:22). However, he remains optimistic about recent legislative changes, mentioning, “The US has frozen funding for UNRWA until March” (05:22) and anticipates further freezes under the incoming Trump administration.

International Response to UNRWA

Neuer outlines the growing international movement to defund UNRWA, citing actions by countries like the Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland. He states, “The Netherlands voted a couple weeks ago to begin cutting funding for UNRWA… Sweden… voted to immediately defund UNRWA” (05:16). These moves are portrayed as significant steps towards isolating the organization on the global stage, though major contributors like France, Germany, the UK, and Canada continue their support.

Lack of Accountability Within the United Nations

Addressing UNRWA’s internal accountability, Neuer is critical of the organization’s handling of extremist elements. “There have been a few pretend gestures, but never have the donors of UNRWA actually ever attempted to do anything serious” (07:30). He highlights instances where UNRWA staff with known Hamas ties were only temporarily suspended, allowing them to continue their roles within the organization. This lack of stringent measures, according to Neuer, perpetuates the cycle of resentment and dependency among Palestinians.

Future Steps to Defund UNRWA

Looking ahead, Neuer emphasizes the necessity of global leadership to dismantle UNRWA. “We need leadership… new Secretary of State, incoming Marco Rubio to take leadership and really speak to their allies” (11:25). He calls for major Western democracies to halt funding, arguing that UNRWA’s mission has strayed from its original purpose of aiding Palestinian refugees to inadvertently supporting terrorism and perpetuating conflict. Neuer also references comments from international figures, such as the Swiss Foreign Minister, to bolster his argument that UNRWA is counterproductive.

Conclusion

The episode concludes with Bickley acknowledging the disturbing revelations discussed. “You outlined a lot of disturbing things. I think the most disturbing though is how openly these members of UNRWA were supporting terrorism and a bunch of countries from the west just seem to turn a blind eye to it” (13:22). The conversation underscores the urgent need for reassessment of UNRWA’s role and funding, advocating for a strategic shift to prevent the organization from continuing its alleged support of extremist activities.

Notable Quotes

• John Bickley [00:03]: “Trust in the media is at an all-time low. And there’s a reason—endless virtue signaling and manufactured outrage.”

• Hillel Neuer [01:07]: “UNRWA teachers regularly were glorifying terrorist attacks, glorifying Adolf Hitler, calling to slaughter Jews, jihad against the West.”

• Hillel Neuer [05:22]: “The US has frozen funding for UNRWA until March. I'm hopeful the incoming Trump administration will reinstate that freeze, will sustain that freeze.”

• Hillel Neuer [07:30]: “There have been a few pretend gestures, but never have the donors of UNRWA actually ever attempted to do anything serious.”

• Hillel Neuer [11:25]: “We need leadership… new Secretary of State, incoming Marco Rubio to take leadership and really speak to their allies.”

Final Thoughts

This episode of Morning Wire presents a compelling argument against continued funding of UNRWA, backed by detailed accounts and evidence provided by Hillel Neuer. It calls for robust international action and leadership to address what UN Watch identifies as deep-rooted issues within the organization, ultimately advocating for its dissolution to foster peace and stability in the region.

Transcript

[John Bickley]

Since the Hamas October 7 terror attack against Israel, a highly controversial Palestinian aid group has come under intense scrutiny. The United Nations Relief and Work for Palestinian Refugees, or unwra, has been revealed to have terrorist leaders and supporters among its staff. The Biden administration directed over a billion dollars to the group before pausing funds last year. In this episode, we talk with the executive director of UN Watch, which has documented UNRWA's terrorist T& says it's high time to shut the group down. I'm Daily Wire Editor in Chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Sunday, January 12th, and this is a weekend edition of Morning Wire. Joining us now to discuss the controversy surrounding UNRA is the executive director of UN Watch, Hillel Neuer. Hillel, thank you so much for coming on. So your organization has been watching very closely the actions of the United nations, including unra, which has come under a lot of scrutiny for good reason in the last year. First, what prompted your team to investigate UNWRA's radical ties?

[Hillel Neuer]

Well, you know, we've been tracking UNWRA to some degree over the past 10 years. I would say every year, a couple times a year, we would take a look at who the teachers are, what they're up to on their social media because UNWRA has operations in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Gaza, and so forth. And I don't have immediate access to those places, but on social media, you can actually see who the teachers are and what they're saying. And we discovered over a period of 10 years is going back to 2015, that unre teachers regularly were glorifying terrorist attacks, glorifying Adolf Hitler calling to slaughter Jews, jihad against the West. So this is regular stuff that's being put out by unwritten teachers. So that's the background we were exposing for 10 years. And in the past year, it reached the next level. The October 7th massacre, we learned included among the people perpetrating the massacre from Gaza were actual unwraught employees, UNWRA social workers, UNWRA school principals. And that's when we took an even deeper dive. And I'd say we've been intensely focused on that agency for the past year. And what we discovered is actually astonishing and despicable.

[John Bickley]

Tell us more about that. What did you learn over this last year?

[Hillel Neuer]

Well, we learned, just to give a few examples, that one of the heads of UNRWA's education system, one of the leading figures is a gentleman in Lebanon whose name is Fatih al Sharif. He was the principal of a major school belonging to UNRWA outside The city of Tyre in Lebanon. He was head of the teachers union for UNRWA in Lebanon. So he was overseeing 2,000 teachers. And we began to take a look at him, and we saw that for the past decade, he's been inciting to Hamas terrorism on a regular basis. He's been posting pictures of himself with jihadi leaders and even including Al Qaeda offshoot figures in Lebanon on a regular basis. And we sent it to unwra, and they didn't want to deal with it. They got some complaint maybe from Israel, and they suspended him. They gave him a slap on the wrist, but they wouldn't fire him. And actually, all of UNWRA's staff, thousands of staff in Lebanon, went on strike this last year, from March until the end of May, in support of Fatih Al Sharif, who we could see was some kind of Hamas figure. You know, we sent this information to unrwa. They didn't want to talk about it. They didn't want to deal with it. And then it emerged that in September, Fatih al Sharif was eliminated by an IDF missile and he was taken out. And the day that he was killed, Hamas put out an announcement saying, our leader was killed. Okay? So they put out a video of Fatih al Sharif, the head of the UNRWA teachers union in Lebanon, principal of a major school. They said he was our leader, and they put pictures of him with Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh. They said, we praise his jihadi education. So just to give one example of what we found is a major figure. And by the way, we're paying for this, okay? The United States up until March was giving well over $300 million a year. The Biden administration gave them over a billion dollars in last three to four years. And the head of their education system was the head of Hamas in Lebanon. And sadly, that's not a one off. Similar examples in Gaza. So if you go from top to bottom, whether it's regional directors, school principals, teachers, truck drivers, are infiltrated by Hamas people who were involved in planning the massacre, carrying out the massacre, and under UNRES responses. We didn't know. Nobody told us. We're surprised. It's a few bad apples. Just one pathetic excuse after another. And frankly, we reached a conclusion. This agency is rotten to the core. It's got to be dismantled. All they do is perpetuate the ideas of resentment, war and terrorism among Palestinians. They perpetuate dependency. It's time to get rid of it. Palestinians will manage themselves and not have the UN funding an agency that has sworn to the Destruction of Israel.

[John Bickley]

And you said the US under the Biden administration, directed a billion dollars to this organization.

[Hillel Neuer]

That is correct. And that is despite the fact that in the first Trump administration under John Bolton and Nikki Haley, the US had cut funding for two years and stopped. So Biden reinstated funding. And, you know, the State Department never called us and asked if they could learn more about what the problems are. We're the only organization that is regularly tracking who the teachers are, who the school principals are, just by looking at their social media. It's all open source and they weren't interested. So it means that they knowingly. The State Department under the Biden administration, together with European countries, right. Canada, Australia, all the European countries, were funneling over a billion dollars to UNRWA every year. The good news is, in the past year, and I testified in Congress four times, I went to the European Parliament, the Swiss Parliament, the Dutch Parliament. I'm going to be back in the Swiss parliament in 10 days in the Swiss Senate. And thankfully, I can inform you that the United States in March passed a bipartisan legislation that was initiated by my friend Representative Chris Smith and others in the Republican Party. But enough Democrats went on board they had to, if they wanted any foreign aid to get out the door, passed a law. The US has frozen funding for UNRWA until March. I'm hopeful the incoming Trump administration will reinstate that freeze, will sustain that freeze. The Netherlands voted a couple weeks ago to begin cutting funding for unrwa, which is huge, the first EU country to do so. Sweden about two weeks ago, voted to immediately defund unrwa, which is surprising, but there's now a sort of a conservative government there. And in Switzerland, the lower house voted in September to immediately suspend funding for unwra. They cited our reports and I'm invited to appear in The Senate on January 20, actually, in the city of Bern in the capital. So enough countries are beginning to see it, but sadly, the majority, France, Germany, the uk, Canada, under Trudeau. For now. Trudeau's leaving. But for now, Australia, they're all funding unra.

[John Bickley]

Has there been any accountability at all from the United nations to keep this group in check over the years?

[Hillel Neuer]

Not really. There were, you know, face saving gestures, artificial gestures meant to throw sand in our eyes. They, from time to time, will put a slap on the wrist on some principal, spend them for a few months. The head of the UNWRA Teachers union in Gaza is a guy named Su Al Hindi. He was exposed of having Hamas ties back in 2011. They slapped him on the wrist Suspended him for a month or two. He was back running the teachers union, running a school. And then it emerged in 2017 that he was elected to the Hamas politburo together with Yahya Sinwar, who's the Mastermind of the October 7th massacre. One of his colleagues on the Hamas committee was this leading ambar figure of education. Right. So it's not somebody who's in charge of giving out bags of food or about building apartments for people. It's the in charge of education. And we're told that the UN is making sure that the Palestinians are getting educated for peace and human rights. And it's all a lie. So from time to time, they would do fake suspensions. A few months ago, in February, they created a supposed inquiry or probe headed by the former French Foreign Minister, Catherine Colonna. It was a sham. It was rigged from the start. Catherine Colonna is a huge supporter of UNRWA. She brought three Scandinavian NGOs. Each one is a bigger champion for UNWRA than the next. It was all rigged from the start. So you asked me about accountability. There have been a few pretend gestures, but never have the donors of UNRWA actually ever attempted to do anything serious.

[John Bickley]

With the US suspending funding and a few other countries like you've outlined joining that effort. It is that enough to eliminate this group or is it just going to keep existing as long as they have a few of these states continuing to give money?

[Hillel Neuer]

Well, there's money, there's political support annually, there's General assembly at the un, UN General assembly resolutions that proclaim their support for unrwa. So there they get large majorities. So for now, it's going to take a lot. It's going to need defunding by major countries, meaning Germany, France, the uk. They need to get on board on defunding. And they have to recognize that the entire raison d'etre, the entire purpose of UNRWA over the years has become twisted. It was founded in 1949, approximately to actually help resettle Palestinians who had left the region and gone to Jordan after the war of 1948. 49. And over time, it became the opposite. They haven't resettled a single Palestinian. Even those who have citizenship in Jordan for 70 years, the UN says, tells them you are a refugee, which is absurd. Someone who moved to America 70 years ago became an American citizen. Neither him, his daughter, his grandson, they're not refugees anymore. They're American citizens. But according to unrwa, if you were ever a Palestinian, you are forever a refugee. And you're going to go to Israel, you're going to dismantle Israel. What they call the right of return, which we know on October 7th means to massacre, violently destroy Israel in order to dismantle it. So as long as that is the purpose of the agency, which. That is the purpose of the agency, it is pathological. There's no way to reform this agency. It is the people say, who will replace UNRWA? That's like asking, as Dr. Anat Wilfa said, that's like asking who will replace, who will replace the arsonist. UNWRA is not the firefighter. They're not the ones solving the problems of war. They're the ones creating war. They're perpetuating war. They tell Palestinians in Gaza, gaza is not your home. Your home is in Tel Aviv. And so we shouldn't be surprised that UNRWA graduates are those who carried out the massacre on behalf of Hamas on October 7.

[John Bickley]

What are the next steps in terms of continuing this momentum to expose the group and defund them?

[Hillel Neuer]

I think we need leadership. We need leadership. So our organization, we're a non governmental organization, we're a nonprofit group based in Geneva. We're doing our part to set out the facts. And we have huge amount of data going back 10 years, especially in the past year, documenting in detail how from the top to the bottom, there is infiltration by Hamas with this UN agency, which we're all funding again, the US Even this year, they froze funding, but that didn't stop the State Department from shoveling out, I think, over $100 million by the time the freeze was announced in January 25th, that they already shoveled out the door over $100 million, which is absurd. So the next steps are, you know, we're going to continue exposing their infiltration. We're going to need leadership. You know, at least Stefanik is the incoming US Ambassador to the United Nations. We're going to need her. We're going to need new Secretary of State, incoming Marco Rubio to take leadership and really speak to their allies, the French, the Germans, the Spanish, the Italians, the Norwegians, who are major supporters of unrwa, and tell them, look, if we want to keep perpetuating war, I'm going to quote the Swiss foreign minister in 2018, you wouldn't expect it from Switzerland. But the Swiss Foreign Minister, Ignacio Cassis, visiting UNRWA facilities in Jordan, said, look, this is a perverse logic. UNRWA is not the solution, it's the problem. We are perpetuating it. And he said, it's a perverse logic. We're just perpetuating the problem from one generation to the next. So we're going to need leadership and we're going to need Western leadership Because the truth is the Arab countries could fund Iraq. It's only one and a half billion dollars. Qatar spends that much on buying a sports team every second day. So. So they could easily fund it, but they want the Western states to fund it for the legitimacy of the pathological agenda. We need leading democracies to say this is a failure. Palestinians should and are able to govern themselves and they don't need an agency that perpetuates only war, grievance, terrorism and dependency.

[John Bickley]

Well, you outlined a lot of disturbing things. I think the most disturbing though is how openly these members of UNRWA were supporting terrorism and a bunch of countries from the west just seem to turn a blind eye to it. Hillel, thank you so much for talking with us.

[Hillel Neuer]

Thank you for having me.

[John Bickley]

That was Hillel Neuer, Executive Director of UN Watch and this has been a weekend edition of Morning Wire.