Despite being ‘appalled’ by accusations of UNRWA complicity in Hamas attacks, UK foreign secretary renews funding

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Less than three weeks after taking office, the new Labour government in the United Kingdom has decided to renew its funding package to the scandal-ridden UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).

The controversial Palestinian relief organization is reportedly still undergoing an internal investigation after firing several employees for their participation in the brutal Hamas attacks on Oct. 7 of last year.

New British Foreign Secretary David Lammy used his first speech to parliamentarians to announce the release of £21 million ($27 million) to UNRWA, fresh from his visit to Israel last week.

Despite new evidence this month of terrorist infrastructure embedded in UNRWA facilities in Gaza, the UK’s top diplomat said that aid to Gaza is a “moral necessity in the face of such a catastrophe.”

“UNRWA is absolutely central to these efforts,” he added. “No other agency can get aid into Gaza at the scale needed.”

Lammy acknowledged the reason for the near-global pause in funding but stated that the agency had now redeemed itself.

“I was appalled by the allegations that UNRWA staff were involved in the 7 October attacks, but the UN took those allegations seriously,” the foreign secretary told the UK parliament.

“I have spoken to UN Secretary-General Guterres and Commissioner-General Lazzarini. Following Catherine Colonna’s independent review, we are reassured that UNRWA is ensuring that it meets the highest standards of neutrality and is strengthening its procedures, including on vetting.”

In January, UN Sec.-Gen. António Guterres revealed that at least 12 UNRWA employees were involved in the Hamas invasion and massacre of at least 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals on Oct. 7. Six of the 12 staff members were reportedly part of the terrorist invasion force of over 3,000 gunmen.

“It’s more than just a dozen bad apples,” then-Israeli government spokesman Eylon Levy, said at the time. “Add two zeros and make it 1,200 – UNRWA is riddled with Hamas members. Our intelligence indicates that out of approximately 12,000 UNRWA employees in the Gaza Strip, about 10% are Hamas or Islamic Jihad operatives. And another 50% are first-degree relatives of a Hamas operative.”

At least two of the Israeli hostages released last November have testified they were held captive by UNRWA teachers in Gaza.

Even before the release of the footage and other evidence by Israel, UN Watch, had been highlighting the problems with UNRWA for 10 years. The independent organization, which monitors antisemitism within the United Nations, released a report showing that a group of 3,000 UNRWA teachers on Telegram celebrated the Hamas attack on Oct. 7.

Great Britain, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Finland, Iceland, Japan and Estonia joined the United States, Australia and Canada in pausing their funding to the aid agency, following the allegations presented by Israel.

Funding has now been resumed by Germany, the European Union, Sweden, Japan, France, Canada, the Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Austria, Finland, Iceland, Romania and Estonia, in addition to the UK.

On July 12, the UK also joined more than 117 UN member states in signing a document promising their shared commitment to UNRWA.

Lammy’s predecessor, Lord David Cameron, had vowed that the UK would not resume funding to the flawed agency without “an absolute guarantee that this can’t happen again.”

Earlier this month, Israel Defense Forces issued fresh evidence of a weapons cache discovered inside the UNRWA headquarters in Gaza City.

In April, UN Watch explained that a panel led by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, had been anything but independent. In its report, the panel claimed UNRWA has the “most elaborate” rules within the United Nations in what appeared to be a complete whitewashing of the scandal. According to Hillel Neuer, the UN watchdog’s executive director, the panel had been “totally rigged from A to Z.”

In 2022, UNRWA put six of its employees ‘on leave’ for incitement to terrorism via social media, after Neuer and UN Watch exposed them.

“We have now exposed more than 120 UNRWA teachers and other staff who praise Hitler, glorify terrorism and spread antisemitism, and UNRWA has not given the name of a single one who has been fired,” Neuer said at the time.