American taxpayers should demand accountability from UNRWA

"In July of 2022, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) thanked President Joe Biden for his financial support of Palestinian refugees, helping them ‘to live dignified lives (with) basic health, education and social protection services.’ The funds, it said, ‘contribute to the human rights of Palestine refugees.’

To the average American who is not schooled in the Middle East or believes that media reporting is accurate, this sounds consistent with our values.

What was not stated was UNRWA’s educational programs, which incite violence and delegitimize and dehumanize Israelis. This is antithetical to creating an atmosphere of tolerance, respect and eventual peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

The Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) noted, ‘UNRWA is complicit in radicalizing schoolchildren through the glorification of terrorists, encouragement to violence and teaching of blood libels to Palestinian schoolchildren.’

‘UNRWA’s Facebook pages have glorified suicide bombers, including Wafa Idris, a Red Crescent volunteer who drove an ambulance with explosives into the heart of Jerusalem, killing an elderly man and injuring more than one hundred civilians,’ IMPACT-se pointed out.

‘Mathematical problems in UNRWA textbooks count terrorists, telling students to defend the motherland with blood. A spelling exercise condemns peace and normalization agreements between Israel and Arab states … while Israel is referred to as ‘the Enemy’ and is erased from maps of the region.’..."