A former senior official with UNWRA has told Gript Media that countries like Ireland which are funding the relief organisation are failing to hold the organisation to account.
James Lindsay, who served as General Counsel of UNWRA from 2000-2007, was speaking at an event organised for European Journalists by the Europe-Israel Press Association in Brussels. Ireland is expected to announce an additional €20m in funding for UNWRA this morning.
Citing the example of school textbooks, Mr. Lindsay said that countries like Ireland were not exerting nearly enough pressure on UNWRA to tackle the scourge of anti-semitism in Palestinian schools, many of which are staffed by UNWRA-paid teachers and which use books provided by the organisation.
“Many of these textbooks promote explicitly anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli rhetoric to very young people”, Mr Lindsay said. “It has always been open to UNWRA to demand that this kind of thing is removed from books that are used in the Palestinian schools it funds, and UNWRA has always refused to do so.”
“Countries like Ireland that are funding UNWRA may well be acting from the best of intentions, but they have a duty to hold the organisation accountable”, he said.
Mr. Lindsay said that the desire in Ireland to aid Palestinians impacted by the war is very understandable, but that there are alternative avenues open to the Irish Government, such as by providing food and aid through the world food programme.
In recent weeks, major powers such as the United States, Germany, and the UK have suspended funding to UNWRA after the organisation sacked several employees it suspected of taking part in the October 7th attacks on Israel. Israel has also repeatedly accused UNWRA of allowing Hamas to avail of its facilities to conceal weapons, as well as allowing extremism to be taught in schools it controls.
Following those decisions, UNWRA claims to have a funding shortfall of €440m, and its Swiss Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini is in Dublin today to accept the additional Irish funding. Ireland contributed €18m directly to UNRWA in 2023, part of €36m provided to Palestinian causes.
Speaking on RTE’s “Morning Ireland” today, Mr. Lazzarini said he was urging countries that had suspended funding to his organisation to “urgently rescind their decision”.