Aid workers accused of taking part on 7/10 attack on Israel - appalling !

Probably sitting in a lorry at the border being blocked by Israel like most of the other aid.

All that aid previously. What exactly were UNRWA doing with my tax funded aid all these years?

Plus the extra our first minister sent. Where did that go?

@Murica how much is 'all that aid'? What figure are we talking about?

Jesus, pay attention. Israel is denying aid to the Palestinians they've been bombing for almost 4 months. Isn't that vile?

@PeasfullPerson
I wouldn’t underestimate Democratic support for AOC’s views
50% of Democrats believe Israel is committing genocide, 30% are not sure and only 20% think not!

https://www.businessinsider.com/half-biden-voters-israel-genocide-palestinians-gaza-poll-2024-1?amp

It is not being allowed in... which is what has been happening for a very long time. This is why people are starving to death

@Murica Israel is preventing the aid from getting through...

I used my credit card and it went through no problem (Amex)

What's happened to all the aid that has already been sent, do you think? If 2 million people are starving, the most generous interpretation would suggest some mismanagement going on, yeah? Maybe another agency could do it better.

Most Americans, regardless of their religion, are happy for those suffering in Gaza to receive aid.

It looks like is 1,200 UNRWA employees who were involved in the terrorist attack on October 7th. https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/at-least-12-u-n-agency-employees-involved-in-oct-7-attacks-intelligence-reports-say-a7de8f36 Most of the article is behind a paywall, and I have a feeling mn don’t like it when you copy and paste it into a thread. But the video and the beginning are visible.
1,200! That’s nearly 10%. It’s no wonder Hamas were managing to steal so much aid and use UN and civilian infrastructure “without anyone noticing”.

Amazing if NOT wanting 2 million people to starve to death can cause you to lose an election.

It was disgusting. And she's an absolute psychopath.

@Kindatired I found Daniella Weiss comments about starving the Palestinians really chilling. I think it was the matter of fact tone it was said In. The whole conference regarding settlements in Gaza was absolute madness.

It means the world, FWIW!

I know we are on "opposite sides", so to speak, but: I hope it means something, too, that, on 10 Oct I called a work colleague and said "please call X and ask how he is doing - you might not know but: he is Jewish and has family in Israel. He knows about my connections, too, so: I am just not sure whether he wants to be hearing from me right now. Feel free to bring it up if it seems appropriate!".

Taking a stance - even a clear one - does not mean being devoid of empathy for how someone else might see it!

Who else is going to distribute food with the IDF shooting people who hold up white flags? These allegations concern 12-13 staff and apparently Israel says there are about 190 involved so it’s a tiny proportion of the total 13,000 UNWRA staff.

Daniella Weiss, a head of a settler movement who was at the same ethnic cleansing conference that the Israeli government ministers attended ,is reported to have off called for Palestinians to be starved in order to force them into leaving Gaza.
“The Arabs will move… we don’t give them food, we don’t give the Arabs anything, they will have to leave. The world will accept them,” she told a reporter at the conference.
It’s so horrible I was reluctant to repost the link in case it was a deep fake but
I did listen to her podcast and it was chilling to hear her laugh as she described the forced depopulation of Gaza and the how she had 400 families signed up to settle.
So I think that this move to cut off food is just a way to forward the ethnic cleansing

@HeidiInTheBigCity I am sorry for your obviously very genuine distress, for what that is worth.

ETA: Having personally witnessed the utter brutality of Nablus and Jenin back in the early 2000s, I really did think I knew - I had no fucking idea!!!

Then, last week, as the ICJ issued a yellow card, I really thought "okay, watershed moment - this will at the very least turn the horror down a few notches. Which, to be fair, is still fucking horrific - but fewer people will starve to death!" - Once again, I had no fucking idea!

What I genuinely did not expect was a fully fledged distraction / counter attack that would see my own government actively helping to undermine an ICJ order and starve out a starving people.

Honestly, that one fucking floored me!

I did not see that coming! I had been expecting the US, UK & Co. to go all "there, there! tone it down a little and feed people - it will greatly help your optics!".

After all these years, after personally seeing my own student shot to death, I can still be shocked into a crying mess, apparently!

Call it "heartbroken, desperate corporate executive who cannot even properly focus on working for her evil, capitalist overlords - because I just cannot stop crying!".

Money is the least problem ... I have vowed to myself that I will gladly be fired and ruin my professional reputation over this if I have to. These are my friends being killed, my family in prison!

Who would not???

Feel free to report me as a "terrorist financier" or something if you must! Plenty more left to also pay for one shark of a lawyer!

Absolutely no intention of reporting you for making a charitable donation, just amazed at the size of it.

Since AOC's New York district has many Jewish people in it, I'll be watching the November 2024 election with interest.

Technically, it is a lot longer than 20 years!

As mentioned, the main "beef" Israel has with UNRWA is that whoseoever is registered as a Palestinian refugee with them (in the West Bank, in Gaza, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, ... ) is covered by UNGA Resolution 194 pertaining to the right of Palestinian refugees to return back home.

In other words: destroying UNRWA means erasing the Palestinian demand for their right to return.

That is where the real issue stems from. And UNGA Res. #194 dates back to December 1984!

Apart from that: right now, this is useful distraction! "Two birds, one stone", so to speak!

Posted by The State of Israel's official Twitter account managed by the @IsraelMFA's Digital Diplomacy team this morning:

What we know about @UNRWA so far:

12 of their employees were involved in the October 7 massacre

There are reports of two Israeli hostages being imprisoned in the home of an UNRWA teacher

300 UNRWA employees praised the October 7th massacre

UNRWA has become a front for Hamas.

#DefundUNRWA

Then four hours later they link to the WSJ story, like it was news to them.
https://twitter.com/Israel

I found a link to the Canada article I referred to earlier which shows there have been concerns from some for 20 years. This is prior to Hamas being elected as government of Gaza but it was classified as a terrorist organisation. The UNWRA Head at the time didn't see that as an issue

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canada-examining-contribution-to-un-agency-1.500892

Yes, and happily so!

Feel free to report me as a "terrorist financier" or something if you must! Plenty more left to also pay for one shark of a lawyer!

FWIW, I have plenty of criticisms of UNRWA - not the ones Israel usually complains about, mind! Their main beef with UNRWA is the fact that it serves as a permanent reminder of the refugee status of Palestinians!

... but, all that aside: de-funding UNRWA at this present moment amounts to ...

a) a breakdown of the status-quo in terms of humanitarian relief operations in Gaza
b) no other org is going to be in a position to set up a replacement under relentless bombardment
c) therefore, if UNRWA goes down, even more people are starved and thirsted out to death. And I will absolutely not have that!

... especially not while my taxes - way more than 5k - are helping my government support and fund the horror!

Never forget: Israel was accused or genocide before - specifically for the Sabra and Shatila massacre in Lebanon! Even an Israeli investigation back then concluded that the responsible general, one Ariel Sharon, was morally accountable.

Did not stop the guy from becoming prime minister - and overseeing the mass slaughter in Gaza, in Jenin, and in Nablus in 2001/2.

If that was okay, so is "feeding people - when non of the head honchos stand accused in a no alternative scenario".

So sue me! I dare you!

PS: I excpect the state of Israel to send me flowers and a thank you card for helping them get around the "humanitarian aid" provision in the ICJ measures!

You and @inkworks273 are angels, sending you both love and thanks. The situation is dire right now.

On that this twitter account is going through the "report" relied on to remove funding.

The evidence is extremely weak, firstly the Telegram group was an open group which anyone could join (as opposed to private groups where you have to be invited). Secondly the report writers did not have access to UNWRA employee records and relied on public social media accounts.

https://x.com/eshaLegal/status/1751961293152768427?s=20