URNWA - Hamas investigation. Thread 2

Australia resumes funding to UNRWA.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-15/australia-to-restore-palestinian-aid-funding-to-unrwa/103592164

This is unfortunately very likely.
Powerful pro Israeli groups hold the purse strings for vast amount of campaign funding.
AIPAC has formed a “Superpac” with a massive budget- it recently spent 4.6 million dollars on a single unsuccessful smear campaign against Californian candidate Dave Min. His criticisms of Israel were considered mild and did not even include calling for a ceasefire.
A PAC is a tax exempt political action committee that dispenses funds for its parent organisation. The New York Times claims that AIPAC plans to spend 100 million dollars via its super PAC fighting candidates who are critical of Israel’s role in the current conflict in Gaza. AIPAC’s own website claims that 98% of the 365 candidates they supported in the last election were successful

Another organisation, Democratic Majority for Israel, spent 1.4 million in 2020 on a successful smear campaign against Bernie Saunders that is believed have been critical in him falling from front place. This organisation claims a success rate of 85% with 28/29 wins. Funds are poring in for the next election.

So AIPAC will be pressuring politicians to withhold funding

I think both articles suggested WFP and unicef.

Thanks @stomachamelon
With regards the link if the US doesn't want their funding to go through UNWRA I would want to see how it will be administered in Gaza and by who because my only concern is the provision of humanitarian aid to Gazans.
It is a Trump/ Biden election race so Gaza is going to be more and more politicised in the States from here on in.

Point taken. Will try and leave some information next to articles etc.

@stomachamelon it's an opinion not a preference there's a difference. I don't think it's always in good faith when people post a link to something and leave it hanging there waiting for people to take the bait. Maybe that's not what you intended to do in this case but it does get done

@Dulra oh so it's a personal preference? I will bear that in mind. I see lots of posters updating with info/ tweets/ instas at the moment. I am just grateful for the info I might have missed.

I never said you were breaking rules I just don't like when it's done I like to know what people's views are on something otherwise it's left there and hard to comment on. That's just my opinion others obviously disagree

@Dulra it doesn't break any rules. I am just updating the info when I see it. I do it on lots of threads.

Fair enough but I'm not convinced every poster that does it has good intentions by posting it and I've noticed this poster does it a lot

@EasterIssland the articles were pretty similar after reading.
Sorry I didn't realise the article I posted required you to log in.

What's your opinion on it? You often post links to things without any comment of your own on it. It's like making a statement about something within a group of people and just walking away

www.reuters.com/world/us-pause-funding-un-relief-agency-palestinians-may-become-permanent-2024-03-13/

Agreed. The double standards are obvious.

There are Israeli tech companies who have spread dis-information before in deliberate paid for campaigns to discredit various charities. I have shared links a while back. So that creates a problem of trust in the Israeli Govt, above and beyond existing mis-trust/scepticism.

Michael D always doing Ireland proud 👏 It's way past time that world leaders call it like it is.

The accusations against Israel about abuses of UN staff needs to be front page news just like Israels 'UNWRA are terrorists' was. If these accusations are true and why should world leaders doubt them when 'UNWRA are terrorists' was accepted without question then they should be asking Israel serious questions and pulling their funding. Torturing UN staff is beyond despicable and absolutely inexcusable.

Just in case you didn’t follow the link
This article is from Reuters which is considered a credible source.
The report was compiled by UNWRA so it was investigating itself so potential for being less than objective in that respect.
However UNWRA will be passing on the report to external agencies specialising in human rights abuses.
They have eye witness accounts that tally with eye witness accounts gathered by other sources. Reuters also intimates that UNWRA have forensic evidence of physical assault.
The UNWRA report is not in itself in the public domain but UNWRA seems to have a portfolio of fairly robust evidence to support their claims of “had experienced included severe physical beatings, waterboarding, and threats of harm to family members.”
Furthermore, we see today that the President of Ireland, who has top level access, has issued a statement that includes the following
” The releasing of a propaganda campaign against the United Nations is a scandalous travesty against the little less than heroic efforts of all those involved on the frontline in Gaza - medical staff, those working to supply nutrition and aid in the most trying of circumstances, and those other dedicated professionals in UNRWA who have lost more than 160 of their colleagues."

It's good to see they are taking some steps to address the concerns. I believe there is another report to come out soon which will provide further details

No, says the victims of Israeli torture. Did you read the article? These people had the injuries to prove it. Also, more and more countries are resuming funding due to lack of evidence for Israel's accusations.