The United States has a long history of providing humanitarian aid to other countries. When reading recent HT and USA Today articles, “UNWRA banned from humanitarian work in Israel,” one would be alarmed. But as always, there is more to the story.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is the main refugee organization that provides support for refugees around the world. It has a good track record for providing refugee assistance. However, another U.N. Agency, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), created in 1950 just after Israel was established, is a UN agency solely devoted to one refugee group, the Palestinians. Its purpose was to promote the political goals of Palestinians. UNWRA has not served Palestinian refugees well. While UNHCR works towards the resettlement of all refugees, UNRWA has kept most of the refugees and their multi-generation offspring, in refugee camps, primarily in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

UNWRA’s goal is to maintain a large number of refugees under their authority to be used as pawns for propaganda against Israel. Israel has recently banned UNWRA from operating in Israel after nine UNWRA employees were identified among those who slaughtered Israelis and took hostages on October 7th of last year. Their complicity was finally acknowledged by UN officials.

Another big concern with UNWRA is their close ties to the Hamas terrorist group. UNWRA has utilized ambulances to assist Hamas combatants, allowed Hamas to control UNWRA staff unions, and have utilized textbooks in their schools that promote anti-Israel and antisemitic programs to indoctrinate youth. UNWRA textbooks do not recognize or show Israel on maps or as part of geography lessons. Gaza and the West Bank of Israel are misleadingly identified as “the two parts of the homeland”. The UN, continues to support UNWRA, fully cognizant of the concerns related to terrorism and raised by the many countries which have held back funding to the agency.

Why does the UN need two refugee aid agencies? If both were combined it would save money, help to resettle all refugees, provide more aid, and could eliminate the use of Palestinian refugees as political pawns. The U.S. covers about 30% of UNRWA’s budget, making the U.S. the single largest donor at around $300 million annually. The Palestinian people deserve humanitarian support but not through a corrupt UNWRA that continues to support terrorist groups and not if Palestinians are denied resettlement support. Do your own research. Israel has called out the UN by banning UNWRA operations in Israel.

Norman Olshansky, President
Suncoast Jewish Alliance