UN-Funded Jihad

Below is a screenshot from the website of UNRWA, the UN agency charged with overseeing the welfare of Palestinian “refugees” in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, and Syria.


As our Flemish correspondent VH points out (in an item that will appear in tonight’s news feed), this UNRWA press release was issued on December 27th, the very same day that the Israeli air operbation against Gaza began. So UNRWA — an agency of the UN, theoretically impartial and serving the interests of all UN member countries, including Israel — was already primed and ready to go with an anti-Israel screed the moment the action against Hamas began.

VH has translated an article from yesterday’s edition of the Dutch newspaper Elsevier about UNRWA, and how all of us — the taxpayers of prosperous Western countries — pay for its advocacy on behalf of Palestinian terrorists:

Palestinian rockets, thanks to our tax money

By Afshin Ellian

Not all people are being equally well and effectively supported as the Palestinians are. The Chechens, for instance, have been mercilessly hit by Russian power. They waged war in the form of jihad, with terrorists means.

This gave Moscow the legitimacy to exterminate the Chechens root and branch. Grozny, a large city, was completely destroyed. The Russian motivation was: it is just not possible to talk with Islamic terrorists, and they only understand the language of violence.

Tens of thousands died in a cruel way. Human rights were trampled by the Russians. Also the jihadists committed brutal terrorist attacks.

Ghost Town

A few weeks ago I saw a report on Grozny. The city is rebuilt. A passer-by, probably a Chechen, called for the city to be named after Putin. To name the rebuilt ghost town Putin City. That is really ironic.

The United Nations did not have a chance to create a refugee problem for Putin. Maybe I should put it this way: Russian diplomacy was so successful that within the UN there was no capacity to take a hard line on Russia.

This is also understandable. Many Islamic countries are dependent on Russia for arms supplies. Islamic Iran, for instance, was never in the position to support jihadists in Chechnya. Iran has more need of Russian missiles than of Chechens.

Gaza Strip

Are the Israelis also treating their enemies that way? No. The Gaza Strip is not Grozny and there have not been tens of thousands killed.

But will the Palestinians in Gaza ever understand that they need to talk with Israel instead of committing suicide attacks and bombarding it with rockets? No, not in the near future. They have no reason to do so. Because the United Nations, with the help of the Netherlands, is keeping the conflict alive.

For Free

For decades now, we have financed the Palestinians. They do not have to negotiate — like people in other conflict areas — for their bread and water and security. They receive all that free from us. Their future is assured. Therefore, they can focus on one goal only: the destruction of Israel.

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UNRWA (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) is a major UN organization that helps the Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

The UNRWA has a staff of 29,000. On the advisory board are Australia, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, the EU as a whole, Spain, Saudi Arabia, England, and so on.

Compassionate

The people in Darfur, Grozny, and the Afghans under the Taliban were not so lucky. There was no money, no mercy, no compassion, no Western emotion for these people. In short, there was nothing available for the Afghans who were slaughtered by the thousands by the Taliban.

Ninety-four percent of UNRWA’s budget comes from European governments and the European Union. In 2008 it had a budget of $541.8 million. This amount should not be confused with the individual (state) aid from all these countries for the Palestinians.

Here VH inserts a few notes, based on his own research, about the funding agencies that supply aid for Gaza:

For instance: The PEGASE (Palestino-Européen de Gestion de l’Aide Socio-Economique) subsidy program, established by the European Union, provides a $400 quarterly cash subsidy to each of 24,000 families in Gaza.

In late December they transferred €14.8 million to pay Palestinian salaries. PEGASE covers EU assistance to West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. Apart from cash, the EU also gives direct food aid. In 2007 it was discovered that Palestinians were smuggling 6.5 tonnes of explosives from the West Bank to Gaza (i.e. PLO to Hamas) in bags marked “EEC 2 Sugar Imported from the E.U.” (picture here).

UNRWA, which provides free schooling, free housing, free medical care, benefits, etc., has a budget of roughly half a billion dollars a year to spend. Only a few days ago (December 30), the USA contributed $85 million to this dubious organization.

Back to Elsevier:

With our tax money therefore we keep that conflict alive. Because in any normal situation, the weaker opponent would have been sitting at the negotiating table a long time ago.

Tax Money

The Palestinians in Gaza and elsewhere have no reason to do so. Thanks to our tax money. The Netherlands recently even increased its annual contribution for “UN aid to Palestinians” by €3.2 million. Why? Do we reward the Palestinians for improving rocket science?

This is exactly the reason why countries in the EU can not knock on Israel’s door with authority.

What Israel can achieve with by attack on Hamas? I will explain on Monday.