Australia to resume funding to UN Palestinian aid agency UNRWA
www.abc.net.auMar 15
Australia announced on Friday that it will resume funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and provide additional support to Gaza.
The move comes after several countries paused funding for the agency in late January after Israel accused a dozen of its employees of playing a role in Hamas' Oct. 7 attack.
Israel has, to date, failed to provide evidence of any UNWRA employees' involvement in the Oct. 7 attack. The agency provides humanitarian aid to millions in Gaza; it's not a terrorist organization. As famine is imminent in the Gaza Strip, it's essential that funding is resumed by everyone, including the US, so that collective punishment against Palestinians is stopped.
The UNRWA has been complicit in Hamas' atrocious actions in Gaza, which is why resuming funding to the agency risks Australian taxpayer funds being used to support a terrorist organization. Funding shouldn't be restored until the investigation is completed, the UNRWA gets a clean chit, and its larger purpose is comprehensively reviewed.
There's a 75% chance that an independent review will find UNRWA staff involvement in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks, according to the Metaculus prediction community.