It would be a shameful incident that violates all the values for which the United Nations was founded.
A released Israeli hostage said he was locked in his attic for more than 50 days by a teacher from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). Therefore, the UN teacher was performing “service” for the Hamas terrorist organization. This was reported by journalist Boker Almog from Israeli Channel 13.
In addition, another doctor was held hostage, he wrote on Twitter. According to information received from the author, the two hostages are the founders of the Tel Aviv Institute They are a mix About children.
The UN teacher was a teacher and father of ten children. He treated the hostage poorly, giving him little food and no medical care, while continuing to provide loving care for his family.
The authenticity of this report, which caused an uproar in Israel, cannot yet be verified.
A UN employee kidnapped by Hamas?
This is not the first time that UNRWA (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees) has been suspected of secretly cooperating with Hamas.
◀ It has been repeatedly revealed that UNRWA schools teach hate propaganda against Jews and Israel from a very early age. The non-governmental organization United Nations Monitor detected 133 such cases in March.
◎︎ After October 7, according to UN Watch, at least 20 UNRWA teachers also praised Hamas’ massacres on social media.
◀︎ Above all, there is fundamental criticism of the disastrous role played by UNRWA in the Middle East conflict. With this, the United Nations established its own authority in 1949 for a few hundred thousand Palestinian refugees (who did not yet call themselves “Palestinians” at that time).
But instead of ensuring that they, like all other refugees around the world cared for by UNHCR, settle somewhere (the Arab states opposed this), it created its own definition of “refugee” for Palestinians who inherited refugee status.
Germany increases UNRWA funds
UNRWA is funded almost exclusively through voluntary contributions from governments around the world and some private sector actors. With 30,000 employees, it is also one of the largest employers in the Palestinian territories, running more than 500 schools there and distributing humanitarian aid.
One of the largest donors: Germany.
The Federal Republic funds UNRWA through payments to United Nations organizations and European Union funds as well as directly through the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
According to UNRWA, Germany paid 180 million euros to UN projects in 2022.
On October 24, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (42, Green Party) announced in her speech to the UN Security Council: “(We are) increasing our humanitarian aid to Gaza by €50 million, of which €19 million will go to UNRWA. „
A truck belonging to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) transports humanitarian goods to Gaza
Photography: Amr Abdullah Dalsh/Reuters
Will it stay that way? A Foreign Ministry spokesman told Bild: “It is absolutely clear: violence, anti-Semitism and denial of Israel’s right to exist are absolutely unacceptable to us. If the kidnapped person’s claims are proven true, UNRWA must immediately draw conclusions. UNRWA has consistently assured us and other donors that UNRWA is fully committed to UN values and humanitarian principles and maintains a zero-tolerance policy against calls for violence and hatred by its staff.
Politician from the Free Democratic Party: Put UNRWA in Gaza to the test
“It is time to impose conditions on the funds allocated to Gaza, and if this is not possible, prepare to freeze them in the end,” demands foreign politician in the Free Democratic Party Frank Müller-Rosentreit (41 years old). The fact that the State Department will increase it, on the contrary, is “difficult to understand.”
“Those familiar with this issue have long known that UNRWA was part of the problem, not the solution,” Müller-Rosentritt continued. “Now it is clear to the whole world.”
He demands: “After this war, we must evaluate UNRWA correctly, as stated in the traffic light government coalition agreement, and then draw the necessary conclusions.”
The minimum requirements should be: Everyone who works for UNRWA must sign their recognition of Israel’s right to exist and to fight anti-Semitism. “And we have to check if this is being implemented,” says the FDP politician.
Müller-Rosentritt says that the situation of Palestinian refugees also needs to be studied. It has long been outdated and prevents millions of Palestinians from liberating themselves from immaturity with a perspective on life.
Boeing could be sued over two plane crashes. According to the US government, the company violated regulations. The next steps are still under study.
According to the US Department of Justice, plane manufacturer Boeing could be sued over two fatal crashes of two 737 MAX planes about five years ago. The ministry said in a letter that the company violated its obligations under an agreement protecting Boeing from criminal prosecution over the two incidents.
Court documents said Boeing failed to implement a program designed to prevent violations of U.S. fraud laws, as agreed. The US government is still considering how to proceed with this case. Boeing now has until June 13 to provide an official response. In an initial reaction, the company confirmed that, from its point of view, it adhered to the agreement.
Boeing must implement a compliance and ethics program
A total of 346 people died when two 737 MAX planes crashed in October 2018 and March 2019 in Indonesia and Ethiopia, respectively. According to investigations, one of the causes of the accident was the software in the plane that was supposed to support the pilots, but it interfered with the control devices more than they expected.
Boeing has been criticized because the aircraft manufacturer declared special training on the software unnecessary when the type was certified by US authorities. Under the agreement concluded with the US government, Boeing paid a fine of $243 million (225 million euros).
The allegations regarding the plane crashes were not followed up. However, there is something of a test bed in place with the central requirement that Boeing implement a compliance and ethics program. The Ministry of Justice has now stressed that breaching this could lead to criminal prosecution of the company.
Israel publishes a video of Hamas members at the United Nations compound in Rafah
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Israel has provided further evidence of entanglements between Hamas and the UN’s Palestinian relief agency: A drone recording shows armed men working at a relief organization site in Rafah. UN vehicles can also be seen.
DrThe links between Hamas and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) appear to be greater than previously known: the Israeli Armed Forces released a video on Channel X on Tuesday that reportedly shows Hamas terrorists in one of the agency’s facilities.
In the video, several armed people can be seen walking through the grounds of an UNRWA warehouse. UN vehicles can also be seen. According to the Israeli institution COGAT (Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories), which coordinates the delivery of Israeli aid to the Gaza Strip, the drone footage comes from a warehouse in eastern Rafah. The warehouse aims to be a central hub for aid for the Gaza Strip. The Office for the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories called on the United Nations to investigate.
The United Nations and UNRWA have not yet responded to these accusations. In recent months it has become known that several employees of the relief organization may be involved in the Hamas attack on Israel. They were expelled. Hamas also used the relief organization’s schools and hospitals as places to hide weapons or as a command center.
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Therefore, Israel also attacks these targets when Hamas uses them, including on Tuesday. The army said it killed more than 10 Hamas members in an air strike that targeted a command center. The building is said to have been a school. Hamas set up a “war room” in the middle of a school run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
The Health Authority in the Gaza Strip said that 15 displaced people were killed in the attack on the school. The Health Authority is under Hamas control.
On the other hand, the US Department of Defense said that aid supplies will be delivered to the Gaza Strip for the first time through a temporary port in the coming days. Until now there was no harbor deep enough for large cargo ships.
Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said: “In the coming days, as part of an international effort in coordination with the United Nations and the World Food Program, the United States will begin facilitating the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip through the Cyprus sea corridor.” He said Tuesday in Washington.
The plan is for a cargo ship to transport aid supplies from Cyprus directly to a floating dock. The goods are scheduled to be loaded onto other ships there and transported to another mobile dam on the coast. From there they should go to the beach.
It is primarily wars and conflicts that force more and more people around the world to flee their countries. Never before have there been such numbers, according to a survey conducted by a United Nations observatory.
Wars and conflicts have brought the number of people fleeing within their countries to a new high all over the world. At the end of 2023, 75.9 million people were internally displaced – that is, they had fled their communities and found housing elsewhere in their home country. This was reported by the Internally Displaced Persons Observatory (IDMC) in Geneva. This represents an increase of approximately seven percent over the previous year and 50 percent over the previous five years.
In its report, the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center distinguishes between the displaced themselves and the number of displaced people. Thus the same person can be evacuated several times within a given period of time. Conflicts in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Gaza Strip accounted for two-thirds of last year’s new displacement in 2023.
The population of the Gaza Strip has been displaced several times
African countries account for nearly half of all internally displaced people worldwide. Many of them are in Sudan: inside the country, more than nine million people fled violence at the end of 2023. In the Gaza Strip, the same people have been displaced several times. At the end of the year, a total of 1.7 million internally displaced persons were registered. In the last three months of 2023 alone after the start of the war, the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center counted 3.4 million new displacements, equivalent to 17 percent of the total conflict-related displacements worldwide during the year.
The total number of people who have had to flee their homeland due to wars, conflicts or disasters is much higher. It also takes into account people who have fled across borders to other countries. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, this number reached about 114 million people at the end of 2023. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees fears that the number will rise to 130 million by the end of the year.
According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, nearly 90 percent of internally displaced people were forced to flee their hometowns due to conflict and violence, while others were forced to flee due to disasters. At the end of 2023, there were 7.7 million people displaced by floods, storms, earthquakes, fires and other disasters, and had found refuge elsewhere in their countries of origin.
Preventing conflicts to fail”
The Liaison Office is committed to providing further assistance to countries in caring for internally displaced persons. “The conflict and devastation it has left behind means that millions are unable to rebuild their lives, often for years,” said Alexandra Belak, Director of the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre. Jan Egeland, secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, which founded the observatory, said the high number is a „devastating verdict on the failure to prevent conflicts and build peace.”
International law distinguishes between internally displaced persons on the one hand and refugees on the other. Refugees flee oppression, violence and war from their homeland to another country. The Internal Displacement Observatory, based in Geneva, is part of the Norwegian Refugee Council. The center works closely with the United Nations.
