Posted on 10/07/2004 11:55:45 AM PDT by me_newswire
UN Official Admits Hamas on UNWRA Payroll
October 06, '04
The top UNRWA official in Gaza, Peter Hansen, the Commissioner-General of UNRWA, admitted that Hamas terrorists are on the payroll of the supposedly neutral body - but the world media are ignoring the story. A significant news item reported by Arutz-7 yesterday has received little coverage in the international media: The top UNRWA official in Gaza admitted that Hamas terrorists are on the payroll of the supposedly neutral body.
Peter Hansen, the Commissioner-General of UNRWA in Gaza, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation two days ago that some UNRWA workers are Hamas terrorists. "I am sure that there are Hamas members on the UNRWA payroll," Hansen said, adding, "I don't see that as a crime... We do not do political vetting and exclude people from one persuasion as against another."
Hansen attempted to draw a distinction between 'political' and 'militant' Hamas members. Both the United States and the European Union do not accept this distinction, however, and have outlawed or blacklisted all branches of Hamas and have frozen all Hamas assets.
"Despite the gravity of this matter," HonestReporting.com reported yesterday, "Hansen's admission that Hamas members are on the UN payroll has - as of now - received scant media attention. The Associated Press, for example, buried Hansen's statement in an article that focused primarily on IDF air strikes, and the New York Times has yet to even acknowledge Hansen's admission. This error of omission is particularly troubling in light of Israel's ongoing campaign in Gaza to stop Hamas from firing rockets into Israeli towns such as Sderot."
Israel has admitted that its latest accusation against UNRWA - to the effect that a Palestinian terrorist was filmed loading a Kassam rocket onto a UN ambulance van - is probably not true. The object seen being loaded onto the van was most likely a stretcher, IDF sources now say. Hansen demands a clear Israeli apology.
Israel insists, however, that Hansen is not the impartial observer his job description mandates. In the wake of the 2002 Jenin operation, Hansen was one of those who falsely accused Israel of having perpetrated a massacre. He used terms at the time such as, 'wholesale obliteration... a human catastrophe that has few parallels in recent history,' 'helicopters... strafing civilian residential areas,' and 'bodies... piling up' in 'mass graves.' HonestReporting.com notes that Hansen even claimed to have seen some of the alleged carnage with his own eyes.
Armed Palestinians were filmed in May of this year using UNRWA ambulances to transport terrorists. Other documented UNRWA violations of its neutrality:
* Sept. 2003: After the Israeli military court convicted three UNRWA employees for terrorist activities, Israel detained at least 16 other UNRWA staff members for various security-related matters.
* Dec. 2002: An Israeli intelligence report indicated that numerous UNRWA facilities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza had been used by Palestinian terrorists as meeting grounds and for weapons storage.
* Sept. 2002: Nahd Attala, a senior official of UNRWA in Gaza, revealed that in June-July 2002, he used his UNRWA car for the transportation of armed Fatah members on their way to carry out a missile attack against Jewish communities. In addition, Nahd said he used an UNRWA car to transport a 12-kg. explosive charge for his brother-in-law, a Fatah member.
* August 2002: Nidal Nazzal, a Hamas member and ambulance driver employed by UNRWA, confessed to transporting weapons and explosives in an UNRWA ambulance. He said he had taken advantage of the freedom of movement he enjoyed as part of his UNRWA job to transmit messages among Hamas members in various PA-controlled towns.
* February 2002: Ala Muhammad Ali Hassan, a Tanzim member, confessed to having carried out a sniper shooting from the school run by UNRWA in the al-Ayn refugee camp near Nablus. He also told his interrogators that bombs intended for terrorist attacks were being manufactured inside the UNRWA school's facilities.
As reported yesterday, the salaries of UNRWA workers are paid through contributions that UNRWA receives from 38 contributing countries. The U.S. provides 30% of that budget, Canada contributes 4%, and the European countries contribute well over 55%. "This," concludes HonestReporting.Com, "[is] despite the fact that the use of US taxpayer funds for foreign refugees who have engaged in acts of terrorism is illegal under the amended Section 301(c) of the 1961 Foreign Assistance Act."
HonestReporting has begun a campaign to alert major news outlets about their omission of this story. The email addresses of major U.S. papers can be found on its site:
FUNDED BY WESTERN DEMOCRACIES
The infiltration of the UNRWA by Palestinian terrorists is all the more disturbing given the funding structure of this international 'humanitarian' organization. As David Bedein reports:
The salaries of UNRWA workers are paid through contributions that UNRWA receives from 38 contributing countries. The U.S. provides 30% of that budget, Canada contributes 4% of that budget, and the European countries contribute well over 55% of that budget.
In other words, the western democracies of the world pay the salaries of the Hamas terrorists on the payroll of UNRWA.
Upon hearing Hansen's admission of Hamas members on the UNRWA payroll, a spokesperson for Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs said, 'we are deeply concerned, and will immediately seek clarification from Mr. Hansen directly and from UN authorities.'
Canada's contribution to UNRWA is $10 million a year, and total US support to UNRWA is approximately $100 million per year. This, despite the fact that the use of US taxpayer funds for foreign refugees who have engaged in acts of terrorism is illegal under the amended Section 301(c) of the 1961 Foreign Assistance Act.
A conference of UN donor countries to discuss ongoing aid to Palestinians is slated to meet in Norway on November 30.
ACTION ITEM:
As indicated above, Peter Hansen's startling admission of Hamas members on the UNRWA payroll has received almost no press coverage.
HonestReporting urges subscribers to contact the major news outlets, using, if you wish, the short sample letter printed below.
● The New York Times: letters@nytimes.com
● Washington Post: letters@washpost.com
● Boston Globe: letter@globe.com
● Chicago Tribune: [click here]
● Atlanta Journal-Constitution: letters@ajc.com
● Los Angeles Times: letters@latimes.com
● San Francisco Chronicle: letters@sfchronicle.com
● Seattle Post-Intelligencer: editpage@seattlepi.com
SAMPLE LETTER:
Dear Editor,
This week (Oct. 4), the Commissioner-General of the UN agency in Gaza and the West Bank, Peter Hansen, admitted that 'there are Hamas members on the UNRWA payroll.' I was disturbed to find that this highly newsworthy item did not make its way into your paper in a prominent fashion, particularly in light of Israel's ongoing campaign in Gaza to stop Hamas from firing rockets into Israeli towns like Sderot.
Hansen's statement acknowledges the illegal use of US taxpayer funds for members of a terrorist organization. (The US contributes approximately $100 million/year to the UNRWA.) With the upcoming Nov. 30 conference of UN donor countries to discuss ongoing support of Palestinian projects, we should all be concerned about UNRWA's admission of Hamas members on its payroll.
Sincerely yours,
(your name)
they just don't care---one day all this will come home to roost..kerry in w.h. iran ==nukes hamas with Bio weapon--it will be the end--sorry to be negative but israel has 100= nukes and the US has 1,000's and damn i hope they both use them.==the end
What is UNRWA.....UN what?
Get the UN out of the US.
bump
done
"The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) today delivered food and water to half of the 600 families trapped in their homes east of Jabalyia camp by the Israeli incursion in the North of the Gaza Strip."
So that means were going to invade the UN because they sponsor terrorists, right?? Sounds like a great idea .. I just hope its televised.
Break out the pitchforks, and light the torches.
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