This can be concluded from the ‘Colonna report’ published on April 22. It is the result of an independent investigation into the neutrality of UN aid organization UNRWA. The reason was Israeli accusations of UNRWA’s involvement with Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Israel has failed to substantiate this, the researchers write. In fact, they conclude that UNRWA applies robust rules regarding its neutrality.
A bird’s eye view
On January 26, Israel announced that twelve UNRWA employees (out of a total of 32 thousand) were involved in the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023. Nine donor countries, including the Netherlands, subsequently provided their financial support to the aid organization within 24 hours. stop, together accounting for more than 57 percent of UNRWA’s revenues.
That number was expected to rise to 16, but nine have now reversed their decision – Germany did so on Wednesday, the Netherlands on Friday evening. The US, which accounts for about 30 percent of UNRWA’s funding, has extended its suspension of advance support until 2025. All other donor countries, including Belgium, Ireland and Norway, have never stopped their funding. They actually warned of the disastrous consequences.
It is the fourth time in four years that Western donor countries have allowed themselves to be played by Israel to undermine Palestinian NGOs and aid organizations.
A second UN investigation is still ongoing, but is encountering a lack of Israeli cooperation. In March and April, Israel ignored requests to provide evidence of its accusations. Of the twelve cases, five have now been dismissed by the investigators. In addition, Israel appears to have received annual overviews of all UNRWA employees since 2011. These have never led to any objection from the Israeli side.
Four times cheated
It is the fourth time in four years that Western donor countries have allowed themselves to be played by Israel to undermine Palestinian NGOs and aid organizations. In all cases, the Israeli ‘evidence’ turned out to be fabricated and based on confessions extracted through torture, we wrote earlier this month. The (pro-)Palestinian organizations always paid the price: their funding was frozen for a long time or permanently stopped, with a huge impact on their activities and reputation. The Netherlands was also suitable for this.
In the case of the Palestinian agricultural organization UAWC, the Netherlands acted under legal pressure from the Israel lobby. It froze UAWC’s funding and opened an investigation into links to “terrorist organizations” alleged by Israel. Although the investigation cleared UAWC of the Israeli accusations, the government still decided to stop funding in early 2022. There are still questions about this.
In May 2021, Israel distributed a “secret dossier” purporting to show that six prominent Palestinian civil society organizations, including UAWC, were a front for terrorist groups. Subsequently, Western donor countries immediately stopped their financing. In October 2021, Israel placed the six on its national terrorism list. It would later close their offices.
However, in November, the Israeli dossier containing ‘evidence’ was leaked to the media. It turned out to be manufactured from A to Z. Israel then hastily provided new evidence in December. That also leaked and also turned out to be fabricated. Israel appeared to have only one goal: to undermine Palestinian civil society in the Israeli-occupied territories. Although their Western funding eventually resumed, the damage to the organizations was enormous.
Like the chickens
The Israeli agenda was therefore well known when, on January 26 this year, it accused UNRWA of involvement in terrorism. Yet the cabinet was quick to respond to the Israeli accusations literally overnight to embrace and further promote. On January 27, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Geoffrey van Leeuwen (VVD) even stated that ‘our money’ had been used to finance the Hamas attack.
Meanwhile, Israel has admitted that the campaign against UNRWA’s international funding has failed.
The Colonna report shows that he had no evidence for this at the time, but only based himself on the unsubstantiated Israeli claims. The damage to UNRWA was taken for granted, in the midst of the disastrous Israeli offensive, and despite the indispensability of the organization and the agony of the Palestinians.
‘Campaign failed’
The Colonna report has forced the Netherlands to reconsider its position. On Friday evening, the government sent a letter to the House of Representatives in which it no longer excludes future financing of UNRWA – this is surrounded by heavy ifs and buts, and without a concrete commitment. Meanwhile, Israeli officials have admitted that the ‘campaign against UNRWA’s international funding’ has failed.
The question that remains is whether the Western donor countries, including the Netherlands, have now learned their lesson. New Israeli accusations from Palestinian or international organizations are not expected to take long. It should be unthinkable that they will be taken seriously again.
Tags: Netherlands fooled Israel
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