Exposed: UNRWA’s Rigged “Independent” Review
https://unwatch.org/exposed-unrwas-rigged-independent-review/On February 5, 2024, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced the appointment of an “Independent Review Group” with the stated purpose of assessing whether the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) “is doing everything within its power to ensure neutrality and to respond to allegations of serious breaches when they are made.”[1]
The announcement came shortly after 18 top donor states to UNRWA suspended funding to the agency,[2] due to revelations that at least 12 UNRWA staffers participated[3] in the October 7th massacre and that hundreds of the agency’s employees are operatives of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.[4]
Catherine Colonna, the former French Minister of Foreign Affairs, was selected to lead the Review Group, which also consisted of the following three Scandinavian research institutions: The Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI) in Norway; The Raoul Wallenberg Institute in Sweden, and The Danish Institute for Human Rights.
The Review Group began its work on February 14th and submitted an interim report to the Secretary-General on March 20th. Though the interim report was not made public, the UN announced that the report “found that UNRWA has in place a significant number of mechanisms and procedures to ensure compliance with the Humanitarian Principle of neutrality.”[5] The final report is scheduled to be released to the public on April 20th.
The EU, Canada, Sweden, Finland, France, Australia and Japan have already each announced that they are resuming funding to UNRWA.
A brief examination of all of the parties involved in the review group confirms that they are not unbiased, objective observers. Rather, Ms. Colonna, the three organizations, and many of their staff have previously issued statements, published content, and liked social media posts demonstrating their positive feelings towards UNRWA and its work, often even after the newfound allegations of UNRWA’s links to Hamas post-October 7th, and their animosity towards the State of Israel.
Top UNRWA Official: Colonna Report Is To “Provide Cover”
In a moment of candor, the actual purpose of the Colonna Report was stated by longtime UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness, who retired in 2019 after 12 years in the post, returning recently to act as a surrogate for UNRWA with frequent appearances on Al Jazeera and other media. “I hope that the external report by the former French foreign minister, soon to be available, will provide the donors with further cover if that’s what they need within their own internal constituencies to resume funding for UNRWA,” Gunness told Passblue, a website that advocates for the UN.
In other words, the review is not an impartial investigation into how UNRWA’s mechanisms and procedures have completely failed to ensure compliance with the humanitarian principle of neutrality, turning a blind eye to hundreds of UNRWA staff, teachers, school principals and union leaders who serve as Hamas operatives and as members of the Hamas Politburo. Rather, the appointment of the review group was designed by the UN and UNRWA as a political maneuver to give “further cover” to donor states—“if that’s what they need within their own internal constituencies to resume funding for UNRWA.”
UN Chief Named Colonna “To Reassure Donors”
This is corroborated by statements made by the UN itself, acknowledging that the purpose of the Review Group is to ease the concerns of donors, rather than to objectively investigate UNRWA’s ties to terror.
On February 21, UN Spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said that Secretary-General Guterres named Catherine Colonna to lead the Review Group in order to “reassure those donors who may have doubts.”[6]
Likewise, on February 22, Ms. Colonna herself stated that that the entire purpose of her investigation is to ensure that donations to UNRWA continue—not that everything be done to objectively investigate and stop systematic UNRWA staff complicity with and promotion of terrorism. Speaking at a UN press conference on February, Colonna said:
“The aim of this important and delicate mission, entrusted to us by the Secretary General, is to enable donors, the largest among them, but in fact everyone, to regain confidence, when they have lost it or when they have doubts, in the way UNRWA operates.”[7]
These statements confirm that a predetermined outcome to ensure the reinstatement of funding was in mind for both the UN and Ms. Colonna.
Colonna Biased For UNRWA, Against Israel
Colonna Hailed UNRWA
Less than two weeks before being appointed to head the review group, Ms. Colonna posted on X on January 13, 2024 to commend UNRWA for its work, which she wrote was “more useful than ever.” She expressed this praise for UNRWA just four days after UN Watch revealed to the world that 3,000 UNRWA teachers were members of an UNRWA Telegram chat group that celebrated the October 7th attack. Ms. Colonna was also a public supporter of UNRWA during her time as French foreign minister.
The feelings were mutual. UNRWA referred to its “strong support from France” while Colonna was foreign minister, and specifically praised Colonna:
“One week after the Humanitarian Conference at Elysee, thank you to [President] Emmanuel Macron and [Foreign Minister] Colonna for their continued political and financial commitment alongside UNRWA. The strong support of states like France for UNRWA is crucial for the humanitarian operation at Gaza.”
UNRWA praised France’s role at a pledging conference, for having “highlight[ed] unanimous and continuous support to UNRWA.”
France also praised UNRWA lawyer Johann Soufi, who recently said on French television that evidence of UNRWA ties to terrorism should be ignored because the group releasing it was “a Jewish lobby.”[8]
