StopSupportingHateNZ

CALL ON OUR GOVERNMENT TO STOP SUPPORTING HATE

If our government was funding schools that glorified the Christchurch terrorist or taught children a curriculum that demonised and dehumanised Māori, we would be equally outraged.
We urge you to add your name to this petition. We call on our Government to stop supporting hate, by freezing funds to UNRWA, until we can be sure they no longer teach children antisemitism or glorify terror.

UNRWA HAS SPREAD HATE FOR DECADES

Since at least 2001, there have been reports of UNRWA teaching children to glorify terror and hate Jews.
The most recent evidence is a report published in March 2023 that contains 25 examples from 10 different UNRWA schools of hateful educational content, including 9th grade study material created by UNRWA that celebrates a Palestinian firebombing attack on a Jewish bus as a ‘barbecue party’.  It also contains 10 new examples of UNRWA teachers and other staff posting support for hate or violence, including conspiracy theories about Jews controlling the world and praising Hitler.
UNRWA student talking about how the school teaches him that Jews are bad people.

OUR GOVERNMENT HAS SUPPORTED THIS HATE

Each year our government gives UNRWA NZ$1m of unconditional funding and has donated since 1949. That’s more than NZ$74m of taxpayer money that has been given to UNRWA.
Moreover, no MFAT official or Minister has condemned the hateful curriculum or systematic racism in UNRWA. They have only praised the organisation.
The latest was Hon Minister Mahutu, who tweeted she was “pleased to be a longstanding supporter of UNRWA” on 16 Sept 2022.

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CALL ON OUR GOVERNMENT TO STOP SUPPORTING HATE

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

UNRWA does do some good work – providing social services for Arab Palestinians. However, both UNRWA and New Zealand claim to take a ‘zero tolerance’ approach to hate and terror. If this is true, then they shouldn’t tolerate the hate because the organisation does some good work also. That would be like funding a neo-Nazi group because they also run a soup kitchen.

First, some of the hateful material was created by UNRWA staff, in addition to the PA curriculum.

Second, UNRWA continues to employ staff who have incited violence on social media – this is not an issue with textbooks.

Third, UNRWA is not mandated to use the PA curriculum. A previous lawyer for UNRWA, among others, has suggested that UNRWA do what [other group] does and use a neutral curriculum instead. This would solve much of the problem.

No. Perhaps it would have been fair to accept promises from UNRWA that they were dealing with the issue when it was first raised – over two decades ago. However, the ongoing evidence is clear that their promises and assurances are hollow.

New Zealand gives at least NZ$1m each year to UNRWA. The annual budget for UNRWA is more than US$1b dollars. That means NZ contributes approx 0.004% of the budget.

However, if all nations that claim to be against hate pull their funding, then UNRWA will not be able to function as they are. There will need to be systemic change. Change that will mean children are no longer taught to glorify terror is a good thing. New Zealand can take a stand – like we did with giving women the vote – and hope the rest of the world follows so that a solution is found. Continuing to support hate just makes a mockery of the rhetoric of our Ministers and officials.

MFAT officials have told us that they do not fund any other organisations that have systemic issues of racism, teach children to glorify terror, or employ staff that incite violence on social media. We have no reason to doubt that.

However, if MFAT was found to be funding other hate, for example schools that glorify the Christchurch terrorist, then we would be equally outraged.

The NZ Human Rights Commission has contacted MFAT about this issue. Chief Commissioner, Paul Hunt, has said that the New Zealand government’s obligations to human rights extends to the issue. He has also said that it is “not compelling” for UNRWA to claim that they are not responsible for the content of the texbooks present in their schools.  Commisioner Hunt and Race Relations Commissioner, Meng Foon, have also said that the EU-funded report found content that is “unacceptable” and that “it appears that the issues have not been completely resolved”. The Human Rights Commission has not commented yet on the most recent evidence.

UNRWA is funded by many countries. The United States has previously raised concerns about the issues. Under the Trump administration, funding was cut; but the Biden government reinstated funding without conditions. In response, a bill has recently been introduced to require to the US Secretary of State to withhold all US funding to UNRWA unless he certified that UNRWA is subjected to an external audit, does not employ anyone with ties to US-designated terrorist groups, and that its schools and other infrastructure are not used for terrorist activities, among other requirements.

The European Union Parliament has also passed an amendment to its 2022 budget to withhold funds to UNRWA unless revisions are made to the curriculum.

However, New Zealand has led the way on important issues like women’s suffrage. Our government should not need the permission of other countries to stop supporting hate.

CALL ON OUR GOVERNMENT TO STOP SUPPORTING HATE

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