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.
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There are decades of evidence that UNRWA has taught hate and employed staff who incite onine.
The latest report, published in March 2023, 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.
In 2021, a report conducted by the Georg Eckert Institute, and funded by the European Union, was published. Despite evidence of bias and fundamental flaws in an early draft, the report highlighted examples of egregious antisemitism, glorification of terror, rejection of peace, delegitimization of Israel, and incitement to violence. For example, an entire section of the school texts deals with “the depiction of Dalal Al-Mughrabi. Dalal led an attack on Israeli civilians that killed 38, including 13 children. The United Nations has designated her a terrorist.
UN Watch has found more than 100 examples of UNRWA staff and teachers inciting violence on social media over serveral years. See, for example, here, here, here, and here. A list of 133 UNRWA teachers and staff found to incite hate can be found in Annex A of this report.
IMPACT-SE have reports stretching back to 2001 that highlight the ongoing hateful curriculum produced by the PA, which is used in UNRWA schools. There are also reports of more recent material produced by UNRWA that violate UN values, and UNRWA’s “zero-tolerance policy for discrimination or for incitement to hatred and violence in its schools.
New Zealand officials and Ministers have only ever praised UNRWA publicly, at the same time as funding the organisation to the tune of approximately NZ$1m each year.
The closest that MFAT offcials have come is to report, in a 2020 briefing to the incoming Minister, that "claims have been made about the inclusion of anti-Semitic teachings in Palestinian Authority textbooks used in schools funded by" UNRWA and "New Zealand takes the accusations regarding textbooks extremely seriously". In the same document, officials stated "we are awaiting the outcome of a review by the EU of textbooks...". That review was published in 2021 and found examples of egregious antisemitism, glorification of terror, rejection of peace, delegitimization of Israel, and incitement to violence.
On 16 Sept 2022, Hon Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Nanaia Mahuta, tweeted that she was "please to be a longstanding supporter of" UNRWA. This was stated after the 2021 EU-funded report was published that highlighted examples of egregious antisemitism, glorification of terror, rejection of peace, delegitimization of Israel, and incitement to violence in the textbooks that UNRWA uses in their schools; and after decades of similar evidence, as well as evidence of UNRWA staff and teachers inciting violence on social media. In that same Tweet, the Minister committed NZ to fund 3 more years of UNRWA. The Grant Funding Arrangement contains provision (paragraph II) that "4. UNRWA assures MFAT that... UNRWA will (as appropriate) respond to, investigate, and address any credible and evidence-based allegations of non-compliance by UNRWA staff with... humanitarian principles and United Nations values..."
The Minister's comments above were also made after her statement in Select Committee on 24 June 2021 that “... I take the point, square on, that if a concern such as [racism and hate being taught in UNRWA schools] has been raised clearly [by MFAT with UNRWA], we would want to satisfy ourselves [it has been dealt with] prior to making further contributions”.
The CEO of MFAT, Chris Seed, was also at that meeting and said "the issue of school books and school communications is a known one and it certainly is being dealt to." The most recent report shows that his apparent blind acceptance of UNRWA promises was wrong.
An internal MFAT file note dated 13 October 2020, regarding a meeting with the Human Rights Commission on the issue, recorded Deb Collins, Divisional Manager Partnerships Humanitarian & Multilateral Division, stating that MFAT had "thoroughly examined" claims of online hate speech by UNRWA staff and she "underlined the Ministry's comfort with the effectiveness of UNRWA's neutrality policies and processes". On the issue of antisemitic textbooks, Collins "clarified that it is the Palestinian Authorities, rather than UNRWA, who determine the contents of the curriculum" and she noted that the EU-funded review was expected soon. Chief Human Rights Commissioner, Paul Hunt, said that it was "not compelling" for UNRWA to claim that they are not responsible for the content of the texbooks present in their schools.
In March 2020, MFAT officials briefed Hon Minister Winston Peters with an excuse for the hate, writing “In response to media allegations that UNRWA-supplied textbooks promote anti-Semitism and terrorism, officials have confirmed that the Palestinian Authority, not UNRWA, is responsible for the final curriculum and production of textbooks.”
On the 65th anniversary of UNRWA, in 2015, Phillip Taula, Deputy Permanent Representative of New Zealand to the United Nations, gave a speech in praise of UNRWA.