UNRWA

Other Resources:

The UNRWA dilemma by R. David Harden, The Times of Israel, February 6, 2024

With Gaza on the brink of famine, there are three ways to deliver humanitarian aid. Israeli leaders don’t like any of them.

Ten myths about UNRWA by Adi Schwartz and David M. Weinberg, Israel Hayom, February 4, 2024

It is not a neutral, efficient, indispensable, or moderating force, nor can it simply be fixed by better oversight. It must be replaced for the sake of Palestinians and Israelis alike.

Post by Dr. Einat Wilf, X (Twitter), February 1, 2024

Palestinians always clearly say that UNRWA means “return” but westplainers keep saying it’s for “aid.”

What’s Wrong with UNRWA by Nevet Basker, The Times of Israel, February 1, 2024

For peace in the Middle East, UNRWA should be dismantled by Dr. Einat Wilf and Adi Schwartz, Toronto Sun, January 31, 2024

The UNRWA Constellation: Partnerships with UN Agencies and Terror-Linked NGOs, NGO Monitor, January 31, 2024

Did UNRWA Deceive the Secretary of State to Receive U.S. Funding? by Lt.-Col. (res.) Maurice Hirsch, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, February 2, 2024

UNRWA Exposed: Examining the Agency’s Mission and Failures by Richard Goldberg, Foundation for Defense of Democracies, House Foreign Affairs Committee testimony, January 30, 2024 (includes link to 2:18’ video of full hearing and written testimony)

United Nations Relief and Works Agency Is Hamas by Asaf Romirowsky and Alex Joffe, The American Spectator, November 25, 2023

UNRWA’s terrorists by David Bedein, Jewish News Syndicate, November 5, 2023

The U.N. agency teaches mass murder to Palestinian Arabs.

Don’t give more money to the UN’s failed Palestinian refugee agency by Richard Goldberg and David May, The Hill, September 12, 2023

UNRWA spreads bogus statistics to other NGOs by Elder of Ziyon, July 11, 2023

UN Teachers Call To Murder Jews, Reveals New Report, UN Watch, March 14, 2023 (see also report, UNRWA Education: Reform or Regression, UN Watch and IMPACT-SE, March 2023)

UNRWA is Part of the Problem – Not the Solution by Bassam Tawil, Gatestone Institute, February 1, 2023

At the UN, Special Treatment for Palestinians Shouldn’t Be Automatic by Daniel S. Mariaschin and David J. Michaels, Newsweek, January 26, 2023

European Union lawmakers criticize UNRWA chief over Palestinian textbooks, Jewish News Syndicate, September 4, 2022 (See also European Politicians Blast UN Official for Ignoring Antisemitism in Palestinian Textbooks by Dion J. Pierre, The Algemeiner, September 5, 2022)

The chair of the E.U. Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, MEP David McAllister, called UNRWA’s failure to address hate education an “endless saga” and demanded “sustainable improvements.”

Biden blunders on refugees by Jonathan Schanzer and Asaf Romirowsky, The Washington Examiner, July 21, 2022

What Biden Gets Wrong About UNRWA by Asaf Romirowsky, The National Interest, March 23, 2022

The bottomless UNRWA pit of despair by Maurice Hirsch, Palestinian Media Watch, March 18, 2022

Crucial PA admission: UNRWA is a political, not a humanitarian organization by Itamar Marcus, Palestinian Media Watch, December 2, 2021

UNRWA – The worst thing that ever happened to Palestinians by Itamar Marcus, The Jerusalem Post, November 13, 2021

Palestinian Authority Minister And PLO Executive Committee Member Majdalani: UNRWA Is The Political Symbol Of The Right Of Return, The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) Special Dispatch No. 9618, November 1, 2021

Is the decision to renew US funding to UNRWA conducive with US law? by Maurice Hirsch, Palestinian Media Watch, October 25, 2021

Congress Must Fix UNRWA’s Hamas Problem by Jonathan Schanzer and Richard Goldberg, Washington Examiner, July 31, 2021

How Hamas Took UNRWA Hostage by Alex Joffe and Asaf Romirowsky, The National Interest, June 7, 2021

UNRWA’s False Façade of Neutrality by Asaf Romirowsky, Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 2,033, May 17, 2021

Biden’s Funding of UNRWA Harms Palestinians by Clifford Smith, The Washington Examiner, April 17, 2021

Biden Just Threw Israeli-Palestinian Peace Under the Bus by Einat Wilf and Adi Schwartz, Newsweek, April 12, 2021

UNRWA and the Unique Treatment of Palestinians Prevents Peace by David M. Litman, The Algemeiner, April 12, 2021

The U.N. Refugee Agency With Few Actual Refugees by Richard Goldberg and Jonathan Schanzer, The Wall Street Journal, February 4, 2021

After Watchdog Report, UNRWA Admits Educational Materials Rife With Anti-Israel Racism and Incitement, The Algemeiner, January 14, 2021

UNRWA’s Moment of Truth by Ron Schleifer and Yehudah Brochin, Middle East Quarterly, Winter 2021

Does UNRWA Violate International Law? by Daniel Pomerantz, HonestReporting.com, December 31, 2020

Israel and the United Arab Emirates are reportedly working together to eliminate the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

How Trump can expose biggest lie in Middle East: Palestinian ‘refugee’ myth by Richard Goldberg and Jonathan Schanzer, New York Post, November 23, 2020

UNRWA admits that “Palestine refugees” are not REAL refugees under international law by Elder of Ziyon, November 6, 2020

Seventy Years to UNRWA — Time for Structural and Functional Reforms by Kobi Michael and Michal Hatuel-Radoshitzky, The Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) at Tel Aviv University, Memorandum No. 204, September 2020

What the U.S. Can Do to Advance Israeli-Palestinian Peace by Alex Joffe and Asaf Romirowsky, The National Interest, September 19, 2020

Palestinians: Don’t Believe UNRWA, They Are Not Helping by Bassam Tawil, Gatestone Institute, April 15, 2020

Perpetuating the lie of Palestinian refugees by Ben-Dror Yemini, YNetNews.com, December 15, 2019

UNRWA, which is supposed to rehabilitate the Palestinians dispossessed after the creation of the State of Israel, is actually a machine invented to perpetuate their plight

It’s Time to Close Down UNRWA by Frank Musmar, the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 1,336, November 5, 2019

UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, was created in 1949 via UN Resolution 302 (IV) with a short-term mandate. It flouted its original mission and perpetuated rather than alleviated the Palestinians’ status as refugees. It has long since become corrupt and functions essentially as a front group. The UN should close it down, and Palestinian refugees should be integrated into the economic systems of the countries that sheltered them.

UN agency for Palestinians is too corrupt to save by David May, The Hill, August 19, 2019

Wilf & Schwartz: The War of Return

The War of Return: How Western Indulgence of the Palestinian Dream Has Obstructed the Path to Peace by Adi Schwartz & Einat Wilf

The U.N. Agency for Palestinians Is Even Worse Than You Imagine by Alex Joffe and Asaf Romirowsky, The Wall Street Journal, August 6, 2019

Leaked Report Accuses Top UNRWA Officials of Misconduct, Mismanagement and Worse by Ian Williams, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs (WRMEA), August-September 2019

Hamas endorsement of UNRWA elections underscores the agency’s inherent flaws by Eliana Rudee, Jewish News Syndicate, June 14, 2019

While the agency, which has long been tied to terror links and promotes incitement through its textbooks, says its mandate will end with the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, even though UNRWA’s very existence is a factor that prevents any resolution.

Minister: ‘UN aid agency is part of the problem in the Middle East’, Swiss Info, May 17, 2019

United Nations aid work for Palestinian refugees is a stumbling block to peace in the Middle East, hindering the integration of Palestinians who have lived in Jordan and Lebanon for years, according to Swiss Foreign Affairs Minister Ignazio Cassis.

Doubling down on the PA’s curriculum deception by Marcus Sheff, Times of Israel, February 15, 2019

UNWRA officials lied when they pledged to address the hate being taught in Palestinian elementary schools

New report highlights how UN gives singular treatment to Palestinian refugees by Israel Kasnett, Jewish News Service, February 10, 2019

According to many well-documented statements by Palestinian and Arab leaders themselves, the Palestinian refugees have been used as pawns and a weapon in the fight against Israel.

Declassified US Document: PA Schools Teaching Hate by Ben Bresky, The Jerusalem Post, February 8, 2019 (see also Declassified report on UNRWA accuses State Department of misleading Congress on Palestinian textbooks by Jackson Richman, Jewish News Service, February 8, 2019 and State has Taken Actions to Address Potentially Problematic Textbook Content but Should Improve Its Reporting to Congress, General Accounting Office, April 2018)

Maps erase Israel, math problems involve Palestinian causality figures, and militaristic images are found in PA textbooks being used in UN schools, report states.

Is UNRWA’s hereditary refugee status for Palestinians unique? Kohelet Policy Forum, January 2019

As the US cuts funding, UNRWA employees forced to flee Gaza by Asaf Romirowsky and Alex Joffe, Washington Examiner, October 11, 2018

UN funding perpetuates Palestinian narratives by Daniel S. Mariaschin, The Jerusalem Post, October 11, 2018

Over decades, UNRWA has exhorted Palestinians to see Jews and Israel through an antisemitic lens, and to believe that all Palestinians will one day “return” to the entirety of what is now Israel.

Why didn’t we stop funding UNRWA years ago? by Ron Prosor, The Times of Israel, October 3, 2018

Video: Cutting funds to UNRWA: will it stop the violence? (8’47”), i24, September 9, 2018

HonestReporting’s Daniel Pomerantz and former Palestinian negotiator Gaith Al-Omari interviewed on i24 News

Senator Lankford Introduces Bill to Reform US Assistance to Palestinians, Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), September 6, 2018: “Bill Would De-Politicize US Foreign Aid to Palestinians”

Former MK [Einat Wilf]: UNRWA Inflated Number of Syrian and Lebanese Refugees by Factor of At Least Four, TheTower.org, September 4, 2018

Sacrificing Israel’s long-term interests for short-term gains by Evelyn Gordon, Jewish News Syndicate, August 29, 2018

Military men are good at solving militarily problems, but they’re no better than anyone else, and often worse, at understanding political problems. Yet their facade of expertise often cows politicians into deferring to them.

Why UNRWA’s Funding Should Be Cut by Joshua S. Block, The Algemeiner, August 28, 2018

UNRWA quietly admits that it doesn’t keep track of how many “refugees” die by Elder of Zion, August 27, 2018

Trump Should Release Secret Report on the True Number of Palestinian Refugees by Clifford Smith, Washington Examiner, August 12, 2018

Congress Demands State Department Release Secret Report Busting Myth of Palestinian Refugees by Adam Kredo, The Washington Free Beacon, July 12, 2018

Cruz, congressional insiders pressuring Trump administration to expose long classified report

Expose the Palestinian ‘Refugee’ Scam by Richard Goldberg and Jonathan Schanzer, Wall Street Journal, July 6, 2018 (see also: Fifty-One Members of Congress Back MEF’s UNRWA Policy, Middle East Forum, April 20, 2018)

Will the World Finally Turn Off the UNRWA Spigot? by Emily Benedek, The Algemeiner, June 5, 2018

The Privileged Palestinian “Refugees” by Efraim Karsh, Middle East Quarterly, May 14, 2018

[R]ather than help resolve the Palestinian refugee problem, [the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, or UNRWA] has only served to confirm its permanency.

U.S. Government Hiding Report on Number of Palestinian Refugees by Adam Kredo, The Washington Free Beacon, April 26, 2018

Lawmakers demand public release of report that could affect allocation of funds

State Has Taken Actions to Address Potentially Problematic Textbook Content but Should Improve its Reporting to Congress, U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO), April 2018 (declassified August 31, 2018)

Use UNRWA’s financial crisis to end its shameful apartheid system by Evelyn Gordon, Jewish News Syndicate, March 28, 2018

Some 2.1 million “refugees” live in 27 designated camps. They attend special UNRWA schools and health clinics, instead of the regular Palestinian ones. And senior P.A. officials have said explicitly that they are not and never will be entitled to citizenship in the Palestinian state.

Reframing the Middle Eastern and Palestinian Refugee Crises by Alex Joffe and Asaf Romirowsky, Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, Mideast Security and Policy Studies No. 146, March 13, 2018

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, or UNRWA […] is the world’s only internationally funded “relief” organization that is run not only for but by its clients.

State Department Hiding ‘Game Changer’ Report on Myth of Palestinian Refugees by Adam Kredo, The Washington Free Beacon, January 18, 2018

Classified report could bust myth that millions of refugees need UNRWA

The U.N. Agency That Keeps Palestinians from Prospering by Alexander H. Joffe and Asaf Romirowsky, The Wall Street Journal, January 11, 2018

Free the Palestinians: End UNRWA funding by Shoshana Bryen, The Hill, January 5, 2018

Trump should crack down on UNRWA, finally end fiction of Palestinian ‘refugees’ by Richard Goldberg, New York Post, December 27, 2017

UNRWA Refugees: Where have They Gone? by Shoshana Bryen, Jewish Policy Center/The Gatestone Institute, December 26, 2017 (see also What’s Behind the ‘Disappearance’ of 420,000 Palestinians in Lebanon? By Franklin Lamb, CounterPunch, January 5, 2018)

John Bolton: Time to Abolish UN’s Palestinian ‘Refugee’ Agency by Aaron Kline, Breitbart, September 11, 2017

UNRWA Condemns the Palestinians to Refugee Status in Perpetuity by Amb. Alan Baker, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Jerusalem Issue Brief Vol. 17, No. 23, August 15, 2017

Don’t Dismantle UNRWA; Reform Its Policies by David Bedein, Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 556, August 9, 2017 (response to Dismantle UNRWA by Adi Schwartz BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 528, July 14, 2017)

Palestinian Envoy Hints U.S. Postponed U.N. Vote to Fund Palestine Refugee Agency by Adam Shaw, Breitbart, July 28, 2017

The UNRWA Problem by Colin Rubenstein, Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC), June 28, 2017

The world must finally awaken to the UN refugee agency’s failures in the Palestinian territories by Asaf Romirowsky and Alexander Joffe, New York Daily News, June 12, 2017

UNRWA Condemns Neutrality Violation in Gaza in the Strongest Possible Terms by Christopher Gunness, UNRWA Spokesperson, June 9, 2017

A bold, common sense UN move for the Trump administration by Ambassador Richard Schifter, The Hill, February 23, 2017

Unlike many other U.N. resolutions dealing with Israelis and Palestinians in Orwellian ways, merging UNRWA into UNHCR could foster an atmosphere conducive in the long run to peace.

How UNRWA Keeps Remaking Itself: Defining, Re-Defining and Re-Re-Defining Who Is a Palestinian Refugee by Daled Amos, Elder of Ziyon, February 14, 2017 (see also On the Palestinian “Option” – Not the Right – of Return, February 7, and  No, This Is Not Your Father’s UNRWA, February 21)

Poisoning Palestinian Children, UN Watch, February 2, 2017 [full report]

A report on UNRWA teachers’ incitement to jihadist terrorism and antisemitism, Presented by UN Watch before the United States Congress House Foreign Affairs Committee Joint Hearing of the Subcommittee on Middle East and North Africa and the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organization

The United Nations’ Palestinian refugee industry by Asaf Romirowsky and Alexander H. Joffe, National Post [Canada], November 23, 2016

40 years ago this week, the UN perpetuated Palestinian suffering by Aaron White, Jewish News Service, November 25, 2016

Video: The UNRWA Road to Terror: Palestinian Classroom Incitement (9’55”) by David Bedein, Center for Near East Policy Research, May 29, 2016

UNRWA: The Crux of the Arab-Israeli Conflict by Asaf Romirowsky, Justice, Winter 2014-2015

Proud Palestinians must lead the fight to reform UNRWA by Bassem Eid, The Jerusalem Post, December 1, 2014

Why State Dept. Defends UNRWA’s Artificial “Refugee” Designations by Steven J. Rosen, Middle East Forum, September 30, 2014

Understanding UNRWA by Alexander Joffe and Asaf Romirowsky, National Interest, July 17, 2014

Exposé on UNRWA Deserves Attention by Steven Stotsky, Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA), May 30, 2014

Want Peace? Change UN’s Refugee Policy by Jonathan S. Tobin, Commentary, May 18, 2014

The Palestinians have a unique status in the world of the UN. While all other refugees are handled by a single organization, the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), the Palestinians have their own UN agency in UNRWA. But unlike the UNHCR, UNRWA’s goal is not to resettle the refugees and help them build new lives. UNRWA’s purpose has always been to keep them in place, living in squalid camps that long ago were transformed in concrete cities where they remain waiting for the day when they will “go home” to a Palestine that hasn’t existed for 66 years.

UNRWA: Blurring the Lines between Humanitarianism and Politics by Dr. Rephael Ben-Ari, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, April 2014

UNRWA’s Role in Middle East Peace by Michael Curtis, Gatestone Institute, January 20, 2014

The UNRWA Dilemma by Timon Dias, Gatestone Institute, September 17, 2013

“If the entire Palestinian Authority leadership lives off an international welfare check that only arrives annually because the conflict still exits, there isn’t much incentive for ending the conflict.”

UNRWA: An Obstacle to Peace? by Einat Wilf, Fathom, September 13, 2013

Lessening UNRWA’s Damage by Steven J. Rosen and Daniel Pipes, The Jerusalem Post, July 10, 2012

Over 63 years, it has become an agency that perpetuates the refugee problem rather than contributing to its resolution. [….] Washington should treat UNRWA as a vehicle to deliver social services, nothing more.

Peace vs. UNRWA by Asaf Romirowsky, YNet News, August 27, 2013

Preferential treatment by Yoni Dayan, Ynet News, May 27, 2013 (See also UNRWA’s response, Ynet News)

Disproportionate UNRWA aid to Palestinians comes at the expense of other refugees.

Video (43’14”): UNRWA: Part of the Problem in the Arab-Israeli Conflict, talk by Einat Wilf and Asaf Romirowsky at 2013 AIPAC Policy Conference, March 4, 2013

Special Issue on UNRWA, Middle East Quarterly, Fall 2012

Video: Restructuring UNRWA on the Road to Peace (14’33”), MK Dr. Einat Wilf, March 7, 2012

Peculiar proliferation of Palestine refugees by Daniel Pipes, The Washington Times, February 21, 2012

UNRWA’s staff has taken four major steps over the years to expand the definition of Palestine refugees.

Ending UNRWA and Advancing Peace by Elliott Abrams, Council on Foreign Relations, December 19, 2011

Israel to seek closure of UN refugee aid agency by Shlomo Cesana, Israel Hayom, November 21, 2011

U.N. refugee relief agency UNRWA claims there are almost 5 million Palestinian refugees, while Israel says there are just 250,000 • Israeli officials say organization is an obstacle to peace • MK Einat Wilf: No other refugees in the world are afforded refugee status for generations.

UNRWA’s Anti-Israel Bias by Arlene Kushner, Middle East Quarterly, Summer 2011 [PDF]

UNRWA workers “adamantly opposed” to Holocaust education that will “confuse the thinking” of children by Itamar Marcus, Palestinian Media Watch, April 27, 2011

The Palestinian Proletariat by Michael S. Bernstam, Commentary, December 2010

The chances of achieving peace and security in the Middle East will continue to be remote as long as UNRWA is, in effect, underwriting a self-destructive Palestinian cycle of violence, internecine warfare, and a perpetual war against Israel. [….] If the international community truly wishes to serve the needs of the Palestinians and improve their lot, its first task would be the abolition of UNRWA.

UNRWA: Perpetuating the MiseryHonestReporting.com, December 13, 2009

UNRWA at 60: Are There Better Alternatives? by Nitza Nachmias, Middle East Forum, October 12, 2009

UNRWA Has Backed U.S. Foes for Years, Time to Cut Off Funds by Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, John A. Boeher, Eric Cantor, Mike Pence, and Thaddeus McCotter, Washington Times, March 26, 2009

Roundup: UNRWA’s Ties to Terrorism, Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA), January 22, 2009

Gaza Bedfellows UNRWA and Hamas by Claudia Rosett, Forbes, January 8, 2009

How the U.N. Perpetuates the ‘Refugee’ Problem by Natan Sharansky, The Wall Street Journal, January 6, 2009

Fixing UNRWA: Repairing the UN’s Troubled System of Aid to Palestinian Refugees by James G. Lindsay, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Policy Focus #91, January 2009

Plans for Mideast Peace: U.N. reforms needed for Palestinian refugees by Peter Berkowitz, Washington Times, August 5, 2008

Defund UNRWA by Asaf Romirowsky, Washington Times, May 19, 2008

UNRWA: Barrier to Peace by Jonathan Spyer, The Begin-Sadat (BESA) Center for Strategic Studies, BESA Perspectives, May 27, 2008

UNRWA: Refuge Of Rejectionism by Barry Rubin, Asaf Romirowsky, and Jonathan Spyer, Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center, May 8, 2008

How UNRWA creates dependency by Asaf Romirowsky and Jonathan Spyer, Washington Times, December 3, 2007

How UNRWA Supports Hamas by Asaf Romirowsky, inFocus Volume I Number 2, Fall 2007
“Today, as UNRWA provides assistance in Gaza, it is directly providing financial and material support to the Hamas terrorist organization. [….] UNRWA institutions have not just produced terrorist ideologues. They have also produced terrorist masterminds.”

The UN’s Palestinian Refugee Problem by Arlene Kushner, Azure, Autumn 2005 [pdf]

UNRWA: A Hard Look at an Agency in Trouble by Arlene Kushner, The Center for Near East Policy Research, September 2005 [pdf]

UNRWA: Links to Terrorism by Arlene Kushner, The Center for Near East Policy Research, October 2004