Why do taxpayers fund agency shot through with hate?

The UNRWA is shot through with hate and is an obstacle to peace. So why should another dollar of taxpayer money be given to them to spread more hostility, argues James Morrow.

So the UN-sponsored Gaza “aid” agency, the same one Foreign Minister Penny Wong once praised for its relief works, has fired nine staffers for participating – allegedly – in Hamas’s October 7 atrocities.

Frankly, the only thing that is surprising about this news is that the number was so low.

Anyone who has kept even one eye on Gaza has known that underneath its humanitarian guise, UNRWA and many of its staff have promoted vicious anti-Semitism and cheered on terrorism.

In Gaza’s schools, UNRWA has been caught out time and again distributing textbooks and lesson plans that would not have been out of place in Nazi Germany.

Right wing activists hold signs and flags as they block the entrance to the UNRWA branch during a protest against the organization in Jerusalem. Picture: Getty

Numerous inquiries by watchdog groups and governments have found textbooks praising dead terrorists, encouraging martyrdom, demonizing Israel and the Jews, and teaching that it is glorious to die for Palestine.

It is only fair to ask, how many kids who grew up being fed this poison would later take part in the October 7 attacks – or whoop and cheer as stripped Israeli hostages were dragged through the streets as terrorist prizes?

One report found that in the wake of the attacks, a Telegram channel used by more than 3,000 teachers employed by UNRWA was full of praise for the attacks.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken shakes hands with Autsralian Foreign Minister Penny Wong during a signing ceremony of the memorandum of understanding on Countering Foreign State Information Manipulation and a joint communiqué on the US-Australia Landsat Next 2030 International Partnership Initiative, at the State Department in Washington, DC, on August 5, 2024. (Photo by Ting Shen / AFP)

When he was prime minister, Scott Morrison halved Australia’s UNRWA commitment.

Arguably he should have cut it to zero, but he would have been aware of these concerns and more.

Penny Wong and Anthony Albanese would have access to the same set of facts, but have re-established funding after re-doubling it on taking office.

There is no doubt, after these firings, that UNRWA is shot through with hate and is an obstacle to peace.

Why shoud another dollar of taxpayer money be given to them to spread more hate?