‘Reckless’: cash tap back on for UN aid group
Labor’s decision to resume funding to an aid group with ties to Hamas is ‘reckless and irresponsible’, Jewish and political leaders warn.
Labor’s decision to resume funding to a controversial UN aid group with ties to terrorist group Hamas is “reckless and irresponsible”, and potentially out of step with the White House, Jewish leaders and political figures have warned.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong on Friday said that the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees would resume receiving $6m a year, despite an investigation of its staff’s involvement in the October 7 massacre of Israeli civilians not having been finalised.
UNRWA has been under scrutiny over allegations that a dozen employers were involved in the October attacks and that other workers celebrated the killings – the largest-scale attacks on Jews since the Holocaust – and that the Israel Defence Forces said it found an alleged military intelligence hub beneath its Gazan headquarters.
Labor Friends of Israel co-convener and ex-ALP minister Mike Kelly warned the government must act if the UN’s investigations found wrongdoing, and questioned if it was acting out of step with the US.
But Senator Wong on Friday said UNRWA “was not a terrorist organisation” and that funding needed to resume to save Palestinian lives.
Dr Kelly said that he hoped UNRWA’s assurances to the government were kept.
“Is Australia being reassured by US intelligence agencies and government about stepping forward like this – have they been reassured by the US,” he asked.
“I would say it’s fine if we’re doing this on the advice and interaction with US government, personnel and intelligence agencies. If not, that would certainly give rise to concern because they obviously are very important partners in this and we need to remain in lock-step internationally in how we approach this crisis.”
It is understood Australia was among the donors that were briefed on the interim report from the UN’s Office of Internal Oversight Services investigation into the allegations.
However, Dr Kelly said Senator Wong’s language indicated Australia had been given “assurances around accountability for funding”, which he had been calling for after the revelations about UNRWA staff came to light.
Greens, Labor backbenchers and Muslim leaders welcomed the funding move, saying the situation in Gaza had been exacerbated by its suspension.
Funding flows would be contingent on “stringent conditions” being met, including guarantees on staff neutrality and “confidence in supply chains”.
Senator Wong said the move was prompted by the need to deliver aid to Gazans amid a worsening famine and due to “detailed advice” from Australian agencies on UNRWA, who had also committed to safeguarding measures.
“Australia has been working with a group of donor countries and with UNRWA on the shared objective of ensuring the integrity of UNRWA’s operations, rebuilding confidence and so importantly ensuring aid flows to Gazans in desperate need,” she said.
Australia’s peak Jewish body slammed the move and said that the agency was intrinsically connected to Hamas.
“Our community favours the provision of aid to civilians in Gaza who are in desperate need, but we are totally opposed to the use of UNRWA as an agency for delivering that aid,” Executive Council of Australian Jewry president Daniel Aghion said, adding that “no level of external control” would be able to prevent aid being “commandeered at the expense of Gazan civilians”.
The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council’s executive director, Colin Rubenstein, said: “Funding for Palestinians must of course be supplied urgently, but this can and should have been done through alternative agencies to UNRWA,” he said.
Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham said the government had jumped the gun by seemingly acting “without and ahead of the US”, and before the conclusion of the investigations.
Strategic Analysis Australia founder Michael Shoebridge was critical of the government moving before “a proper answer” had been provided to the question of whether UNRWA staff were involved in the October 7 attacks.
Muslim leaders said reinstatement was welcomed but too late.
“The funding should never have been stopped in the first place,” Muslim community leader Dr Jamal Rifi said.
“And now (in the interim) the situation and famine is catastrophic.”
Additional reporting: Lily McCaffrey
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