“UNRWA must stop engaging in political, racial, religious or ideological controversies,” UN Watch’s Hillel Neuer demanded.
By: TPS
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, deleted a tweet Monday that glorified a terrorist, with the organization blaming “brief, unauthorized access” to its Twitter account for the incident.
UNRWA removed the tweet after a watchdog group protested that it had glorified Ghassan Kanafani as a “famed” Palestinian writer, when in fact he was spokesman and right-hand man to the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist group when it orchestrated the Lod Airport Massacre in 1972, killing 26 and injuring 80.
“There has been a brief, unauthorized access to UNRWA’s twitter account,” the agency tweeted. “Measures are in place to prevent a re-occurrence. UNRWA is in the process of changing the password for its Twitter account.”
In response, Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva-based non-governmental organization UN Watch said, “I hope that UNRWA’s removal of its shameful tweet indicates its recognition that it is inappropriate for a supposed UN humanitarian agency to be pronouncing itself on political controversies, let alone celebrating a terrorist involved in mass murder.”
“UNRWA receives massive financial and political support from Britain, Germany, Sweden, the EU and Canada, and they each bear responsibility; it’s time for those governments to demand basic accountability.”
“We remind UNRWA that support for terrorism constitutes a gross violation of the UN Charter as well as UNRWA’s own internal policies concerning neutrality and impartiality, including with respect to public pronouncements.”
“I’m concerned that today’s tweet reflects systemic radicalism within UNRWA that adversely reflects on the agency’s integrity, independence and impartiality.”
“As we have documented in numerous reports, UNRWA has a pattern and practice of employing teachers who glorify Jihadist anti-Semitism and anti-Israel terrorism, amounting to a gross violation of its duty of neutrality. UNRWA must stop engaging in political, racial, religious or ideological controversies.”