Ibrahim Merie, Sharif’s replacement as head of the UNRWA Lebanon Teachers Union, is an UNRWA school principal at Ramallah Elementary School in Beirut. He was suspended by UNRWA on October 5, 2024. Merie has been employed by UNRWA since at least 2014. Merie’s neutrality violations include the following:
- Praised Sharif as an “example and role model” after Sharif’s position as head of Hamas in Lebanon was already public.
- On behalf of the Teachers Union, Merie vowed to continue in Sharif’s footsteps by teaching “generations who cheer for the cause.”
- Merie proclaimed his love and admiration for Hamas Head of Military Operations in Lebanon Samir Fandi, describing him as a personal friend.
- Promoted an antisemitic book advancing conspiracy theories about Jews secretly controlling the world and claiming that Jews started World War I and World War II for global domination.
- As far back as 2015, Merie referred to Jews on Twitter using the derogatory Islamic phrase “descendants of apes and pigs.”
Merie appears in a photo of the UNRWA Lebanon Teachers Union in front of an UNRWA field office in Lebanon in October 2022.
In September 2022, Merie met with UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini on behalf of the Teachers Union.
Ibrahim Merie Praises UNRWA Colleague and Hamas Lebanon Head Fateh Sharif
Instead of denouncing Sharif after he was killed in a targeted Israeli airstrike, and his position as the Hamas leader in Lebanon was widely publicized, Merie fully embraced him. Even worse, Merie made clear his intention to continue Sharif’s legacy of inundating UNRWA schools with Hamas ideology. The day Sharif was killed, Merie posted the following eulogy on Facebook on behalf of the UNRWA Teachers Union pledging to continue in his footsteps to teach “generations who cheered for the cause” and venerating Sharif as a “possessor of lofty morals” and a “martyred hero.” Translated excerpts from the eulogy are below:
On behalf of the Teachers Union in Lebanon, on behalf of UNRWA teachers in Lebanon, and on behalf of all our heroic and steadfast Palestinian people…we announce to the masses of our Arab and Islamic nation the passing of the head of the Teachers Union in Lebanon, the hands-off leader, the humble fighter, the possessor of lofty morals, the faithful, pure, virtuous, heroic, and honorable educator and unionist, Abu Al-Amin Fateh Sharif, who was martyred…
He was the faithful educator who raised generations who cheered for the cause…
We, in the Lebanese Teachers Union, pledge to our martyred hero, the leader Abu Al-Amin, that we will stand by our pledge and promise, see his mission through and follow in his footsteps…
A few weeks later, Merie again praised “our dear martyr” Sharif on Facebook on behalf of the Teachers Union, describing him as an “example and role model.”
Ibrahim Merie Lauds Hamas and its Leaders
On August 1, 2024, just after Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated, Merie posted a video of Haniyeh speaking at a June 2022 Hamas rally in Sidon, Lebanon where Sharif had been seated in the front row among the Hamas leadership. Merie’s post accompanying the video eulogized Haniyeh as “master of the Palestinian cause” and a “beloved of the heart.”
In a January 3, 2024 post eulogizing Hamas Head of Military Operations in Lebanon Samir Fandi who was killed in an Israeli strike, Merie proclaims his love and admiration for Fandi, making it clear that the two were extremely close on a personal level.
Partial Translation:
A passion for men!!…
Abu Amer, you were well both alive and martyred. Your departure was one of the most difficult moments of my life, but what gives us patience is that you fulfilled what you wished for and what you always talked about… Peace be upon you and your companions to a paradise as wide as the heavens and the earth… This is some of Abu Amer’s human life. As for jihad , it has its own people who can talk about it a lot and a lot, and it is enough that your absence cannot be compensated by men.
In another post that day, Merie further elaborated on his close personal relationship with this Hamas military leader, describing their last meeting together. At the same time, Merie congratulated Fandi on his “martyrdom” and called him the “bravest of the brave.”
Partial Translation:
Our last meeting was weeks ago, and when we said goodbye, I kissed your head and entrusted you to God and took you to your car and told you “May God protect you.” I had a feeling that it was our last meeting…
Congratulations on your martyrdom, O martyr of Jerusalem and Palestine… O master of men, O courageous one, O bravest of the brave… May your shrine/resting [in paradise] be with the prophets and the righteous, O man of Palestine, Abu Amer, you are a man the size of a nation.
On January 5, 2024, Merie posted photos of a young girl dressed in a Hamas uniform and holding up a photo of Samir Fandi, at some kind of commemorative event. The photo is captioned “Following in your footsteps, father, we march on,” suggesting that the girl will follow in Fandi’s terrorist footsteps. The photo shows how Merie promotes children admiring and emulating terrorists like Fandi.
Ibrahim Merie Promotes Antisemitism
In a 2020 post, Merie encouraged his followers to read a book advancing antisemitic conspiracy theories about Jews controlling the world through hidden, malicious methods, and claiming that Jews started World War I and World War II as part of a plan to achieve global domination.
In addition, as far back as 2015 Merie was referring to Jews on Twitter as “descendants of Apes,” an antisemitic phrase associated with the Quran.
