GENEVA, 25 June 2024 — UNRWA commissioner general Philippe Lazzarini must fire Fathi al-Sharif, President of the UNRWA Teachers Union in Lebanon, and principal of the large Deir Yassin school, on account of his being an open promoter of Hamas terrorism, said UN Watch today.
A new report by the Geneva-based non-governmental watchdog group documents over a decade of overt promotion of Hamas terrorism by al-Sharif. Facebook posts by al-Sharif since 2013 show him repeatedly praising Hamas terrorist attacks, glorifying terrorist leaders, and participating at Hamas events celebrating terrorism. The photos are astonishing, because his activities would have been known to hundreds of his UNRWA colleagues for over a decade.
In March, as reported by Reuters and Palestinian media in Lebanon, Lazzarini suspended al-Sharif, and UNRWA requested him to resign — which conveniently would have allowed al-Sharif to leave without any censure and to collect a pension. Notably, the PLO did not object, and has said nothing to defend al-Sharif.
By contrast, the Alliance of Palestinian Forces, which includes Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the other rejectionist factions, mobilized mass protests that shut down UNRWA operations in Lebanon for the past few months.
Lazzarini flew to Lebanon a few weeks ago and successfully negotiated an end to the al-Sharif protests on June 3, 2024.
Palestinian Refugees Portal reported that in order to end the shutdown, Lazzarini had agreed—in a meeting with the alliance of terrorist factions—to reinstate al-Sharif. Lazzarini later denied that.
At yesterday’s UNRWA meeting in the Palais, UN Watch handed its new report about al-Sharif to the UNRWA Secretary who said she would give it to Lazzarini. She asked UN Watch not to distribute the report to the delegates from member states at the meeting.
It is outrageous that Lazzarini is refusing to fire al-Sharif. Saying that the matter is “under investigation” is unacceptable. The world can see voluminous photos and posts in the public domain showing al-Sharif promoting Hamas terrorism — and this was well known to many at UNRWA for over a decade.
Talk of implementing the Colonna Report’s recommendations and of mechanisms are hollow if Lazzarini will not fire this overt supporter of terrorism, who has been brainwashing generations of Palestinian students to celebrate terrorism.
