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Speaking at the 63rd Session of the UN Human Rights Council during a panel on human rights education, Neta Heiman Mina, daughter of 84-year-old former hostage Ditza Heiman, delivered a joint statement on behalf of UN Watch directly confronting the United Nations over its continued funding and defense of UNRWA. After her mother was held hostage for 48 days in the attic of an UNRWA teacher following the October 7, 2023 terrorist attack on Kibbutz Nir Oz, Mina’s testimony exposed the stark contradiction between the UN’s stated commitment to human rights education and the documented complicity of the UN’s own education personnel in terrorism and hostage-taking. Her intervention highlights the urgent necessity for international bodies and global donors to hold UNRWA accountable, urging the UN to seek uncompromised alternatives that guarantee education, healthcare, and food security for Gaza’s children without entrusting their future to individuals tied to extremist violence.
Transcript:
My name is Neta Heiman Mina. On October 7th, my mother, Ditza, was 84 years old when she was kidnapped from her home in Kibbutz Nir Oz by Hamas terrorists.
For 48 days, an UNRWA teacher, Abed, kept her trapped in his attic in terrible conditions with very little food. I ask the United Nations: how could you place the education of Gaza’s next generation with someone involved in holding an elderly woman hostage?
My mother wasn’t the only one. We know of other UNRWA employees connected to the massacre and kidnappings of October 7th. Why did UNRWA allow Suhail al-Hindi to be in charge of 8,000 teachers in Gaza while he was a member of Hamas? If the UN truly cares about human rights and education, how can it allow an agency compromised by terrorism to shape the future of Palestinian children?
I believe the vacuum must be filled. The UN and the Board of Peace must find alternatives to provide Gaza’s children with healthcare, education, and food security. As an activist with Women Wage Peace, I believe Israel should support this effort. It is the moral and the Jewish thing to do. When the people of Gaza have a better life, our future will be better too.
