UN Watch comment on Canada’s announcement of $25 million for UNRWA
Above: In April, UN Watch released a new report at the Canadian Parliament, examining the Canadian government’s pledge to ensure “enhanced due diligence” on UNRWA as a condition of renewed funding. The report reveals dozens of cases of UNRWA teachers inciting jihadist terrorism and anti-Semitism online. Read: Report
GENEVA, Aug. 25, 2017 — “UN Watch is gravely concerned that Canada, a world leader in combating racism, is yet again handing UNRWA millions of taxpayer dollars to fund teachers who endorse Hitler and advocate the murder of Jews,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva-based watchdog group.
“Despite a detailed report that I presented at Parliament in April, identifying 60 more UNRWA employees who preach antisemitism and Jihadi terrorism, neither the Trudeau government nor UNRWA has informed us of a single UNRWA teacher who has been fired as a result. This calls into question Canada’s claim, when it announced its original $25 million funding in November, that UNRWA has a policy of ‘zero tolerance.’”
“The government’s new announcement that UNRWA will be hiring a ‘neutrality’ coordinator is of little use so long as UNRWA sends the message that preachers of antisemitic hate and terror are welcome to teach before classrooms of vulnerable children,” said Neuer. “It’s not the Facebook posts that are the problem, it’s having Hitler admirers as teachers.”
The Trudeau government promised that its funding would be accompanied by “enhanced due diligence,” including a “very robust oversight and reporting framework.” Yet evidence of UNRWA’s knowing employment of racists and terrorism supporters has been downplayed or dismissed by Ottawa, as when, in November, Bibeau said that allegations of “neutrality violations” have either been addressed, or are “simply unfounded.” Sadly, the truth is the opposite.
“In April we submitted the evidence of incitement directly to Prime Minister Trudeau (click here for letter), and demanded substantive action to ensure Canada is not funding teachers who advocate antisemitism and terrorism,” said Neuer. “We have yet to receive an answer.”
