Mainstream news outlets rely on the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency's officials in Gaza for critical coverage of Israel's war against Hamas. But that may be complicated by allegations that the agency is staffed by Gazan terrorists and their family members.
It wouldn't be the first time the media have treated thinly-veiled Hamas proxies as reliable sources.
The United States and other countries suspended funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) this week after Israel provided intelligence indicating that about 10 percent of the Gaza staff, including about a quarter of the men, belong to Palestinian terror groups and nearly half have close relatives who do. At least 13 UNRWA workers participated in Hamas's Oct. 7 massacre in southern Israel, which started the war, according to the Israeli government.
The United Nations said an investigation of UNRWA was underway, but officials decried the defunding of the agency, which they suggested was too important to fail. It is "immensely irresponsible to sanction an agency and an entire community it serves because of allegations of criminal acts against some individuals," UNRWA commissioner general Philippe Lazzarini said on Saturday.
Israeli government spokesman Eylon Levy countered on Tuesday that UNRWA could be replaced by any of "the same aid agencies that distribute aid in every other conflict on planet earth."
"UNRWA is a front for Hamas," Levy said, laying out growing evidence that the agency hires terrorists "on a massive scale," lets Hamas use its infrastructure for "military activity," and relies on the Islamist Palestinian terror government for aid distribution in Gaza.
There have been many red flags about UNRWA over the years. But news outlets have generally seen UNRWA as it wants to be seen: The brave voice of an oppressed people.
‘We’re losing an inner sense of humanity": UNRWA director who has family sheltering in Gaza. Watch here: https://t.co/Rq6HmGcONc
— The ReidOut (@thereidout) October 26, 2023
UNRWA’s Juliette Touma: ‘Gaza is being pushed into the abyss’ during ‘exodus’ from northern Gaza @MSNBC @JulietteTouma https://t.co/t4mVI52Wcw
— Andrea Mitchell (@mitchellreports) October 13, 2023
NBC News, Dec. 30: "Israeli Soldiers Fired at Aid Convoy, UNRWA Chief Says":
"Our international convoy leader and his team were not injured but one vehicle sustained damage," [UNRWA director Thomas White] said. "Aid workers should never be a target," he added.
New York Times, Dec. 29: "UN Says Israeli Forces Fired on Aid Convoy in Central Gaza":
No one in the convoy was injured, the officials said, but the episode highlighted the severe challenges facing humanitarian efforts to help Palestinians struggling to survive amid Israel’s nearly 12-week bombardment of the enclave.
Associated Press, Dec. 6: "Senior UN Official Denounces ‘Blatant Disregard’ in Israel-Hamas War After Many UN Sites Are Hit":
"There is absolutely no safe place in the Gaza Strip," Lazzarini said, speaking to the AP in Beirut.
While the circumstances of those strikes are difficult to investigate amid the ongoing conflict, he said, "I do believe that the blatant disregard of U.N. premises … will require an independent investigation in the future."
Reuters, Nov. 16: "UN Palestinian Agency Says Gaza Operations Being Deliberately Strangled"
The head of the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency said on Thursday he believed there was a deliberate attempt to "strangle" its humanitarian work in Gaza, warning that the agency may have to entirely suspend its operations due to a lack of fuel.
CNN, Nov. 11: "'The Gaza Strip Is Being Strangled by the Siege', Says UNRWA Chief":
[Anchor Christiane Amanpour:] I mean, how do you categorize this then? Is it accidental? Is it a war crime? Is it deliberately not distinguishing between civilians and Hamas fighters?
[Lazzarini:] Listen, according to international humanitarian law, there is a criteria of proportionality and also of distinction. When I was briefing this week the Security Council, I said, the number of people being killed so far is so staggering that this cannot be collateral anymore."
Washington Post, Nov. 11: "GOP Targets Gaza’s Biggest Relief Group, Clashing With the White House":
Top congressional Republicans are pushing to reject new funding for Gaza’s biggest humanitarian relief operation, citing its alleged ties to Hamas even as the aid organization begs for help responding to the mounting bloodshed in the Palestinian territory. ...
In a statement, the White House said there are no known instances of U.S. aid for UNRWA being diverted to Hamas or any other sanctioned group in Gaza or the West Bank in recent years.
When President Donald Trump cut funding to UNRWA in 2018, the coverage was filled with experts decrying the "capricious" and "heartless" decision.
New York Times, Aug. 31, 2018: "US To End Funding to UN Agency That Helps Palestinian Refugees":
"What we’re seeing right now is a capricious move that has a very high risk of unsettling the region," [former United States Agency for International Development official, R. David] Harden said, noting that the relief agency supported about 5 million refugees across the Middle East.
Nicholas Burns, a Harvard Kennedy School professor and a former senior United States diplomat who has worked on the Palestinian issue, called the change "heartless and unwise" and a reflection of "the most one-sided U.S. policy since 1948," when President Truman recognized the newly established state of Israel.
"The Trump Administration’s decision to end U.S. assistance to Palestinian refugees is wrong on every level," Mr. Burns said on Twitter. "It will harm innocent people, particularly young Palestinians."
CNN, Feb. 12, 2018: "A Palestinian High School Threatened by Trump Funding Cuts":
"It’s a violation of our human rights, which America claims to teach us," 11th grader Sally Sabah tells CNN’s Ben Wedeman.
NPR, Feb. 8, 2018: "'Half a Million Children' Are at Risk if the US Cuts Palestinian Aid: UN Agency":
New York Times, Jan. 16, 2018: "US Withholds $65 Million From UN Relief Agency for Palestinians":
Tuesday’s announced cut alarmed United Nations officials and aid groups that regard the United Nations Relief and Works Agency as a critical pillar of well-being for Palestinian refugees in the West Bank and Gaza and in neighboring countries.
The Norwegian Refugee Council, which works in more than 30 countries, urged the Trump administration to reconsider, saying that the funding reduction will have "devastating consequences for vulnerable Palestinian refugees across the Middle East."
At the United Nations, Secretary General António Guterres said he was "very concerned" about any cuts to the agency.
It's not just UNRWA. The media have a record of failing to recognize that their favorite sources in Gaza are terrorists or at least supporters of terrorism—from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry to the experts and reporters they employ in the territory.
Former Associated Press correspondent Matti Friedman argued in a 2014 essay for Tablet that many journalists are willing hostages of the terrorists.
The fact is that Hamas intimidation is largely beside the point because the actions of Palestinians are beside the point: Most reporters in Gaza believe their job is to document violence directed by Israel at Palestinian civilians. That is the essence of the Israel story. In addition, reporters are under deadline and often at risk, and many don’t speak the language and have only the most tenuous grip on what is going on. They are dependent on Palestinian colleagues and fixers who either fear Hamas, support Hamas, or both. Reporters don’t need Hamas enforcers to shoo them away from facts that muddy the simple story they have been sent to tell.