(Un)humanitarian Organizations Against Israel
A critical examination of how so-called "humanitarian" organizations are entangled with terror groups throughout the Middle East — proving systemic complicity in their opposition to the Jewish state.
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This is a guest essay written by Masha Kleiner, a Canadian Zionist writer.
You can also listen to the podcast version of this essay on Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, YouTube, and Spotify.
I started writing this text on November 21st, the day when the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and former defence minister, Yoav Gallant.
It took me a while to finish writing, but the text is as relevant as ever.
The International Criminal Court’s evidence is confidential, but all allegations revolve around humanitarian law and humanitarian aid, so it is reasonable to assume that the evidence was provided by the humanitarian organizations operating in Gaza.
Coincidentally, on the same date, November 21st, photographs were published showing Pierre Krähenbühl and Hakam Shahwan, the top leadership, at the time, of the “humanitarian” organization UNRWA (the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees), at a friendly meeting with at least seven leaders of five terrorist organizations — Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Fatah, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in 2017.
UNRWA has long been criticized for being too cozy with terrorists. A detailed report by the NGO UN Watch lists a hundred of UNRWA employees who are also Hamas members, including a school principal and social workers. For years, UN Watch has been showcasing UNRWA textbooks that teach killing Jews. UNRWA operates schools in Gaza, and therefore most Hamas terrorists attended these schools.
After October 7th, UN Watch provided information about dozens of UNRWA employees who directly participated in the massacre. In a Hamas video, an identified UNRWA employee is seen dragging the body of a murdered Israeli into a car trunk. The body is still held in Gaza. UN Watch exposed profiles of UNRWA teachers celebrating October 7th in a 3,000-member UNRWA staff Telegram channel.
UNRWA, backed into a corner, fired nine employees in August of this year.
Of course, UNRWA has been operating in Gaza for many decades. Prior to the war, it was estimated that out of the 2 million Gaza population, roughly 40,000 were Hamas fighters. Odds are that among the 13,000 UNRWA employees, anyone who is not a Hamas member themselves has a brother, husband, father, or son who is a terrorist, but UNRWA hasn’t opened an investigation into the colleagues or relatives of the sacked employees.
To put things in perspective, a few weeks ago, World Central Kitchen fired over 10 percent of its employees in Gaza. World Central Kitchen only began its operations in Gaza last year, and out of the 584 employees hired during this time, 62 are accused of either being or having ties with terrorists.
In an interview, two out of these 62 fired World Central Kitchen workers denied having such ties; the media, predictably, wrote that the accusations were baseless, but World Central Kitchen seems to have taken terrorism allegations seriously. World Central Kitchen seems to be the only humanitarian organization to do so. Unlike World Central Kitchen, UNRWA ignores all evidence and relentlessly accuses Israel of misinformation.
UNRWA is an agency unique in its own ways. First of all, it is the only agency dedicated exclusively to a specific refugee population — the Palestinians. All other refugees in the world (be that Sudanese, Ukrainian, or any other) are all served by one common agency.
Secondly, since its founding in 1949, UNRWA has not resettled a single refugee. Palestinian refugees are the only ones who inherit refugee status endlessly across second, third, fourth, and fifth generations and so on. In other words, Palestinians are the only refugee population whose numbers grow over time.
From the original approximately 700,000 Palestinian refugees, there are now over 9 million, many born in places like London or California. Moreover, these are the most generously funded refugees in the world; ignoring all evidence, all Western countries continue funding UNRWA (except Sweden, which, out of the blue last week, voted to stop funding).
As if his photo smiling and shaking hands with prominent terror leaders wasn’t incriminating enough, Pierre Krähenbühl, then the head of UNRWA, stated that the organization’s primary role wasn’t aid distribution, but rather “to be the historical witness to the injustice that has befallen the Palestinian people.” He referred to the spirit of their partnership as mutual and acknowledged that were the protocols of the meeting to become public, it could result in a loss of the trust of the donor countries and potentially in a loss of funding.
Krähenbühl was the head of UNRWA from 2014 to 2019. He left due to a corruption scandal: while married, he hired his Palestinian girlfriend and misused over a billion dollars. Prior to UNRWA, Krähenbühl had worked for the International Committee of the Red Cross from 2002 to 2014. After leaving UNRWA, he victoriously returned to the International Red Cross the Director-General. Krähenbühl is leading that organization to this day.
A few years ago, when I was still working at Google, I was shocked and upset to learn that one of Google’s ex-senior vice presidents received millions in severance to cover up a sexual harassment case. Doesn’t a drunken sexual harassment incident after a corporate event pale in comparison to a longstanding friendship with terrorists?
The current head of International Red Cross told Hamas leaders, “We are united and no one can separate us,” but a former friend of mine, an International Red Cross employee, was not bothered by this information. In fact, she complained that it pains her to hear me suspect humanitarian workers of cooperating with terrorists. She refused to even look at the uncomfortable materials I tried to present.
We Jews have a difficult history with the International Red Cross: their favorable report on the Nazi death camps, them providing Nazi war criminals with forged documents post-war, them refusing to recognize Magen David Adom (the Israeli equivalent of the Red Cross) until 2006.
Since October 7th, the International Red Cross has deliberately avoided expressing empathy for Israeli victims of Hamas’ aggression; this would be a “political statement” that violates their neutrality. On the other hand, accusing Israel of war crimes in Gaza they consider totally acceptable.
We Jews are, sadly, accustomed to double standards. Last November, I scrolled through the International Red Cross’ Twitter account looking for any mention of the Israeli hostages. I finally came across a post condemning sexual violence — only to discover it was about a woman kidnapped somewhere in South America.
The Twitter account of Doctors Without Borders doesn’t even look like that of a humanitarian group, but rather a Hamas propaganda mouthpiece. Since October 7th, over a third of their total posts are dedicated to the suffering in Gaza; a significant portion of these blame Israel for the suffering, very few posts mention Hamas, and the Israeli hostages are barely ever mentioned.
Throughout October and November 2023, Doctors Without Borders was hysterically tweeting every couple of hours that all hospitals in Gaza will run out of fuel any moment now. The Hanukkah miracle lasted from October through November, and the dwindling fuel supply held up for over a month. Later, this topic faded out, only for the condemnation of Israel to take new forms.
On June 25th, Doctors Without Borders condemned Israel for the death of their employee, Fadi al-Wadiya. Fadi was allegedly killed while riding his bike to work at a clinic. Israel countered, saying that Fadi al-Wadiya was a terrorist organization’s rocket expert.1 Doctors Without Borders continued denying it, until Israel published a photo of Fadi in a Palestinian Islamic Jihad uniform, surrounded by fellow terrorists.
As always, the refutation was quickly forgotten, but the accusation persisted.
Some might suggest that medical workers in Gaza are compelled to cooperate with terrorists and forced to compromise their conscience to save innocent Palestinian children. However, this won’t explain the head of the Red Cross’ office in Montreal, Haythem Abid, continuously violating the neutrality principle by posting Hamas propaganda.2
Contrary to International Red Cross’ code of conduct, Haythem wrote “F*ck neutrality” on his Facebook page and promoted and attended pro-Palestinian, pro-Hamas demonstrations in Montreal.
The complete lack of reaction by either the International Red Cross or Doctors Without Borders to their employees’ proven involvement in or support for terrorism implies that this is not a mistake; it’s the rule.
The examples of cooperation between humanitarian organizations and terrorists aren’t exceptions. They are systemic. The International Red Cross’ director-general is just one case of a common practice: Senior and mid-level management, as well as regular employees, transition back and forth from one humanitarian organization to another. And thus, it is only natural for all these organizations to promote the exact same agenda: an agenda viciously biased against Israel.
The previously mentioned former friend of mine used to work at Doctors Without Borders prior to joining the International Red Cross. Her ex-husband, on the other hand, worked at the Red Cross first and then switched to Doctors Without Borders. I am not bringing this up to settle old scores, nor am I suggesting that every employee of a humanitarian organization is a terrorist. Of course not.
Some simply turn a blind eye after witnessing armed terrorists drag injured hostages through the main entrance of Al-Shifa Hospital on October 7th. Some watch the publicly available hospital’s security videos from October 7th, and turn a blind eye to seeing their colleagues, the medical staff, calmly observing the terrorists dragging the hostages. Others choose not to watch the videos or photos, and remain unaware that their bosses and colleagues are friends with terrorists — or pretend not to know.
After all, doesn’t the goal justify the means? After all, they are saving people’s lives, and if what it takes is turning a blind eye to facts and denying the obvious — they make that choice. It is a cowardly choice. An ostrich-like choice, one that makes everyone complicit in terrorism.
In the photograph of the current International Red Cross director at the meeting with the terrorist organizations’ leaders, there is also another humanitarian, Hakam Shahwan. From 2016 to 2017, he was the UNRWA head in Lebanon. He too, like Pierre Krähenbühl, left due to a corruption scandal.
Currently, Shahwan is suing the UN, asking compensation for his moral suffering. At the same time, he continues serving as a loyal mouthpiece for terrorist propaganda. The UN International Children's Emergency Fund in their statements eagerly quote Shahwan, the guy with ties to Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
The humanitarian organizations not only exchange employees and directors, but they also constantly cite each other in reports and public statements. They refer to one another sequentially, and each new reference adds legitimacy to their pro-terrorist statements.
The UN International Children's Emergency Fund cites UNRWA, UNRWA cites the Red Cross, and both the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders support UNRWA; the current head of International Red Cross, Pierre Krähenbühl, is a former UNRWA executive, and a former International Red Cross employee, Philippe Lazzarini, is now the head of UNRWA.
At UNRWA, Lazzarini continues his predecessor’s legacy and meets with the leaders of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah. The terrorists express gratitude and support for Lazzarini’s actions. Tip of the day: If Hamas and Hezbollah leaders praise you, you are likely on a wrong path.
Recently, Lazzarini was asked to resolve the controversy involving Fathi al-Sharif, the director of an UNRWA school in Lebanon, who was suspended for organizing a fundraiser for children in Gaza. Only a few months later, after al-Sharif’s elimination in September 2024, it was revealed that he wasn’t only a philanthropist but also the leader of the Lebanese branch of Hamas. The revelation that the head of an UNRWA school was a Hamas leader had no consequences for the UNRWA executive.
The UNRWA directors are appointed by the UN Secretary-General, the infamous António “October 7th didn’t happen in a vacuum” Guterres. Volumes could be written about the UN’s hostility toward Israel, but I will only briefly mention the famous photograph of a young Guterres with the father of Palestinian terrorism, Yasser Arafat, and Khalil al-Wazir, known as Abu Jihad, the founder of the terrorist organization Fatah. Arafat and Abu Jihad are long dead, and Guterres continues to carry the torch.
Also at the UN, not long ago, the Islamic Regime of Iran, the very same regime that casually tortures and executes its own people, presided over the UN Human Rights Council.
This likely explains the complete indifference of the UN and other humanitarian organizations to Hamas members torturing their own Palestinian compatriots; recently, the IDF uncovered hundreds of hours of video footage from Gaza’s prisons. Hamas doesn’t only torture the suspected collaborators with Israel; suspected thieves and homosexuals receive the same treatment, and a few UNRWA employees were identified among the torturers.
None of this is new or surprising. Back in 2015, Amnesty International had a lapse in judgment and published an investigation about Hamas torturing and killing Palestinians inside the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza.
No one in their right mind would assume that Hamas suddenly stopped torturing and killing Palestinians after 2015, but by 2023, Amnesty International was hit by amnesia and shifted its focus entirely to vilifying Israel. For example, in April 2024, they published an article with the headline: “Death in custody of Walid Daqqa is cruel reminder of Israel’s disregard for Palestinians’ right to life.”
No, Walid Daqqa was not murdered; he passed away from cancer after serving 40 years of a life sentence in the Israeli prison. During these years he received college education, wrote a few books, got married and conceived a daughter with his sperm smuggled out of prison. No, he wasn’t sentenced unjustly either. In 1984 he abducted, brutally tortured, and murdered a young Israeli soldier. How would Amnesty International recommend treating someone like Daqqa?
In December of this year, Amnesty International released a report accusing Israel of committing a genocide in Gaza. That’s what is stated in the headline, and only a very meticulous reader, who reaches page 101 out of 296, will discover that the researchers were unable to establish “intent” — a key factor in the definition of the term “genocide.” The researchers lamented that the existing definition of the word “genocide” was too narrow and too restrictive, so they decided to — wait for it — expand it!
This creative approach to law was well received by the Irish government. They proposed that the International Court of Justice change the definition of the word “genocide” too, for smooth and swift conviction of Israel. As the Russian saying goes: “Where you hit, that’s where the goal was. What has been accomplished was the plan all along.”
Whatever Israel does, it will be called “genocide.”
In the famous fable, “The Wolf and the Lamb” written by Ivan Krylov3, the wolf tells the lamb: “You're guilty only of making me hungry.” The lesson to us all — and the key difference — is that, in the fable, the wolf has the upper hand.
“IDF: Slain Gazan named as Doctors Without Borders staffer was Islamic Jihad rocket maker.” Times of Israel.
“Red Cross official exposed as Hamas stooge.” Heritage Florida Jewish News.
Russia’s best-known fabulist
An idea for the Trump administration would be to remove 'charity tax status' from all these organisations, stating publicly the many reasons why. This would open up a public conversation about what useful worth they actually do, how they're compromised and by who. NGOs should be treated similarly - if your charitable status is because you are a 'woman's rights' or protecting women from sexual assault yet you didn't condemn October 7 2023 you should lose it. Plus Directors should be penalised from being Directors for a long time. It's a rare opportunity starting soon!
Without UNRWA it would not have been possible to distribute UN, EU and national financial and humanitarian aid to terrorists, only God knows how many weapons and ammunition ended up in Gaza in those shipments. If someone is to blame, the UN has blessed all of this.