Lawsuit filed in NY shows UNRWA intentionally reduced aid to Gaza residents to fund terror
New York, NY – Victims of the October 7 terrorist attacks filed a lawsuit today in U.S. Federal Court that documents over a decade of alleged fraud and corruption in aid to Gaza distributed through the United Nations UNRWA program.
The lawsuit provides graphic details of how UNRWA led a billion-dollar money laundering operation that funded Hamas - greatly reducing humanitarian aid provided to Gaza residents and playing a key role in the October 7 attack.
The lawsuit illustrates the importance of shifting Gaza aid oversight to the UNHCR or other national/NGO partners.
“The findings in this lawsuit demonstrate that UNRWA was aware of and actively participated in the diversion of funds earmarked to support the people of Gaza into channels that ensured those funds were used for terrorism and in violation of international law,” said Bijan Amini, one of the lead lawyers in the case. “UNRWA’s insistence that over a billion dollars in Gaza aid be distributed in US cash that locals could not spend without going through Hamas moneychangers is one of the most damning pieces of new evidence presented in this case.”
Rather than making aid payments in local currency, UNRWA insisted on making aid payments in US dollars, a currency Gaza residents could not use. This was a unique practice in Gaza, not consistent with aid to the West Bank, Jordan, or other UN refugee programs. Along with the cost and risk of trucking $20 million-a-month in cash into Gaza, this scheme required aid recipients to pay Hamas moneychangers 10-20% fees to convert their dollars into shekels.
This payment scheme reduced the real value of aid to Gaza residents by $2-4 million per month, and increased Hamas’ monthly revenue by that amount. Perhaps more significantly, it ensured a reliable supply of US dollar currency into Hamas’ control each month, which was necessary to pay smugglers and arms dealers who do not accept shekels as payment.
“There is no pain in the world that compares to burying your children and grandchildren who were murdered and suffocated in their own home,” said Gadi and Reuma Kadem, whose children and grandchildren were killed in the 7 October attacks and who suffered further for their subsequent opposition to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “All that is left is to fight to hold all those responsible for strengthening Hamas to account. UNRWA transferred funds and financed the murders, acting as a full partner in the growth of Hamas terrorists. All funders of Hamas - UNRWA and its directors are major players - are fully complicit in the murder of my children and family.”
Hamas – a known terrorist organization whose charter claims peace would only be possible when Israel is destroyed – openly controlled 24 of 26 leadership positions in the UNRWA employee union. UNRWA facilities and schools were used to store weapons and as entry points and supply for Hamas tunnels and bunkers. Hamas’ command and control center for the October 7 attack was located directly beneath UNRWA’s headquarters in Gaza City, and used power and servers from that facility to coordinate terrorist movements during the attack. At least 10% of UNRWA employees were members of Hamas and over 100 were proven to have taken part in the October 7 attack.
“The terrorist who held me hostage for 53 days worked as a school teacher for UNRWA,” said Ditza Hieman. “The fact that Hamas controlled Gaza was not an excuse for UNRWA to hire and fund terrorists, but instead should have ensured UNRWA took extra precautions. UNRWA knew it was hiring terrorists and that its funds and facilities were being used for violence, but UNRWA’s complicity in paying and empowering terrorists to teach and radicalize a generation of Gaza’s children was perhaps even more evil and tragic.”
UNRWA was fully aware of how completely Hamas dominated all levels of UNRWA’s educational system. But even after reports highlighting abuse and alarm by the US, UN, and EU and the freezing of assets by the EU, UNRWA continued to print textbooks with the UN seal that taught little children grammar by having them write, “I will commit jihad to liberate the homeland” and “nourish the homeland with [my] blood.” UNRWA textbooks taught Gaza’s children to count by counting the martyrs killed in the 2014 Intifada.
“The horrors I witnessed on October 7 are only possible through an extended and pervasive poisoning of the soul of a people. Humans are not capable of that scale and depth of cruelty on their own,” said Talia Biner, who witnessed and testified to some of the most horrific rapes and mutilations that occurred on October 7. “UNRWA’s complicity in October 7 goes far beyond providing the material means for Hamas to carry out this attack. UNRWA provided Hamas with a generation of children and the social controls necessary to breed the evil that I witnessed and so many suffered that day and since.”
UNRWA’s operational costs and staff size per-refugee-served are nearly 10x that of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, further exacerbating the waste and abuse of aid meant for Gaza residents and facilitating funding and support for Hamas militants. The UN operates in complicated political environments around the world, which do not justify funding or paying bribes to terrorists.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of 101 plaintiffs in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against UNRWA and seven named Commissioner-Generals, Deputy Commissioner-Generals, and Director who oversaw the illegal schemes and were based in NY.
Contact: Steve Rabinowitz steve@bluelightstrategies.com +1-202-494-7655
Read an outline of key findings and the full complaint: mm-law.com/unrwa-lawsuit