Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid lambasted the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) on Tuesday, following the organization’s condemnation of the recent demolitions of the homes of two terrorists responsible for a deadly stabbing attack last December.
“UNRWA Spokesperson Chris Gunness harshly criticized our decision to demolish the homes of two terrorists who last December stabbed two Israelis to death at the Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem,” Lapid wrote on Facebook.
“I have one question for Mr. Gunness: What’s it got to do with you? Actually I have another one: Who asked you?”
“UNRWA is the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees. Its role is clear. It is meant to help Palestinians find work and if they can’t find work then to assist them with food and medication.
That’s it. It doesn’t have another role. There is nothing in UNRWA’s mandate which justifies intervention in security matters. There is nothing in Chris Gunness’ past which qualifies him to give us advice on how to protect ourselves.”
Lapid then launched into a more general criticism of the UN agency, noting the special treatment Palestinians received, above and beyond what millions of other refugees from around the globe are given.
“[W]hy is it that only the Palestinians have a refugee agency of their own? What do they deserve that the 21.5 million refugees from Tibet, Darfur, Syria, Iraq and elsewhere don’t?”
The Yesh Atid leader also pointed out the UNRWA’s conspicuous employment of Hamas members, and support for anti-Israel incitement, noting that the State of Israel is not featured on UNRWA maps.
“Why doesn’t the State of Israel appear on maps in UNRWA schools?”
“Why is it that among the 23,000 UNRWA employees are there so many Hamas people (I didn’t say that Chris – as you know the Secretary General of your organization said so himself)?”
“If you condemn violence, why were you silent when it became clear that an UNRWA building was used as a hiding place for a terror tunnel used to kill three Israeli soldiers?”
Lapid then noted America’s financial support for UNRWA, asking whether Americans were aware “that your taxpayer dollars fund over a hundred million dollars a year of this insanity?”
