ISRAEL WITHHELD SOME OF THE EVIDENCE ON UNRWA'S COMPLICITY IN THE OCTOBER 7 MASSACRE

Exclusive: Israel chose to withhold information on complicity of UNRWA for fear of 'chaos'

It is unclear who in the Israeli political system decided to refrain from publishing the entirety of the damning evidence.

 

By Ariel Kahana

 

Israel Hayom

Jan 28, 2024 

 

This picture taken from Rafah shows smoke billowing over Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip during Israeli bombardment on 17 January 2024

 

Israel has been holding on to a trove of information about UNRWA staffers' complicity in the Oct. 7 attack activity but has so far refrained from publishing it for political reasons, Israel Hayom has learned.

According to three officials well-versed on the matter, Israel had long been privy to the information that led to the Palestinian relief agency's dismissal of 12 employees for participating in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, but it has withheld it. "There was an understanding in the Israeli political establishment that UNRWA in Gaza must be preserved because it was the only functioning body in Gaza, and without it, the chaos would be even greater," they told Israel Hayom.

Israeli officials are still trying to figure out why UNRWA decided to announce only this past weekend that it was dismissing those 12 employees,  as the information about the specific individuals is not new. The Biden administration has also been very much aware of the problematic conduct in the agency. Thus, it is unclear what led the State Department to wait until Friday to announce that it was suspending the funding to the organization.

Officials say that a plausible explanation could be the upcoming hearing on UNRWA's conduct this Tuesday in the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, where even more embarrassing information about UNRWA will likely be exposed, This, they say, could have led the administration to announce the suspension of aid to the agency preemptively.

The Israeli intelligence agencies, the IDF, the Israeli political figures, and Israel's public advocacy organs have been holding on to a lot of very incriminating information about UNRWA. These are detailed reports about the great misconduct of the agency and its people's involvement in terror. This information is currently being hidden from the Israeli and international public in order not to damage the agency's image. However, it is unclear who in the Israeli political system decided to refrain from publishing the full information.