More than 100 victims of Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre filed a lawsuit
in U.S. federal court today, alleging that a scandal-plagued U.N.
agency has led a long-standing money-laundering operation to the
financial benefit of the terror group.
The suit, filed in the District Court for
the Southern District of New York, names as defendants the U.N. Relief
and Works Agency (UNRWA) and seven commissioners-general, deputy
commissioners-general and a director, accusing them of participating in a
decade-plus scheme of fraud and corruption.
“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 in a
statement. “All that is left is to fight to hold those responsible for
strengthening Hamas to account. UNRWA strengthened Hamas and transferred
funds and financed the murders, acting as a full partner in the growth
of Hamas terrorists. UNRWA and its directors are fully complicit in the
murder of my children and family. ”
UNRWA, the Palestinian-only aid and social
services agency, has long been accused of fomenting the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict through its unique treatment and
perpetuation of the Palestinian refugee situation, incitement to
violence in its schools and its employees’ ties to terror organizations.
“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
U.S. 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.”
The lawsuit accuses UNRWA of insisting
that aid payments in Gaza be made in U.S. dollars rather than Israeli
shekels, which is the local currency. The suit claims this practice is
unique to Gaza, and did not apply to aid payments made to other
Palestinians benefiting from UNRWA, including those in Judea and Samaria
or Jordan. Nor, the suit says, does it apply to refugees in any other
U.N. program, all of whom are handled outside the Palestinian sector by
the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Asked by JNS about the accuracy of the
claim, an UNRWA spokeswoman said on Sunday morning that she did not have
the information needed, but would check.
The dollar-based payments, the suit says,
require aid recipients to use Hamas’s moneychangers to convert them into
usable shekels, diverting fees of 10% to 20% into Hamas’s coffers.
“This payment scheme reduced the real
value of aid to Gaza residents by $2 million to 4 million per month and
increased Hamas’s monthly revenue by that amount. Perhaps more
significantly, it ensured a reliable supply of U.S. dollar currency into
Hamas’s control each month, which was necessary to pay smugglers and
arms dealers who do not accept shekels as payment,” read a statement
announcing the lawsuit.
The lawsuit further alleges that Hamas
“openly controlled 24 of 26 leadership positions in the UNRWA employee
union,” and repeats Israeli government accusations that at least 10% of
UNRWA employees were members of Hamas and more than 100 participated in
the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks.
“UNRWA facilities and schools were used to
store weapons and as entry points and supply for Hamas tunnels and
bunkers. Hamas’s command and control center for the Oct. 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,” reads the statement.
While 16 countries suspended funding to
UNRWA after the allegations surfaced of employee participation in the
Oct. 7 massacre, all but the United States, United Kingdom and New
Zealand have since restored donations. The Israeli government has been
largely uncooperative with and distrustful of the United Nations’
requests for additional information and evidence.
One of the three named plaintiffs in the
lawsuit is Ditza Heiman, an 84-year-old grandmother taken captive from
Kibbutz Nir Oz and released on Nov. 28 as part of a ceasefire and
hostage/security prisoner exchange.
For the first time, Heiman’s name has been revealed as the elderly hostage who says she was held captive by an UNRWA teacher.
“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,” Heiman said in the statement
announcing the lawsuit. “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.”
The previously unnamed Heiman and her
family had told media, under the condition of anonymity, that she was
held alone by a father of 10 in the mouse-infested, unfinished attic of
his house.
After her meals were whittled down to one
small ration a day, the UNRWA teacher, according to a media report,
started bringing Heiman UNRWA-branded energy bars and later delivered to
her an UNRWA-branded notepad for writing.
According to Heiman, she learned of the
man’s profession and employer from his daughter, who spoke English, on
her final day in captivity.
Critics of UNRWA say a recent review of
the agency’s neutrality and hiring practices was largely a
pre-determined whitewash conducted by organizations that had already
absolved UNRWA of accountability.
A separate U.N. investigation into UNRWA
staffers’ participation in the event on Oct. 7 is ongoing, and the
United Nations has not provided any information on its progress or
findings thus far.
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