March 25, 2024
To the Honourable Norwegian Nobel Committee,
We are deeply angered, disappointed and saddened that MP Asmund Aukrust has chosen to sully the illustrious reputation of the Nobel Foundation by nominating UNRWA for a Nobel Peace prize, for (his words) its “crucial role over the last 70 years and even more so in the last 3 months” [1]. We respectfully ask that you read this letter in its entirety before making your decision. The crucial role that UNRWA has played includes terrorism, fraud, theft, exploitation of children for politically motivated antisemitism, and covering for a known terrorist entity.
Alfred Nobel wrote in his will that a portion of his remaining estate should be used to endow “prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind” [2].
The question that begs to be asked is how exactly has UNRWA conferred the greatest benefit to humankind?
UNRWA: Trojan Horse for Terrorism
As far back as 1952, three years after UNRWA was created, Diplomat David Fritzlan told the U.S. State Department that UNRWA had “failed to accomplish anything in the form of refugee resettlement,” and had made “no effort to make the people independent and remove them from the list of aid recipients.” Moreover, he said that the policy of the Arab League was to frustrate the displaced Arabs for one purpose – to “simply keep the Palestine problem alive in the hope of bringing about the downfall of Israel” [3].
In 1958, when the U.S. and U.K. wanted to defund UNRWA for its failed mission, they were told by Saudi Ambassador Abdullah al Khayyal that if they wanted oil, allegiances, or strategic military intelligence from the Arab world, they would have to keep UNRWA funded [4].
And so began an agency, funded by the world of nations under duress, whose sole purpose was to keep human beings dependent and poor with displaced rage towards Israel and the Jewish People, who have longed to live peacefully alongside their Arab neighbors.
Today, the international community has paid for protection from the Arab world by funding UNRWA to the tune of $1.2 billion a year.
UNRWA and Hamas:
What has UNRWA done with these funds? It has become inextricably tied with the Hamas terrorist organization. As UNRWA’s senior attorney, James Lindsey, stated, UNRWA takes “few steps to detect and eliminate terrorists from the ranks of its staff, and no steps at all to prevent members of terrorist organizations such as Hamas from joining its staff” [5].
UNRWA employs Hamas members [6] and UNRWA employees admit “everyone knew” about the Hamas terror tunnels that caused a parking lot to collapse (in 2014), yet no one reported it [7].
Caches of Hamas weapons were found in UNRWA facilities (e.g., schools), and UNRWA returned missiles to Hamas once the missiles were discovered [8] [9].
A distressed Gazan man summarized the UNRWA-Hamas relationship in this powerful interview that is worth listening to (http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=L71iyWy8JT8) [10].
UNRWA Weaponizes Palestinian Children:
UNRWA has devastatingly poisoned well over 545,000 Palestinian children through its PA curriculum that teaches hatred of Jewish people and Israel, and promotes violence, jihad, ‘martyrdom culture,’ and omits teaching about peace and co-existence. In fact, 80 UNRWA teachers and staff across more than 30 schools have been caught distributing hateful content within their textbooks [11]. Not surprisingly, numerous Hamas terrorists have graduated from these schools [12] [13].
Since these children are instructed to be murder weapons for a terrorist group, UNRWA is DIRECTLY responsible for all the murders they commit, and for their untimely deaths as terrorists, suicide bombers, and as shields for Hamas [14].
UNRWA and Bloodshed:
UNRWA’s undercover partnership with Hamas was finally exposed to the world on October 7th where 1,200 Israelis and foreigners were raped, burned, butchered, and murdered and more than 240 were taken hostage in the terror tunnels that UNRWA staff failed to report 10 years earlier [15].
The world discovered that 10% (1,200) of UNRWA employees have direct ties to Hamas and Palestinian Jihad, 12 UNRWA staff directly participated in the barbaric massacre and kidnapping of Israelis, and a teacher employed by UNRWA held an Israeli hostage inside Gaza for nearly 50 days [16] [17].
Hamas via UNRWA dragged Israel into a war and then used the Palestinian people as fodder for their PR campaign by hiding weapons in schools, mosques, hospitals, and homes and preventing Palestinian people from getting food, water, or safe passage. The blood of thousands of Palestinians falls squarely on the shoulders of the Hamas-UNWRA partnership.
Historic Fact & Logic:
Historical fact and logic prove that UNRWA has never “conferred the greatest benefit to humankind” especially not in the “preceding year” [18] and therefore does not meet the qualifications stipulated by Mr. Nobel - now or ever.
Since MP Asmund Aukrust’s nomination of UNRWA defies both fact and logic, we can surmise that either he is currently unsuited to make decisions for this prestigious institution that can affect millions of lives, or he has allowed the Nobel Foundation to be hijacked by a nefarious political deal.
Either way, an organization entrusted to aid humanity has done the EXACT opposite and to perpetuate this LIE is to make a mockery of the Nobel Prize itself.
Sincerely,
Andria Spindel
Executive Director
Canadian Antisemitism Education Foundation
REFERENCES:
[3] Schwartz, A. & Wilf E. (2020). The war of return: How western indulgence of the Palestinian dream has obstructed the path for peace. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Publishing, p. 17.
[4] Ibid.
[12] UNRWA school celebrates Hamas’ ‘jihad warriors’ in Gaza – a report, Jerusalem Post (Nov. 8, 2023).
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