Michael Higgins: Anita Anand ignores UN’s terrorist ties, gives it more money

A woman holds an Israeli flag and a sign while protesting outside the West Bank field office of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Refugees (UNRWA) in Jerusalem on March 20, 2024. UNRWA fired 70 workers last week for alleged ties with Hamas. Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP via Getty Images

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Last week the United Nations agency responsible for Gaza fired 70 of its workers amid allegations of deep ties to Hamas terrorists in the enclave.

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Twenty-four hours later our reckless and tone-deaf foreign minister announced another $100 million for Gaza and the West Bank — for a total of $500 million to Palestinians that might as well have had Hamas written on the cheques.

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A statement from Anita Anand said the new money was to support the UN, Red Cross, Red Crescent and NGOs in delivering assistance to Palestinians in the region.

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The statement also noted the funding was “largely flexible and unearmarked,” meaning Canada has no controls over the use of the money and thus there is no accountability.

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What an absolute waste of taxpayer dollars.

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The UN has been having a tough time of it recently with a report alleging staff of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) work for Hamas and a UN special rapporteur claiming she was “bullied” by colleagues for trying to reveal the true scale and terror of Oct. 7.

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On June 5, an investigation by USAID claimed 101 current or former UNRWA members, including principals, teachers, security personnel, attendants, psychosocial counsellors, and medical professionals, took part in the Oct. 7 massacre or were affiliated with the Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas.

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One teacher had expertise as a sniper for Hamas. A math teacher was linked to the Qassam intelligence squad. Several other teachers were squad leaders for infantry battalions, alleged the investigative report.

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The report noted that USAID’s priority was to “ensure that U.S.-funded humanitarian assistance in Gaza does not fall into the hands of Hamas and other foreign terrorist organizations.”

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Canada, on the other hand, just gives its money away.

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Six days after USAID’s report, UNRWA fired 70 staff members in Gaza with immediate effect.

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But in announcing that decision, UNRWA seemed to wrap itself into nonsensical knots.

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“The dismissal of the staff is not part of a disciplinary process and does not constitute in any way a validation of the claims made against them,” it said. So why fire them?

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In a statement, Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, an organization that has reported UNRWA’s ties to Hamas, said the firings were a “small beginning.”

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But he also noted the UN’s “incoherent” position. “Firing people while refusing to acknowledge why reveals an institution still more interested in protecting itself and its Hamas-embedded workforce than in genuine neutrality or accountability.”

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Meanwhile, a day before Anand made her announcement, came extraordinary revelations from UN special rapporteur on torture Alice Edwards about pressure from her colleagues to water down a letter detailing the Oct. 7 massacre.