Nadine Kaddoura is a fierce advocate of justice, accountability, and transparency in the United Nations. Read more, be inquisitive, and demand answers.
UNRWA management is no longer reporting the deaths of UNRWA Palestinian staff members killed by I@r@e@ in Gaza.
UNRWA Commissioner-General reports the death of approximately 207 Palestinian staff members, but this number is incorrect. The actual figure is much higher, double or triple, around 500. This number excludes the hundreds of dependents that have not been accounted for.
According to direct reports, the bereaved families have stopped notifying UNRWA about the death due to fear of their salaries being cut off immediately.
When a staff member dies, UNRWA immediately removes them from the payroll instead of compensating them according to the Malicious Act Insurance Policy. Just a reminder: every bereaved family has the right to around 120,000 USD. UNRWA has not yet paid a penny.
The grieving families have chosen to stop reporting the death of their loved ones to safeguard their last remaining resource. Instead of fulfilling their obligations, UNRWA management further exploits the death of their staff members in their daily social media posts.
The discrimination is attributed to Western countries and allies being the only ones in charge of UNRWA senior management positions. Yesterday, the UNRWA Commissioner-General paid tribute to aid workers killed in the line of duty, stating that “… the war in Gaza broke all existing rules of war. Those responsible must be held accountable…”
Commissioner-General, could you start by taking responsibility for the families of UNRWA staff killed in the line of duty?
Wouldn’t it be better if you stopped breaking your own rules? The United Nations’ rules?
Could you explain why Palestinian staff are being discriminated against and not receiving the compensation they are entitled to?
Why not inform your audience about the thousands of dollars your Western Surge staff are being paid for doing nothing?
The funds intended for the bereaved families are now being disbursed to the international staff so they can enjoy rest and recovery.
In the meantime, the Commissioner-General continues pretending by writing more useless op-eds and firing more UNRWA staff.
With the focus of global attention now on Iran’s retaliation to the Israeli assault on the Iranian embassy in Syria, the UN Secretary-General is providing additional cover for Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza. Seemingly overnight, the world’s collective gaze has swerved towards issues of ballistic missiles, belligerence, the principle of reciprocation, and Article 51 of the UN Charter.
In the midst of it all, Israel is meticulously strategizing its Rafah assault, further extending its acts of genocide without any accountability. Israel has so far killed over 42,000 Palestinians, including 15,000 innocent children and 10,000 women, while the wounded have surpassed the 80,000 mark.
Instead of focusing the world’s attention on the imminent invasion of Rafah and the continuous slaughter of the Palestinian people, the Secretary-General bewilderingly decided to spend the 5th of April emphasizing Israel as the aggrieved party.
It seems as if the Secretary-General might be indirectly supporting Israel’s acts of genocide.
In his own words, these were his opening remarks:
“This Sunday marks six months since Hamas launched its abhorrent terror attacks in Israel. The 7th of October is a day of pain for Israel and the world.
The United Nations, and I personally, mourn with Israelis for the 1,200 people, including many women and children, who were killed in cold blood. I once again utterly condemn the use of sexual violence, torture, injuring and kidnapping of civilians, the firing of rockets towards civilian targets, and the use of human shields. “
Concerning Palestinians, the Secretary-General stated:
“When the gates to aid are closed, the doors to starvation are opened”
But Mr. Secretary-General, the gates of aid are not closed. It is Israel that is blocking them.
“More than half the population – over a million people – are facing catastrophic hunger.”
But, Mr. Secretary-General, it’s not that the 2 million Palestinians are simply facing a disastrous famine. The reality is that Israel is deliberately starving them right under the world’s watchful eyes.
“Children in Gaza today are dying for lack of food and water.”
But Mr. Secretary-General, the cause of Palestinian children’s deaths is not a deficiency of water. Israel intentionally cut off any water supply to Gaza with the sole aim of killing more Palestinians.
“This is incomprehensible, and entirely avoidable.”
But Mr. Secretary-General, what is incomprehensible is how, after six months, you are quietly acknowledging the demise of diplomacy instead of denouncing the brutal killing of Palestinians.
Diplomacy which alongside the United Nations, has become at best amoral.
It’s becoming increasingly clear that the United Nations appears to show less concern with the innovative and savage methods of exterminating the Palestinians. More worryingly, any remaining vestiges of the principles of international humanitarian law seemed to have been killed along the way.
Instead, when asked yesterday about the UN’s role on the temporary pier that the US is constructing in Gaza, the Secretary-General’s spokesperson proudly stated that the UN “will support any plan to increase the delivery of aid, whether by sea, air, or, of course, most importantly, by land.”
Isn’t it baffling how the Secretary-General couldn’t manage to convince the US and Israel to provide humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people for a half-year, yet a US-built pier in Gaza, allegedly aimed at preserving Palestinian lives, is nearing completion?
When it comes to the prominent influence of the U.S. on the United Nations, one needs only look at the legislation enacted by Presidents G. Bush and Bill Clinton.
This US law unequivocally prohibits any form of financial assistance to any international organization that recognizes Palestine as a full member. This dear reader, is the chief reason that the bid for Palestine’s full membership in the UN hasn’t been successful and will never be.
This implies that if the United Nations Security Council ever approves Palestine’s full membership, the US, which is the largest contributor to the UN, is legally bound to retract its 27% assessed contributions.
That is why the Secretary-General’s statements always start by reminding the world that we ought to condemn the 7th of October attacks and mourn those killed by Hamas while hinting that Palestinians could also be facing a mysterious famine…
The 7th of April in the UN also marked the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, and the Secretary-General made sure to issue another remarkable statement:
“We will never forget the victims of this genocide. Nor will we ever forget the bravery and resilience of those who survived, whose courage and willingness to forgive remain a burst of light and hope amidst this dark chapter in human history.
Let’s ensure that the acts that began on April 7, 1994 are never forgotten — and never repeated. Anywhere.”
Yet Mr. Secretary-General, every day, every hour, every minute, every second, Palestinians are being killed in their own land. It is called Palestine. And the world is watching in silence. In cowardice.
The Secretary-General is, of course, not directly responsible for the killings of Palestinians. He, however, takes the path of least resistance and continues to offer a plethora of rationalizations and lies to conceal his cowardice and chiefly to preserve the US funding for the United Nations.
In doing so, the Secretary-General has effectively undermined any lasting faith in the virtue of multilateralism and the ethical grounding of diplomacy.
The recent strategic move by Israel, the US, and various other Western nations to defund UNRWA is nothing but a well-orchestrated move to dismantle the Un Agency, in the mistaken confidence that doing so would somehow erase the inalienable right of return that Palestinians claim.
The deja vu crisis of defunding is about much more than just financial support and the provision of aid for humanitarian purposes.
Don’t let yourself be led astray by misguided perspectives.
Let’s not lose sight of the fact that UNRWA owns registration documents, historical archives, and substantial evidence collection, which includes more than half a million varied materials such as negatives, prints, slides, films, videocassettes, documents, and even original ownership papers. All these materials comprehensively cover the life experiences and the extensive history of Palestinian refugees right from 1948 to the present times.
UNRWA stands as undeniable evidence of Palestine’s rightful belonging to the Palestinian people.
Palestinians, once the hosts to Jews on their land, have since been faced with the stark reality of their lands being claimed. Jewish immigrants then commenced a 75-year long battle of colonization against Palestine.
The issue at hand extends far beyond the confines of humanitarian aid and services.
The US and Israel are seeking to redefine what it means to be a Palestinian refugee. By attempting to defund UNRWA, Israel and the US are not only seeking to cut humanitarian aid or to collectively punish Palestinians.
Rather, their ambitious goal is to eliminate the right of return for 5.5 million Palestinian refugees by abolishing UNRWA, which maintains the refugees’ registration services.
Their goal is however, based on a fundamental misconception.
International law grants refugee status to children of other refugee populations until they return to their permanent homes. Homes that were stolen by Israeli occupation and the land that Israel occupied.
For over a decade, UNRWA has been continuously under attack, with the US and Israeli governments spearheading crisis after crisis, most notably during Trump’s 2018 campaign to defund UNRWA.
The character assassination of UNRWA employees has been a persistent aim of Israel, with a string of baseless allegations against UNRWA in the past.
For instance, in 2014, Israel used a drone video to falsely accuse two UNRWA staff members of smuggling Hamas missiles in an ambulance. It turned out they were only moving a stretcher in the ambulance.
Why should the world continue to believe Israel after its propaganda of 40 beheaded babies was used to fuel the monstrous killing and dismembering of more than 13000 Palestinian children and babies?
In the span of two decades of my service in the United Nations globally, I have never encountered neutrality breaches, save for when I was working for UNRWA or when Israeli blogs were involved.
That’s primarily because the so called neutrality breaches are fueled by Israel’s persistent attempts to dismantle UNRWA. This constant assault on UNRWA by pro-Zionist blogs results in the US administration being inundated with false claims against UNRWA staff. This, in turn, initiates a cycle of crises centered on breaches of impartiality, ultimately leading to repeated financial cuts.
The US administration and these zionist blogs are not the only culprits.
The fact that UNRWA largely depends on funds from the US and Western nations leads to senior executives being appointed from these countries.
The current Commissioner General hails from Switzerland and has dual citizenship with Italy, while the two deputy Commissioner Generals are from the USA and France. The other director posts are held by individuals from Germany and the UK. Given these influences, it hardly comes as a surprise that all these nations have hastily halted their financial support for UNRWA.
The latest debacle surfaced when Israeli officials requested the UNRWA Commissioner-General to abruptly terminate the contracts of 12 staff members, whom Israel accused of involvement in the attacks on October 7th. This would undoubtedly be considered a neutrality breach and perhaps even a criminal act.
From our inside sources, we’ve learned that the Commissioner-General of UNRWA instructed his team to announce the termination of those 12 staff members precisely at the same time as the International Court of Justice’s session on Friday, 26 January, which was passing an Order against Israel. The calculated timing aimed to soften the blow of the order from ICJ on Israeli authorities. The UNRWA CG put a 24-hour hold on his Communications Department following his statement.
“The Israeli Authorities have provided UNRWA with information about the alleged involvement of several UNRWA employees in the horrific attacks on Israel on 7 October. I have taken the decision to immediately terminate the contracts of these staff members and launch an investigation in order to establish the truth without delay. Any UNRWA employee who was involved in acts of terror will be held accountable, including through criminal prosecution.”
Some violations should be highlighted in the Commissioner-General’s statement.
First, a disturbing fact is how the Commissioner-General seemingly took instructions from the Israeli authorities. This act contravenes the standards of conduct set for international civil service. Most importantly, it raises questions about the impartiality expected from international civil servants.
“If the impartiality of the international civil service is to be maintained, international civil servants must remain independent of any authority outside their organization; their conduct must reflect that independence. In keeping with their oath of office, they should not seek nor should they accept instructions from any Government, person or entity external to the organization.”
Despite the UN rules and regulations, the Commissioner-General swiftly ended contracts without launching an investigation, thereby violating the concerned staff’s fundamental right to due process.
The Office of Investigations (OIOS) is put in a tight spot as it can no longer conduct an impartial and lawful investigation. Former staff members are under no obligation to cooperate with the OIOS, making the process even more challenging.
Instead of rushing to terminate their contracts, the Commissioner-General had the option to first suspend the staff without pay, followed by an impartial investigation. His haste in terminating their contracts — even before commencing an investigation — hints at his attempt to appease the Israeli authorities, thereby breaching the standards of impartiality outlined by the International Civil Service’s code of conduct.
It’s important to remember that allegations must be proven and substantiated.
A recent UNRWA judgment issued on 31 December 2023 highlights the eagerness of the Agency to always appease the Israeli authorities by taking disciplinary measures against UNRWA staff regardless of the case’s merits. This case involved a breach of neutrality. The Judge found that the CG imposed a serious miscounted disciplinary measure on an UNRWA staff allegedly because he was a teacher (as reported by the Israeli NGO) when it turned out that he was not one. The UNRWA Tribunal found in favor of the UNRWA staff and reversed the disciplinary measure.
One day after the CG issued his statement on the termination of contracts, Western European countries declared their solidarity by freezing their financial aid to UNRWA. An unwanted consequence or a planned one?
Equally interesting was the reaction of the Secretary-General who expressed his horror at allegations against UNRWA staff. Yet, he has strangely not used the same term to describe the tragic death of 32,000 Palestinians, including the killing and dismemberment of over 13000 children.
Fear? Or sheer hypocrisy?
As to the EU, on the day of the ICJ order on 26 January 2024, it issued a statement reaffirming its continuing support to the International Court of Justice and reminding the parties that ICJ orders were binding and that they must comply with them.
Within days of the ICJ order, the EU took an abrupt U-turn, suspending its funding for UNRWA and demanding a review of all employees. Clearly, concerns for the integrity of their assistance do not match the reality on the ground. To make things stranger, the EU requested a review of all UNRWA employees (30,000 people) to verify that they were not involved in the attacks.
In the span of two days, the majority of Western donors had announced they were freezing funding based on a recycled “40 beheaded babies allegation” unseen by anyone, without any evidence and any sort of investigation into the matter.
Would these countries dare to withhold funds and weapons sale to Israel for the indiscriminate bombing of hospitals, UN schools, health clinics and UN shelters in Gaza?
Today, hundreds of aid trucks are deployed at the Rafah border, with Israel blocking the delivery of essential humanitarian aid. The Palestinians wage a battle for survival, while the world watches in silence.
Israel’s recent decision to declare the Kerem Shalom crossing a closed military zone is leading to a deadly famine.
Israel is subjecting Palestinians to forced starvation, and the international community is observing in silence.
It is thus clear that the humanitarian crisis will persist even if funds were not suspended.
The truth is confronting: we’re witnessing an American-Western led production aimed at more than just funds or humanitarian aid.
This narrative seeks to shift focus from the ICJ order and set UNRWA—often synonymously associated with Palestinians—as the scapegoat. If UNRWA is guilty, all Palestinians must be deemed guilty, or so the story goes.
Given these unfounded allegations, the conversation now centers around UNRWA staff being implicated in acts of violence, further dehumanizing entire Palestinian communities and validating their genocide.
The message that Israel wishes to convey is that killing Palestinians is within its rights.
Led by Israel, a new wave of misinformation seeks to shift global narratives away from the injustices meted out to Palestinians. Such a scenario can only engender the opposite of goodwill and further erode the moral leadership of the Global North in the Middle East.
To the Global North we say: UNRWA does not need your funding.
It needs you to comply with the International Court of Justice’s order by requesting Israel to stop its violence, open the humanitarian corridors and stop the bloodshed.
Cutting funding to UNRWA at this critical juncture is nothing less than a brand new Laissez- Passer to prolong the genocide against the Palestinian people.
But one thing is certain: no amount of money will convince the millions of Palestinian refugees to give up their profound and enduring attachment to their homeland.
To the Global North, we say:
Defund as you May, the Right of Return will Never Cease to Exist,
Yesterday, the Secretary-General issued a statement on Gaza that began with a lengthy paragraph that condemned Hamas and highlighted the suffering of the Israeli people in great detail. However, throughout the two-page discourse, the name of Israel was seemingly forgotten, not even a single mention.
The Security Council is occupied by Western powers, which has rendered it paralyzed.
If you believe the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is independent, I invite you to reconsider.
Let’s take the ongoing case of South Africa versus Israel as an example. Instead of letting the Judges preside with objectivity and devoid of political influence, some Western Nations can’t seem to resist tampering. Bracing for a potential ruling favoring Palestine, Germany has jumped the gun and publicly backed Israel, even before the proceedings have concluded.
Just imagine the pressure that Germany’s judge in the ICJ, Georg Nolte, would be under, feeling the weight of his responsibilities and the difficult decisions he must make.
Then there’s the story of the United States. It chose to step away from the mandatory jurisdiction of the court in 1986, following a ruling indicating the US was obligated to pay war reparations to Nicaragua. Notably, the ICJ’s current President, Joan E. Donoghue, hails from the United States.
Donoghue says she does not see herself as a representative of the United States to the court. On the eve of The Hague proceedings, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby called the genocide allegations “unfounded,” adding, “That’s not a word that ought to be thrown around lightly, and we certainly don’t believe that it applies here. “
Then you have France and Australia, who are also currently sitting on the ICJ, and we know their positions too well.
If you think these judges are independent, think again.
The insidious tentacles of racism and discrimination have infiltrated every corner of the United Nations’ work, revealing an alarming surge in recent years.
If you’re seeking a real-life illustration of entrenched discrimination and ingrained racism, consider how UN staff who hail from nations in the Global North interact with those from the Global South. A quick look at this scenario highlights the glaring disparity between staff from the Global North and those from the Global South at the United Nations.
Supporting evidence isn’t hard to find when you dig into the decisions handed down by the United Nations Dispute Tribunal. These rulings paint a worrying picture.
Take, for instance, the recent case of Theunens vs. Secretary-General, UNDT/2023/145. Released just a week ago, its detailed records provide a disturbing glimpse into the pervasive patterns of racism and discrimination that UN staff from the Global South are forced to endure day in and day out.
This judgment relates to a senior Belgian staff member working with UNIFIL. UNIFIL is the UN’s peacekeeping mission, tasked with verifying the retreat of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon and aiding the Lebanese Government in reclaiming its crucial authority over the region.
Contained within the UNDT judgment’s hefty 82 pages, is a chilling depiction of rampant racism, discrimination, misconduct, harassment, and a blatant abuse of authority. It’s the alleged wrongdoings of a Belgian senior staff member (Chief of Joint Military Analysis Centre – JMAC), directed at his Lebanese subordinates, that spanned across a disturbing long stretch of 10 years, from 2010 all the way through to 2020.
There seemed to be no effort to rectify this glaring issue.
Allow me to draw your attention to a particularly striking instance of this evident discrimination and prejudice: the prohibition enforced on two native Lebanese staff members, Mr. El-Sibai and Ms. El-Joubeili, by their Belgian superior.
The Belgian Chief strictly forbade them from conversing in their mother tongue, Arabic, while their international counterparts were granted the liberty to communicate in their native languages like German, French, and so on.
Hold that thought if you believe such an event couldn’t possibly involve a United Nations employee. The next one might just raise your eyebrows a bit more.
An incident involving the Belgian Chief of JMAC threw racial prejudices of the Global North under sharp light when he introduced two Lebanese national staff members to his French deputy.
Instead of introducing them by their respective names Mohamed and Christine and recognizing their important roles as research assistants, the Belgian Chief had a shocking habit of introducing them by their religion as “‘Mohamad the Shia Muslim and Christine the Christian’”
Even for someone like me who has worked for 20 years with the UN worldwide, this is difficult to accept and understand.
It seems there’s a jarring reveal of the Global North’s real countenance unveiling nothing less than the epitome of racism.
Discrimination seeping to the very deep of everything.
Mr. El-Sibai the Lebanese national staff testified to the UN Tribunal that the atmosphere under the senior Belgian staff, was “hell” and that the Belgian’s Chief’s behavior was very intimidating,
“as if he was still in the army or as if we were in Guantanamo or prison. For some unknown reason there was always this division—two camps, the Arab speakers and the international colleagues. The Chief preferred to deal with the international colleagues more “than dealing with us.”
A third senior staff witness testified that he left UNIFIL because of the Belgian Chief JMAC and that “he had knocked at all the doors within UNIFIL, and nobody wanted to hear it, including the leadership”.
Dismantling systems of Western oppression, including colonization, is undeniably complex.
When examined by the Judge during the hearing, the Belgian Chief JMAC admitted:
that many military people and especially those, I mean my Deputies from France, they have a view on Lebanon, and they have a view on Christians and they have a view on Muslims, whether we like it or not.”
In echoing his colonial sentiments, he was quoted saying:
“I may be misinformed by my experience, but I think in a country with internal issues, it is difficult for a citizen – not a citizen, but a person from that country to be objective.”
Could it be that the privilege of critical and objective thinking has been bestowed primarily upon those dwelling in the Global North, while it eludes the majority of the remaining world?
The Global North’s objective mind is indeed so evident in its refusal to acknowledge and condemn the 24 hour live broadcast of the atrocities committed by Israel against the Palestinian people – a practice shared by countries including Germany, the US, the UK, and Canada.
In her testimony to the Judge, Ms. El-Joubeili, the Lebanese national staff said:
“It was a nightmare to summarize those awful years spent in JMAC. It was a nightmare.
I had to cope with following psychotherapy, which helped me stay strong and not fall into the trap of the harassment, the abuse of authority, the intimidation, discrimination, all those awful bullying…
It was really toxic and unhealthy. It wasn’t at all the environment I was expecting in an international organization as the United Nations…
Nine years we paid from our health–mental health, physical health. Nine years were too long, way too long really.
It is so enraging, so revolting to have to go through all this for that long without being heard. I know these are the worst years of my life. Nine years in JMAC with the Chief are the worst years of my life.”
Essentially, the gripe against the Chief JMAC revolved around his establishment of a work environment that was oppressive, discriminatory and brimming with harassment. Moreover, he wielded his power in an abusive manner.
Every single charge against him checked out; normally, in such circumstances, termination should have been the least disciplinary action.
However, the outcome for the Chief JMAC saw him demoted by just one grade level. Instead of the door being shown to him, he was reassigned to a new role as a senior political affairs officer in the office of UNIFIL’s Head of Mission — the most influential position in UNIFIL.
It seems more like he hit a career advancement jackpot.
Why would a senior staff member, convicted on charges of discrimination, harassment, and abuse of authority, continue to serve with UNIFIL in Lebanon, a highly volatile political battlefield? The answer is right in front of us.
Could it be that he gets to keep his position because he has the advantage of Belgian nationality? Or is it possibly due to the unfortunate reality that the United Nations is indeed internally colonized?
Not yet convinced?
Keep reading to uncover more.
In a recent judgment, the UNRWA Dispute Tribunal upheld management’s decision to terminate a previous Chief of Security Operations and Analysis, cited in the judgment ElMenshawy UNRWA/DT/2023/034. Notably, ElMenshawy hails from the Global South and is an Arab.
His immediate superior, the Director of Security, hailed from the Global North.
Our Arab Chief found himself in hot water, slapped with accusations of:
1) Casting a shadow of doubt on his direct supervisor’s integrity, a gentleman from Britain;
2) Being a source of distress for his co-worker within the Security Department;
3) Curating an environment within the Security Department that can only be described as hostile.
The Arab Chief ElMenshawy found himself abruptly ousted from his position and faced with the stark reality of termination as a disciplinary measure for his actions.
Compare this example to the Belgian Chief, who, for a protracted decade, wielded his power recklessly, intimidated, and discriminated against Arab staff. Was his punishment as harsh? No.
The Belgian Chief was merely demoted and reassigned to provide leadership in the Head of Mission office, a prestigious role. One may wonder about the seeming disparity.
One thing is certain.
To reform the United Nations, it is necessary to decolonize it first.
As the year draws to a close, people started to exchange end-of-year reflections, New Year’s resolutions, and heartfelt New Year greetings for 2024 across various social media platforms.
But one Palestinian journalist in Gaza Hind Khoudari, who had been reporting non stop from the Gaza Strip had a different end-of-year message:
She tweeted:
“I never thought I would be tweeting begging the world for sanitary products.
NEVER in my life thought I would be here.”
“Guys, I am serious bring in carefree and daily liners into Gaza. There has been no liners in Gaza for more than a month now.”
Uncomfortable.
Awkward.
Truth
That is the reality of women and young girls in Gaza.
A topic that is often overlooked and stigmatized. No one wants to talk about the consequences of Israel’s blockade on Gaza women and their menstruation.
A month ago, journalist Roudayna Raydan reported about the dire living conditions in overcrowded shelters and widespread displacement in the Gaza strip, that are forcing Gaza women to resort to unconventional measures to delay their menstrual cycle.
Women and girls in Gaza are turning to Norethisterone, a medication typically prescribed for severe menstrual pain, heavy bleeding, and endometriosis, that is now being used as a means of delaying menstruation.
In her article, Roudayna reports that:
“The dire circumstances coupled with trauma stemming from the conflict have a severe impact on the women and girls in Gaza including an increased likelihood of urinary tract infections, childbirth complications, and transmission of infections such as hepatitis B and thrush due to neglecting hand cleanliness as a part of product change practices.
The inadequate provision of hygiene supplies in Gaza exposes women and girls to diseases and infections while also undermining their dignity.”
In moments such as when Hind Khoudari poignantly poses questions towards global feminists on Twitter or when Roudayna Raydan pens a comprehensive article highlighting the gravity of the situation, one can’t help but wonder – where does UN Women stand amidst all this?
Well, if you must ask, besides having a grandiose campaign to end the menstruation stigma around the world, they are currently busy investigating and possibly preparing to fire a dedicated senior UNWomen staffer, Sarah Douglas, who has been tweeting in support of Palestinians and against the Israeli genocide since the start of the Gaza war.
One may ask why?
An Israeli blog launched a campaign and a petition demanding that Sarah Douglas be fired and lobbied with two American senators to fire her, calling her a “terrorist sympathizer”. Thus the Israeli propaganda machine unleashed its wrath on her.
Mr. Secretary-General,
UNWomen Chief, Ms. Sima Bahous,
How can you uphold the dignity of women in Gaza when you’re incapable of doing the same for your own staff at the United Nations?
When you are incapable of protecting your own UN staff?
When all you do is succumb to the Israeli disinformation, propaganda, and hate speech campaigns?
When the wave of misrepresentation and deceitful narratives against Sarah Douglas is essentially because she is married to a Palestinian individual?
UN Women:
Do you want to end the stigma: could you start by protecting your own staff.
#UNWomen
It’s time align your actions to your declarations.
In the bustling neighborhood of Khan Yunis, tucked away in the heart of Gaza, a little girl was born. She was raised amidst the doting love of her father (her baba), nurturing mother, and caring siblings – her universe, confined within the simplicity of their humble dwelling.
Each week, following the Friday prayer, they would journey together towards the Gaza sea, each step a cherished ritual. Their faith and love for one another resonating with each echo of the call to prayer.
The young girl had a strong and affectionate bond with her baba. She would often playfully act like she was drowning, enticing him to come into the water to save her, tapping into his natural instinct to protect her. Her tiny hands would then grip tightly onto her baba’s sturdy arms as he hoisted her high into the endless azure of the Gaza sky. She adored the feel of the grainy sand under her feet and the sea’s cool graze on her skin, dancing around and stirring ripples in the water that mirrored her happiness.
Little did she know that her beloved Gaza was an open-air prison, isolated and confined for over a decade. Beyond the imposing walls that marked its borders lay a world unseen and unknown to her – a world she was forcefully barred from ever discovering.
On weekdays, she proudly carried her pink school bag and walked with her siblings through the narrow alleys of Khan Yunis. She loved going to school and dreamed of becoming a teacher. She spent hours in front of the chalkboard, drawing big letters of the alphabet, flowers, and hearts delicately sketched in her favorite shades of pastel pink and blue.
On her way home, she often stopped by her favorite local candy store. The colorful array of sweets mesmerized her, but her eyes always turned toward the pastel-colored candy rolls. They reminded her of her dreams, her pastel-colored dreams.
With a one-shekel coin her baba had given her that morning, she asked the Ammo for two candy rolls, despite having only enough money for one.
Admiring her beautifully tressed hair and the pink and blue pastel hairclips adorning her curls, the candy shop owner offered her two candy rolls: one she could enjoy that day and the other, he said, she could save for a time when hunger struck, and there was nothing else to eat. The little girl looked at him with surprise but was overjoyed with the two candy rolls in her tiny hands.
Bouncing with happiness, she hurried back home and eagerly showed her baba the gift from the candy shop. Slowly unwrapping the candy roll, savoring each pink, green, and blue candy, admiring their colors before tasting them. As she finished, she carefully hid the second candy roll under her mattress, saving it for another day. That night, she drifted off to sleep, dreaming of a beautiful blue sky and a pastel-colored rainbow filled with butterflies.
But when morning came, she was abruptly awakened by thunder-like sounds that shook the air. She rushed to her baba, seeking comfort in his arms. Her father calmed her down and assured her that everything would be okay.
The loud sounds continued for days, and the vibrant colors outside began to fade into shades of gray. The blue sky of Gaza vanished, replaced by a somber and bleak atmosphere. The windows of their tiny house shattered and she could no longer see any beautiful colors outside.
It was Friday again; she could hear the call of the noon prayer. She ran to her baba, pleading to go to the sea once more. Her mum had given her a small portion of bread and two olives but she was still hungry.
Her baba told her: “Remember your candy roll? Go bring it. Maybe we could go to the sea in the afternoon when the loud sounds stop?”
Her baba knew the sounds would not stop. He knew he couldn’t take his little daughter to the Gaza sea again.
He wanted to tell her the story of Palestine, the story of Gaza: A story of resistance and liberation.
The little girl returned running to her father, proudly showing him the unopened candy roll in her hand. Her baba looked at her: “Eat the candy roll now before we head out to the sea.”
But the little girl refused. She wanted to open the candy roll by the Gaza sea. Her father nodded, promising to take her soon.
So she held tight to the candy roll and rolled in her baba’s arms. For a while, everything went quiet.
Eventually, she drifted off to sleep, still clutching the unopened candy roll, dreaming of the day when she would return to the sea.
(in memory of the Palestinian Girl who died with a Candy Roll in her hand killed by an Israeli strike on 20 December 2023 in Khan Younis. With thanks to the Original Artwork and Illustration by @fatima_illustrations @Fatima_khayyat )
A brief while before the onset of the new Gaza war on October 7, heads of state conveyed promising declarations at the 78th United Nations General Assembly.
Unbeknownst to them, just a few days later, a devastating Genocide would tragically unfold on the Palestinian people in the Gaza strip.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s earnest endeavor in the General Assembly was to persuade the audience of his nation’s commitment to peace and progress in human rights:
“I’ve long sought to make peace with the Palestinians.
See, the Palestinians are only 2% of the Arab world.
The Palestinians must abandon the fantasy of destroying Israel and finally embrace a path of genuine peace with it.
Let me show you a map of the Middle East in 1948, the year Israel was established.
Here is Israel in 1948. It’s a tiny country, isolated, surrounded by a hostile Arab world.
For peace to prevail, the Palestinians must stop spewing Jew-hatred and finally reconcile themselves to the Jewish state. By that I mean not only to the existence of the Jewish state but to the right of the Jewish people to have a state of their own in their historic homeland, the Land of Israel. “
Judging by this morning’s obliteration of 56 residential structures and an entire community in the Northeast Gaza locality of Shujaiya, one might infer Israel is indeed steadily progressing toward its horrendous ambition: to kill the remaining 2% of the Arab Palestinian population.
Perhaps by doing so, Israel may finally achieve inner and lasting peace. With an insatiable thirst for blood, it seems that Israel will not rest until it kills every Palestinian.
And so, the Genocide continues… to an extent that Martin Griffith, the head of OCHA, made a statement yesterday that – Gaza may need a special tribunal to investigate Israel’s atrocities.
As for President Biden, addressing the General Assembly, he said the international community needed “to be able to break the gridlock that too often blocks consensus on the security council.”
Break the gridlock?
There is nothing blocking the gridlock like the US is.
Blocking consensus?
There is no one killing the consensus like the U.S is.
President Biden further cautioned the international community that:
“Russia believes that the world will grow weary and allow it to brutalize Ukraine without consequence.
But I ask you this: if we abandon the core principles of the UN charter to appease an aggressor, can any member state in this body feel confident that they are protected? If we allow Ukraine to be carved up, is the independence of any nation secure?
We have to stand up to this naked aggression today and deter other would-be aggressors tomorrow”
Indeed, the USA effectively put a stop to it.
From October 7th onward, the USA utilized its veto power to reject any General Assembly and Security Council resolutions aimed at even temporarily halting the ongoing massacre.
It almost appears as if the US administration is comfortable with the idea of Israel wiping out Palestinians with impunity, under the assumption that global attention will eventually fade.
And so the Genocide goes on….
As for the European Union, it has put forward a robust proposition for reform of the Security Council and its veto power. According to them, this power was being misused, leading to a stalemate within the Security Council.
The European Union astutely highlighted the inherent conflict of interest when a P5 nation holds the capacity to veto a resolution aiming to impose sanctions against it. This observation strikes a chord of sound logic.
Emphasizing the conflict of interest, the European Union backed an initiative proposed by France and Mexico to restrict the veto power during mass atrocities.
In retrospect, however, this proposal was designed specifically with Russia in mind rather than genuinely with the aim of reforming the Security Council.
If we apply the same rationale, the United States should arguably be the first to lose its veto right, considering Israel’s conflict in Gaza is fully subsidized by the USA.
The US administration has extended $14 billion in direct military aid to Israel, which includes vast quantities of bombs and tens of thousands of 155mm artillery shells. Unfortunately, these munitions continue to be directly used to kill and maim thousands of Palestinian children.
If President Biden’s statement holds any weight, the United States should cease using its veto to block cease-fire demands and promptly put a halt to its military aid to Israel, given the significant role that US weapons and military aid play in prolonging the ongoing massacre.
And so the Genocide lives on…
While on the topic, Australia pointedly censured Russia’s manipulative ploys on food security, ones that accoring to them resulted in “millions left hungry”
It seems that the Australian government currently finds it acceptable that 2 million Palestinians lack fundamental life necessities such as food, water, electricity, and basic healthcare. Apparently, the plight of hunger among Palestinians escapes Australia’s view, along with the notion that Israel is employing food deprivation as an illegal weapon in this war.
As to the Secretary-General, he drew the international community’s attention to a crucial principle:
“When countries break the Charter’s pledge for peace, they create a world of insecurity for everyone.
Exhibit A: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The war, in violation of the United Nations Charter and international law, has unleashed a nexus of horror: lives destroyed; human rights abused; families torn apart; children traumatized; hopes and dreams shattered. “
Mr. Secretary-General,
We present you Exhibit B: Israel’s Genocide against Palestinian People.
A nexus of horror:
Children killed.
Journalists killed.
Doctors killed.
Health care professionals killed.
Professors killed.
Caretakers killed.
Disabled people killed.
Poets killed.
Mothers killed.
Fathers killed.
Animals killed.
Human rights Killed.
Families Killed.
Children traumatized.
Hopes and dreams Killed..
Mr. Secretary-General,
We present you Exhibit B:
The Killing of Palestine by the International Community
In the year following the tragic 2003 suicide attack in Baghdad, a devastating event that claimed the lives of 22 United Nations personnel, including the Secretary-General’s envoy to Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, the United Nations established the UN Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS).
The United Nations Department for Safety and Security (UNDSS) currently operates under the guidance of an Under-Secretary-General, Gilles Michaud. His chief responsibilities revolve around ensuring the safety and security of United Nations personnel, as well as the security of United Nations premises in accordance with the United Nations Security Management System (UNSMS).
Since October 7th, 2023, a disheartening reality has surfaced. Over 130 local Palestinian staff from UNRWA have tragically fallen victim to Israeli acts.
The Secretary-General conveyed his sorrow, stating, “We’ve never experienced such a significant loss in the entire history of our organization.” The weight of his words underscores the severity of this crisis.
Meanwhile, the UNRWA Commissioner-General (CG) and Spokesperson hold firm to their narrative that “No Place is Safe in Gaza.”
It’s indeed true that the reckless, inhumane bombings by Israel have turned the Gaza Strip into a danger zone. However, this narrative also cleverly veils the disappointing shortcomings of the UN Security Management System (UNSMS), the Secretary-General, and the UNRWA Commissioner-General.
More than 130 of my colleagues have already been killed, many with their families.
This is the largest single loss of life in the history of our Organization.
Some of our staff take their children to work so they know they will live or die together.
Colleagues have shared heartbreaking messages from staff members pleading for help.
The Under-Secretary-General of the Department of Safety and Security has advised me that all possible means of mitigating the risk to staff within Gaza, short of evacuation, are closed off, because of the way this conflict has evolved.
Is it possible that the Secretary-General willingly turns a blind eye to the shortcomings of his top officials? Or perhaps he is misled by false information? Regardless, his final proclamation appears to be bereft of any substantial grounding.
The claim that no effective measures exist to lessen the risk faced by UNRWA Palestinian staff in Gaza isn’t accurate.
The United Nations Security Management System and the UN Security Policy Manual state that the policies apply to “All United Nations system staff members, including temporary staff, in posts subject to international or local recruitment.”
Potential risk mitigation measures existed, yet they were left unused.
Picture this: Over the past ten years, United Nations staff around the world have been incorporated into the UN Security Management System. Yet, there has been a consistent and systemic exclusion of the UNRWA Palestinian local staff from this system. This is the reality of the discrimination being faced by these Palestinian members of the UN staff.
Upon analyzing the report, particularly the section concerning security incidents affecting UNRWA’s area personnel, you’ll find an intriguing footnote 9 that deserves careful reading:
“9. United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) area personnel are not covered by the United Nations security management system. “
There it is.
The elusive part of the enigma.
The United Nations Security Management System (UNSMS) doesn’t incorporate UNRWA Palestinian staff into its security management policies.
The guidelines of the United Nations Security Management System (UNSMS) stipulate that local staff members of the UNRWA should ideally be moved to a safe haven within their duty station; this is where the international staff currently based in Gaza are housed.
UNRWA Palestinian staff have not been relocated.
Under this UNSMS, UNRWA should have immediately carried out a head count of the Palestinian local staff. They were unable to do so, and there was none.
Presently, UNRWA has been unsuccessful in furnishing up-to-date, precise data concerning the count of their Palestinian staff members who have been injured or lost their lives.
According to the UNSMS system, the expectation was that UNRWA would move eligible Palestinian staff from the UN, along with their family members, to a safer location near the Rafah border. Additionally, they should have been provided a daily subsistence allowance for themselves and their dependents.
Further, to be eligible for coverage under the Malicious Act Insurance Policy (M.A.I.P), it’s necessary to be included in the UN Security Management System.
In accordance with the provisions set out by the M.A.I.P, families grieving the loss of UNRWA Palestinian staff who tragically lost their lives in Gaza should have received compensation totaling about 120,000 USD. However, the reality unfolds in a starkly different manner. The Commissioner-General of UNRWA ended up providing a meager sum of 300 USD to each affected UNRWA staff member. Furthermore, the bereaved families were considered for a compensatory amount of just 3000 USD, a fraction of the original amount they were entitled to – 120,000 USD.
The truth is that it’s not the intricate facets of the conflict that result in a lack of risk-mitigation strategies for local UNRWA staff, as suggested by the Secretary-General. Rather, the root lies in the core failures at the very top of the UN hierarchy. These Palestinian staff members are excluded from the UN Security Management System, and it certainly isn’t because of how the conflict has unfolded over time.
On Tuesday, 21 November 2023, the UNRWA Commissioner-General expressed remarks to the Agency’s Advisory Committee and said:
“…regarding the exclusion of national staff from insurance coverage… he stated that this issue was closely analyzed to see if it could be addressed and that it would have enormous cost implications if it was applied to the Agency, given that most expenses were covered by extrabudgetary resources.”(excerpt from official minutes of the meeting).
The facts are clearly laid out.
It seems as though the UN is treating the lives of the UNRWA Palestinian staff as less valuable compared to their other staff members. This might be why the UN hasn’t deemed it necessary to pursue measures to alleviate risks faced by the UNRWA Palestinian staff.
Evidence is pointing towards an alarming trend of bias and discrimination leveled against UNRWA Palestinian employees – a situation that decidedly necessitates an end.
The lapses shown by the United Nations in safeguarding their Palestinian staff within the UN warrant a thorough investigation.
The UN Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS) was created one year after the 2003 suicide bombing in Baghdad that killed 22 UN staff, including the organization’s representative in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello.
UNDSS is currently led by an Under Secretary-General (Gilles Michaud). He is responsible for the safety, security, and well-being of personnel and the security of United Nations premises per the United Nations Security Management System (UNSMS).
Israel has killed more than 130 Palestinian local staff of UNRWA since October 7th.
As the Secretary-General said, ‘This is the largest single loss of life in the history of our organization.’
The UNRWA Commissioner-General (CG) and Spokesperson insist on their side of the story that “No Place is Safe in Gaza.”
It is widely accepted that the immoral, indiscriminate bombing by Israel renders the Gaza Strip unsafe. However, that version disguises in reality the failures of the UN Security Management System (UNSMS), those of the Secretary-General and the UNRWA CG.
More than 130 of my colleagues have already been killed, many with their families.
This is the largest single loss of life in the history of our Organization.
Some of our staff take their children to work so they know they will live or die together.
Colleagues have shared heartbreaking messages from staff members pleading for help.
The Under-Secretary-General of the Department of Safety and Security has advised me that all possible means of mitigating the risk to staff within Gaza, short of evacuation, are closed off, because of the way this conflict has evolved.
The last sentence is not true at all. Either the Secretary-General is concealing the shortcomings of his senior management, or he is receiving misleading information.
How can the USG/DSS advise on possible means of mitigating the risk to staff within Gaza when the UNRWA Palestinian local staff were never included in the UN Security Management System?
Mr. Secretary General,
It is not true that there are no ways to mitigate the risk to staff within Gaza. There were possible means, but they were not implemented.
This is because UNRWA Palestinian local staff are systemically and unfairly excluded from the UN Security Management System that applies to all UN staff worldwide.
On page 12 of that report, (Section 2) footnote 9 reads:
“9. United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) area personnel are not covered by the United Nations security management system. “
Here it is.
Presented before the General Assembly.
In your own words and those of the Secretary-General:
The UN Security Management System does not cover UNRWA Palestinian local staff.
“All United Nations system staff members, including temporary staff, in posts subject to international or local recruitment.”
Under the UNSMS, the UNRWA local staff should have been relocated to a safe haven within the duty station (base of International staff currently in Gaza).
They were not, hence the large number of UNRWA Palestinian fatalities.
Under this system, UNRWA should have immediately carried out a head count of the Palestinian local staff. They were unable to do so, and there was none.
There are no possible means of mitigation risk for UNRWA local staff due to the failures of the entire UN senior leadership to include those staff under the UNSMS.
On Tuesday, 21 November 2023, UNRWA CG, addressing the Advisory Committee of the Agency, stated
“…regarding the exclusion of national staff from insurance coverage… he stated that this issue was closely analyzed to see if it could be addressed and that it would have enormous cost implications if it was applied to the Agency, given that most expenses were covered by extrabudgetary resources.” (excerpt from official minutes of the meeting).
There it is in plain words.
UNRWA Palestinian lives are cheaper than the rest of the UN staff, which may explain why the UN didn’t find it fitting to explore measures to mitigate risk for those staff.
The Secretary-General did not dare to use the word Genocide to describe the 24-hour live Israeli eradication of Palestinian babies and children in Gaza. According to his spokesman, it’s not up to the SG to determine this, but to the legal entities of the United Nations.
So, the ICC prosecutor, Mr. Karim Khan, was honored by an Elon Musk-like visit organized by Israel. Even though he was invited to visit Gaza to verify Israeli war crimes against the Palestinian people, the ICC prosecutor chose to settle for the Israeli version.
Mukesh Kapila wrote an article recently to persuade readers that Israel’s mass atrocities in Gaza cannot be classified as Genocide.
According to him, “the destructive ferocity of the Israeli action in Gaza cannot, by itself, be designated as genocidal.”
That is incorrect.
Article II of the Convention defines Genocide as ANY of the following acts ANY of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national or ethnical as such:
a. Killing members of the group;
b. Causing serious bodily or mental harm;
c. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
Israel exceeded all the thresholds above by far.
Thus, Israel is committing a GENOCIDE.
Mr. Kapila further contends that if Israel wanted to eliminate Gazans “…we would not expect it to send warning messages to civilians to exit military operation areas, nor to accept evacuation routes or agree to humanitarian ceasefire and relief provision.”
Warning message?
Even Reuters was quoted stating: “Israel orders Gazans to flee, bombs where it sends them.”
Mind you, Israel has just declared the UN Humanitarian Coordinator Lynn Hastings persona non-grata because she made a statement highlighting the catastrophic situation in Gaza.
Kapila concludes by saying that even if a strand “of extremist Israeli politics expounds violent hate against Palestinians.. there is nothing to suggest that this is a formalized Israeli state policy”
Mind you, yesterday Israel president Isaac Herzog said: “This war is not only a war between Israel and Hamas, it’s a war that is intended, really, truly, to save Western civilisation. To save the values of Western civilization.”
Herzog and Israel’s narrative are repellent beyond belief for any person, nation, or civilization.
If this is indeed what Western civilization is, thank you. We do not wish to be converted.
