Report: UNRWA Staff Inciting to Violence, Anti-Semitism Online

Over 100 teachers and other employees of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees have posted content that was either anti-Semitic or promoted hatred to social media, according to a new report by U.N. Watch.

The Geneva-based nongovernmental organization that monitors U.N. activity found 113 instances of incitement to violence by UNRWA staff, in clear violation of UNRWA’s rules, according to the report.

Among the social media posts cited by U.N. Watch was one from math teacher Nahed Shrarawi in which she shared a video that included an image of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler along with inspirational quotes. Another UNRWA teacher by the name of Husni Masri shared a post promoting conspiracy theories about Jews, including that Jewish people want to rule the world and destroy Islam and were responsible for the coronavirus.

According to U.N. Watch, incitement to violence and hatred among UNRWA’s 30,000 staff members is a far greater problem than the report shows as the incidents included in the report pertain to those with social media accounts who openly identify as agency employees.

U.N. Watch emphasized that since UNRWA has not fired or taken any administrative action against those behind the inciting posts despite requests from the NGO, the agency was fully responsible for their actions.

Hillel Neuer, U.N. Watch executive director, said, “Around the world, educators who incite hate and violence are removed, yet UNRWA, despite proclaiming zero tolerance for incitement, knowingly and systematically employs purveyors of terror and anti-Jewish hate.

“We call on the governments that fund UNWRA to take action to stop the vicious cycle of generations being taught to hate and violently attack Jews. We demand that UNRWA address the core problem and demonstrate its genuine commitment to basic norms of education in its schools by publicly condemning UNWRA employees who incite terrorism and anti-Semitism, removing them from their positions, and creating an independent and impartial investigation of all of its staff,” Neuer said.