Saturday, June 28, 2025
Friday, June 27, 2025
‘Gaza must be eliminated’: Israel’s airwaves are filled with pro-genocide propaganda. Here is a collection of 20 of the more outrageous statements by Israeli lawmakers or public figures since 7 October 2023
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| ‘The end goal of all this is not the removal of Hamas from Gaza, but the removal of all Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank.’ Photograph: Xinhua/Shutterstock |
“Strikes on Iran ease pressure on Israel to end starvation in Gaza.” That, in case you missed it, is a recent headline from the Guardian from Saturday. It’s the sort of statement that might have once shocked people but is now just another news bulletin.
Following Israel’s ‘pre-emptive strike’ on Iran earlier this month, which happened just as more people started speaking up about the genocide, attention has been averted from Gaza. But Israel’s assault on Gaza (and the West Bank), is continuing apace.
With the pressure off, the fear is that some of the most extreme voices in Israel will get exactly what they want in Gaza. Which, as retired Maj Gen Giora Eiland wrote in an Israeli paper on 12 October 2023, is to turn into “a place where no human being can exist”.
To remind you of what some of these voices have planned for Gaza, below is a collection of some of the more outrageous statements by Israeli lawmakers or influencers since 7 October 2023.
I’ve limited the collection to 20, but there are databases online with hundreds of statements which show a... READ MORE https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jun/27/israel-gaza-propaganda[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies]
Deadly Israeli-US supply distribution scheme in Gaza must be dismantled and siege lifted : "With over 500 people killed and nearly 4,000 wounded while seeking food, this scheme is slaughter masquerading as humanitarian aid and must be immediately dismantled…"
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| Crowds of people at the aid centre of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation on the Coastal Road, in the Sudaniya area of northern Gaza City on 17June. Photograph: Habboub Ramez/ABACA/Shutterstock |
The Israeli-US food distribution scheme in Gaza is 'slaughter masquerading as aid' - Médecins Sans Frontières
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has said that “the Israeli-US food distribution scheme in Gaza is slaughter masquerading as humanitarian aid” as it called on the Israeli authorities to end its siege on the devastated territory.
Palestinian witnesses and health officials say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire on crowds heading toward desperately needed food, killing hundreds of Palestinian people in recent weeks.
Israel wants the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) – an Israeli-backed logistics group - to replace a system coordinated by the UN and international aid groups. Along with the US, it accuses Hamas of stealing aid, without offering evidence.
The UN and aid agencies have denied that there has been any significant theft of their supplies by Hamas.
In a press release published on its website today, MSF wrote:
Deadly Israeli-US supply distribution scheme in Gaza must be dismantled and siege lifted
The Israeli-US food distribution scheme in Gaza, Palestine, launched one month ago, is degrading Palestinians by design, forcing them to choose between starvation or risking their lives for minimal supplies.
With over 500 people killed and nearly 4,000 wounded while seeking food, this scheme is slaughter masquerading as humanitarian aid and must be immediately dismantled…
This disaster has been orchestrated by the Israeli-US proxy operating under the name Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). The way supplies are distributed forces thousands of Palestinians, who have been starved by an over 100 day-long Israeli siege, to walk long distances to reach the four distribution sites and fight for scraps of food supplies.
These sites hinder women, children, the elderly, and people with disabilities, from accessing aid and people are killed and wounded in the chaotic process.... READ MORE https://www.msf.org/deadly-israeli-us-supply-distribution-scheme-gaza-must-be-dismantled
[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies]
UN chief says US-backed Gaza aid operation is 'unsafe' and is 'killing people'
United Nations secretary general António Guterres said on Friday that a US-backed aid operation in Gaza is “inherently unsafe,” giving a blunt assessment: “It is killing people.”
He also said UN-led humanitarian efforts are being “strangled,” aid workers themselves are starving and Israel - as the occupying power - is required to agree to and facilitate aid deliveries into and throughout Palestine, Reuters reports.
“People
are being killed simply trying to feed themselves and their families.
The search for food must never be a death sentence,” Guterres told
reporters. https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2025/jun/27/israel-closes-crossing-aid-points-gaza-famine-middle-east-crisis-latest-updates-news?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-685ebb278f080e77497127e3#block-685ebb278f080e77497127e3
"We shouldn’t have to wait for an Israeli newspaper to reveal what has been so painfully obvious about the hunger games operation of shooting at starving Palestinians for target practice daily at these death traps, but here we are." Dr. Omar Suleiman
We shouldn’t have to wait for an Israeli newspaper to reveal what has been so painfully obvious about the hunger games operation of shooting at starving Palestinians for target practice daily at these death traps, but here we are.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee expressed “deep lamentation and outrage” as the crisis in Palestine and Israel escalates to levels that flagrantly violate international humanitarian and human rights law as well as the most basic principles of morality. The statement calls for naming the reality of apartheid. “We recognize and denounce the system of apartheid imposed by Israel on the Palestinian people, in violation of international law and moral conscience,”
WCC central committee: end apartheid, occupation, and impunity in Palestine and Israel
“We recognize a clear distinction between the Jewish people, our siblings in faith, and the acts of the Government of Israel, and we reaffirm that the WCC stands firm against any kind of racism, including antisemitism, anti-Arab racism, and islamophobia,” reads a statement released by the WCC governing body. “However, the unbearable suffering inflicted on the people of Gaza, and the escalating violence and oppression in the West Bank and in Jerusalem compel the global fellowship of churches to speak with clarity, urgency, and commitment to the principles of justice under international law and ethics.”
The WCC reaffirmed its longstanding commitment to inter-religious dialogue and cooperation, and to international law as a framework for peace, justice, and accountability.
The statement calls for naming the reality of apartheid. “We recognize and denounce the system of apartheid imposed by Israel on the Palestinian people, in violation of international law and moral conscience,” the text reads.
The statement calls for implementing sanctions and accountability. “We call on states, churches, and international institutions to impose consequences for violations of international law, including targeted sanctions, divestment, and arms embargoes,” the text reads. “Full support must be given to the International Criminal Court and UN mechanisms investigating potential war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
The statement also affirms Palestinian rights and freedom, justice, return, and self-determination. “We demand the end of the occupation and the lifting of the unlawful blockade on Gaza,” reads the text.
Finally the statement calls for support for the resilience and witness of Palestinian Christian churches and communities, “upholding their right to remain on their land and to freely practice their faith.”
The statement concludes by commending the leadership of the South African government in seeking justice and accountability to international law through the International Court of Justice, and urge all states to comply with the court’s rulings. “Churches worldwide are called to witness, to speak out, and to act,” the statement concludes.
[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies]
“They [Israelis] attack us without provocation, and when the young [Palestinian] people go to defend women and children, they are shot by the army. The bitter truth is that the world is watching the bloodshed of the Palestinian people without doing anything about it.”
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| Mourners carry the bodies of men killed during an attack by Israeli settlers in Kafr Malik. Photograph: Ammar Awad/Reuters |
‘They attack us without provocation’: West Bank town mourns its dead after settler raid
Sense of helplessness pervades Kafr Malik where IDF killed three Palestinians after locals resisted masked marauders
The men from Fatah arrived on Thursday morning, hours after the attack on Kafr Malik, to put out more flags along the main streets, adding bright primary colours to a mournful scene, but they did nothing to relieve the all-encompassing sense of helplessness.
Three men from this central West Bank town, one a teenager, lay dead and several others were still in hospital after an attack by about 100 Israeli settlers on Wednesday evening. The men of Kafr Malik had run to its south-western edge to form a screen against the settlers and rescue women and children trapped in a house set alight by the masked attackers.
But as they threw stones at the settlers in an attempt to drive them back, the Israel army, who had taken up position behind the marauders, opened fire at the Palestinians.
“Their own kids are really valuable to them but other people’s kids are worthless,” said Mohammed Sabry, his eyes swollen from a night of weeping. His 18-year-old son, Lutfi, was one of the dead.
“There is no justification whatsoever to shed the blood of the Palestinian people like this,” Sabry said. “They attack us without provocation, and when the young people go to defend women and children, they are shot by the army. The bitter truth is that the world is watching the bloodshed of the Palestinian people without doing anything about it.”
Afi Hamayel has the misfortune to own a house on the south-east edge of town and it took the brunt of the settler attack. “They threw petrol bombs into my car and then through the window into the house,” Hayamel said as friends helped him remove charred personal effects from the house.
Hamayel’s extended family, including his own six children – 20 people altogether – had taken shelter in the house as the attack began. When it began to burn, a neighbour ran down the hillside to help them escape.
“He was helping me evacuate the children. He took them to his house and he was coming back when the army shot him in the head,” he said. The neighbour, 35, was listed as one of the three killed on Wednesday.... READ MORE https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/26/west-bank-town-kafr-malik-mourns-its-dead-israeli-settler-attack?CMP=GTUK_email
[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies]
Israeli officers and soldiers have told a local newspaper that they were instructed to shoot at unarmed Palestinians seeking aid at Israeli-American GHF Gaza "Humanitarian" Foundation designated distribution zones in Gaza, despite the crowds posing no threat.
Israeli soldiers say they were ordered to fire at unarmed aid seekers: Report
Israeli officers and soldiers have told a local newspaper that they were instructed to shoot at unarmed Palestinians seeking aid at designated distribution zones in Gaza, despite the crowds posing no threat.
Israel’s Haaretz reported that it had learned that the military prosecutor’s office has demanded that the military’s supreme command launch an investigation of suspected war crimes at the aid hubs.
In the report, the soldiers described how they fired on crowds of aid seekers to prevent them approaching or disperse them, rather than using non-lethal crowd control measures.
“It’s a killing field … where I was, between one and five people were killed every day,” one soldier said.
“They fire on them as if they were an attacking force: they don’t use riot control devices, they don’t shoot tear gas, they shoot everything you can think of – a heavy machine gun, a grenade launcher, mortars.
He added: “We communicate with them through fire.”
According to the Gaza Health Ministry, at least 549 people have been killed near aid centres since they began operating in late May.
The US has just approved $30m in funding for the group, despite the
routine violence at its sites and warnings from human rights lawyers
that its staff could be held criminally liable for complicity in war
crimes.... READ MORE https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2025/6/27/live-israel-kills-over-70-in-gaza-as-549-killed-seeking-aid-in-past-month?update=3803146
Thursday, June 26, 2025
Dear America- Invest in the people's needs... Be for real freedom, justice, true equality, and respect for all of humankind!
Today, Thursday June 26th 2025 is Charter Day. 80 years ago, 50 nations met in San Francisco, USA, to create a new organization for peace, prosperity & human rights. https://www.un.org/en/about-us/un-charter
Big beautiful human rights & dignity should always be our priority!
Please
in every budget prioritize funding Libraries and PBS and museums and
parks and true charity and healthcare for those in need so that we the
people are free to learn and study and appreciate the world- and free to
be better citizens.
Don't
be an Israeli-firster & war monger. Seek to invest in peace and
diplomacy and real democracy in every possible way: Be for real
freedom, justice, true equality, and respect for all of humankind!
America's Israel-firsters push money away from American needs into weapons of war so that Israel armed with American money and weaponry can target, bomb, and destroy any individual, family, home, refugee camp, hospital, school, organization, or country that dares object to the continued persecution and impoverishment of Palestinians.
Today, ignoring Israeli violence and Zionist cruelty as Israeli policies and warfare guarantee that babies starve and die in Gaza makes America look bad- and very very stupid.
Utterly incompetent our fourth estate- our free press, our elected politicians, and far too many of our religious leaders foolishly ignore racist Israel's escalating violations of international law and the very real plight and suffering of the native non-Jewish men, women, and children of historic Palestine.
America
should be supporting and funding the United Nations & UNWRA not
that Israeli-American killing zone concoction called the GHF, the Gaza
"Humanitarian" Foundation.
Peace,
prosperity and human rights. The ideals spelled out in the United
Nations Charter are even more relevant today in this age of
interconnected technology and sophisticated weaponry. We need more brains- not brawn.
Invest in the people's needs.
Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab
NOTES https://anniesnewletters.blogspot.com/search/label/Notes
LETTERS https://anniesnewletters.blogspot.com/search/label/letters
WE THE PEOPLES OF THE UNITED NATIONS DETERMINED to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and to promote social progress and better standards of life....
"The new mechanism [Israeli-American GHF] is an abomination that costs lives. It humiliates and degrades desperate people, concentrating them in ghetto-like hubs, from which they can be more easily displaced. This is the grotesque culmination of 20 months of inaction and impunity, during which more than 55,000 people have been reported killed – mostly women and children... [PLUS] The occupied West Bank is now under lockdown. Additional restrictions on the movement of people and goods, are intensifying the impact of brutal military operations by the Israeli Security Forces, and rampant violence by Israeli settlers."
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) was mandated by the UN General Assembly in 1949 to provide services for registered Palestine refugees in the Middle East. For 75 years, UNRWA has been the primary humanitarian provider for nearly 6 million refugees across the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, delivering emergency assistance and development services like education, primary healthcare, food, and shelter.
On October 28, 2024, the Israeli Knesset (Parliament) passed a devastating vote to ban UNRWA from operating in the occupied Palestinian territory...
She dreamed of becoming a journalist. Yaqeen (12 years old) was killed by Israel in Gaza.
MC Abdul - Shouting At The Wall (Official Video)
Dear Israel, When you get bombed after bombing 5 other countries YOU ARE NOT THE VICTIM ! Hands off the Middle East !
The Guardian view on Israel, the US and Iran: you can’t bomb your way out of nuclear proliferation- The age of disarmament is over. But military action only increases the dangers instead of ending the threat
God protect us all from all the idiocy and murderous propaganda...
Dr. Omar Suleiman
It’s so important for folks in the West to watch media from other parts of the world.
The brainwashing colonial era tropes are so potent, especially with populations that have never traveled beyond their borders.
God protect us all from all the idiocy and murderous propaganda.
Red line after red line has been crossed in Gaza [by Israel]. Schools bombed [by Israel]. Children killed [by Israel]. Aid centres turned into killing grounds [by Israel].... STOP SUPPORTING WAR CRIMES Red Line for Palestine
"Now, with the genocide in Palestine, we’re faced with a reality in which tens of thousands of Americans are actively involved in war crimes. They are part of an army responsible for the murder of more than 20,000 children in Gaza, where the Economist estimates that Israeli soldiers have killed between 77,000 and 109,000 people, or 4-5% of the territory’s population in 2023."
Tens of thousands of Americans serve in Israel amid genocide, investing in and propagating occupation
In 1948, more than 700,000 Palestinians were displaced from their towns and villages. 77 years later, Palestinians continue to be forcibly displaced. Since the war in #Gaza began, around 1.9 million people have been forced to flee their homes. #WorldRefugeeDay
"The West Bank is on lockdown. This means that the gates Israel spent the last ten years erecting at every village and town entrance are closed— effectively caging Palestinians in their own homes. For years Palestinians protested these practices, non violently, and yet nothing changed. The world still normalized Israel and told Palestinians “it’s not a big deal.” As Palestinians are caged in, Israel has also spent the past two years ensuring agricultural destruction. This means in the West Bank, people don’t have access to lands or farms. It means Palestinians must purchase food from Israel, and everything has become more expensive. Palestinian homes are being rampaged, ransacked, and turned to military bases. Israel has also mass destroyed and demolished thousands of Palestinian homes, and displaced tens of thousands of Palestinians in the last few years. Meanwhile, Israeli settlements are expanding deeper into Palestinian towns and cities, drying water sources, destroying lands, killing & maiming people. What is happening to Palestinians as a whole population is extermination." Mariam Barghouti
Israeli leaders are accusing Iran of war crimes after it struck an Israeli hospital. Israel has been bombing hospitals in Gaza for over 21 months, destroying almost all of them.
Mosab Abu Toha: This young man who was killed yesterday while seeking aid on the Rasheed Street in Gaza was put on a pallet as others carried him to the hospital. That same pallet that had sacks of flour before other people managed to get them.
Dear America- Stand up for international law and Human Rights, not the weapons industry.
Antisemitic and Islamophobic violence is rising in the United States. Both must stop: We have a duty to call out antisemitism when we see it. We also have an equal duty to remember that Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims are also being targeted
Let's use the best tool we have: EDUCATION against ignorance, prejudice, hatred, genocide
More journalists have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza than in most major wars combined.
The MATH of modern GENOCIDE & the US weapons industry.
"The Holocaust did not start with gas chambers. This hatred gradually developed from words, stereotypes, and prejudice through legal exclusion, dehumanisation and escalatin violence" Memorial and Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau
Building a Culture of Peace ...
"The United Nations was not created to take mankind to heaven, but to save humanity from hell." ~Dag Hammarskjöld, second Secretary-General of the United Nations
"Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world..." https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights
WE THE PEOPLES OF THE UNITED NATIONS DETERMINED to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and to promote social progress and better standards of life....
WE THE PEOPLES OF THE UNITED NATIONS DETERMINED
to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and
to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and
to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and
to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,
AND FOR THESE ENDS
to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbours, and
to unite our strength to maintain international peace and security, and
to ensure, by the acceptance of principles and the institution of methods, that armed force shall not be used, save in the common interest, and
to employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples,
HAVE RESOLVED TO COMBINE OUR EFFORTS TO ACCOMPLISH THESE AIMS.
Accordingly, our respective Governments, through representatives assembled in the city of San Francisco, who have exhibited their full powers found to be in good and due form, have agreed to the present Charter of the United Nations and do hereby establish an international organization to be known as the United Nations.
Chapter I: Purposes and Principles
Article 1
The Purposes of the United Nations are:
- To maintain international peace and security, and to that end: to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace, and to bring about by peaceful means, and in conformity with the principles of justice and international law, adjustment or settlement of international disputes or situations which might lead to a breach of the peace;
- To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and to take other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace;
- To achieve international co-operation in solving international
problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character,
and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for
fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex,
language, or religion; and...READ MORE https://www.un.org/en/about-us/un-charter/full-text
[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies]
"The new mechanism [Israeli-American GHF] is an abomination that costs lives. It humiliates and degrades desperate people, concentrating them in ghetto-like hubs, from which they can be more easily displaced. This is the grotesque culmination of 20 months of inaction and impunity, during which more than 55,000 people have been reported killed – mostly women and children... [PLUS] The occupied West Bank is now under lockdown. Additional restrictions on the movement of people and goods, are intensifying the impact of brutal military operations by the Israeli Security Forces, and rampant violence by Israeli settlers."
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) was mandated by the UN General Assembly in 1949 to provide services for registered Palestine refugees in the Middle East. For 75 years, UNRWA has been the primary humanitarian provider for nearly 6 million refugees across the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, delivering emergency assistance and development services like education, primary healthcare, food, and shelter.
On October 28, 2024, the Israeli Knesset (Parliament) passed a devastating vote to ban UNRWA from operating in the occupied Palestinian territory...
[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies]
During @UNRWA Advisory Commission, I stressed that we are witnessing the implementation of a project, to separate Palestinians from #Palestine.
In #Gaza, the culmination of 20+ months of inaction & impunity meant that desperate people are being starved, humiliated & degraded. They are concentrated in ghetto-like hubs from which they are likely to be further displaced.
In the occupied West Bank, annexation is well underway.
Across the region, Palestine Refugees are marginalized. They face profound anxiety & uncertainty while UNRWA, the Agency they have relied on for generations, undergoes an existential crisis.
We are at a tipping point threatening to permanently shift long-established parameters for peace.
I urged Member States to increase their political engagement to find a solution to the conflict that will also address the plight of Palestine Refugees.
Statement by Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General at the Meeting of the Advisory Commission (AdCom)
25 June 2025
Virtual
Excellencies,
Members of the Advisory Commission,
I would like to begin by expressing my gratitude to Spain for the strong commitment it has shown as Chair of the Advisory Commission at a time of unprecedented challenges for UNRWA.
I am also grateful to the Vice Chairs, Brazil and Jordan, for their steadfast support; and to Lebanon and Australia for their important contributions as Chair and Vice Chair of the Sub-Commission.
The fact that this meeting must be held virtually reflects the dangerous escalation taking place in the Middle East.
Principled political engagement by Member States is urgently needed, including by the members of this Advisory Commission in relation to the future of Palestine Refugees.
Excellencies,
We are at a tipping point in the occupied Palestinian territory, which threatens to permanently shift the long-established parameters for resolving the Israel-Palestine conflict.
We are witnessing the implementation of a project, decades in the making, to separate Palestinians from Palestine.
In Gaza, two million people are being starved, while food and medical supplies sit across the border.
It is obscene.
A so-called “aid mechanism” has been created to replace the principled international aid operation led by the United Nations, of which UNRWA is a critical part.
The new mechanism is an abomination that costs lives.
It humiliates and degrades desperate people, concentrating them in ghetto-like hubs, from which they can be more easily displaced.
This is the grotesque culmination of 20 months of inaction and impunity, during which more than 55,000 people have been reported killed – mostly women and children.
***
The occupied West Bank is now under lockdown.
Additional restrictions on the movement of people and goods, are intensifying the impact of brutal military operations by the Israeli Security Forces, and rampant violence by Israeli settlers.
In the north, Palestinians have been displaced from camps at levels not seen since 1967.
Public infrastructure is systematically destroyed so Palestinians cannot return, and the demography of camps is permanently altered.
Annexation is well underway.
The Israeli authorities are also depriving Palestinians of the most basic rights, including the right to education.
A painful example is the forced closure of UNRWA schools in occupied East Jerusalem, weeks before the end of the school year and without any alternative for nearly 550 girls and boys.
Denying children an education is not only inhumane, it is illegal.
***
For Palestine Refugees outside the occupied Palestinian territory – in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan – it is a time of profound anxiety and uncertainty.
In the past year, many have suffered the impact of war, sweeping political changes, and economic hardship.
These are not new experiences for this long marginalized and deeply vulnerable population.
What is new is the existential crisis engulfing the United Nations agency on which they have relied for generations, at every stage of their lives.
Members of the Advisory Commission,
So great is the desire to undermine the viability of a Palestinian State, and to strip Palestinians from their refugee status, that dismantling UNRWA has become an objective of the war in Gaza.
The Agency is crumbling under the weight of relentless political attacks.
Israeli legislation against UNRWA took effect in January, prohibiting our operations in what Israel considers its sovereign territory – including occupied East Jerusalem – and prohibiting contact between Israeli authorities and the Agency.
The legislation has effectively expelled international UNRWA staff from the occupied Palestinian territory.
However, our services continue.
Here, I must pay tribute to our local staff, whose courage and determination – amid arrests, harassment and intimidation – have allowed the Agency to provide essential services, including education and healthcare, to Palestine Refugees.
But many of our colleagues have paid the ultimate price.
Nearly 320 UNRWA personnel have been killed in Gaza, many with their families.
One staff member was summarily executed while on duty for the United Nations and found near the infamous mass grave of Palestinian paramedics.
I continue to call for accountability for these and other international crimes.
In Gaza, UNRWA still provides more than 15,000 health consultations each day.
We also play a critical role in managing shelters, providing clean water, and removing waste.
To support our local staff, we have in place 24-hour remote management and critical incident reporting systems, backed by international staff.
This helps to ensure effective coordination and accountability.
***
The goal of ending UNRWA’s operations also underpins the fierce disinformation campaign spearheaded by Israel.
This campaign targets lawmakers and the public in countries that support UNRWA, strangling our funding for critical services to Palestine Refugees.
To tackle disinformation, we must continue to insist that independent, international media enter and report from Gaza.
This is a vital complement to the extraordinary efforts of Palestinian journalists and others who have reported daily, especially through social media, about the atrocities taking place.
Excellencies,
The political attacks against UNRWA are based on allegations that the Agency is colluding with or infiltrated by Hamas.
UNRWA takes allegations of neutrality breaches extremely seriously.
Our policy on Outside and Political Activities makes clear that while personal views and convictions are inviolable – in accordance with human rights – staff are prohibited from participating in activities or being a member of any militant or armed group.
We do not operate in a zero-risk environment, but we take a zero-tolerance approach to any proven breaches.
The Independent Review of UNRWA’s neutrality conducted last year found that the Agency has a more robust approach to neutrality than comparable entities.
Out of the 50 recommendations arising from this review, 20 recommendations will be fully implemented by the end of this month.
The remining 30 are all underway.
Implementing the recommendations of the Colonna Report remains a priority.
We will be sharing a report next month on this remarkable progress.
***
I know that many of you are particularly interested in progress made on recommendations related to neutrality in education.
In all UNRWA schools, we use textbooks from host governments.
This is best practice in refugee education globally, and allows students to pursue further education and employment more easily.
In the occupied West Bank, this means using textbooks from the Palestinian Authority.
The Grade 5 Arabic textbook includes a portrait of Dalal al Mughrabi, a Palestinian militant, that does not align with United Nations values.
We raised our concerns with the Ministry of Education multiple times.
Last December, I wrote to President Abbas informing him that UNRWA would no longer teach the Grade 5 Arabic textbook in our schools.
The books have been withdrawn and replaced with self-learning materials developed by the Agency.
***
UNRWA continues to work tirelessly to ensure staff integrity by conducting human resource background checks.
Staff are also screened against United Nations sanctions lists.
Through our partnerships with banks, checks against additional sanctions lists are performed as part of the salary distribution process.
For the past 15 years, UNRWA has consistently shared staff lists with host countries and Israel.
We now do so on a quarterly basis.
***
I must stress that UNRWA – like comparable United Nations entities – does not have police, military or intelligence capabilities.
We rely on Member States when such capacities are needed.
We have repeatedly asked the Government of Israel for evidence to support its claims that UNRWA staff are involved in militant activity.
Last month, I wrote to the Foreign Minister of Israel, once again, requesting information and evidence to substantiate these allegations.
In my letter, I also noted that the Government of Israel has not pursued any prosecutions within its criminal justice system, which would also require the presentation of credible evidence.
I explained that if the Government had shared evidence with UNRWA or pursued criminal prosecutions at the domestic level, the Agency could have acted within its regulatory framework to dismiss staff against whom criminal culpability had been established, in accordance with recognized principles of due process.
We have not received a response.
I must reiterate here that allegations are not evidence.
Repeating allegations in letters or on social media does not constitute due process.
The absence of evidence, and of legal process, raises the possibility that the accusations made against UNRWA personnel are unfounded... READ MORE https://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/official-statements/statement-philippe-lazzarini-unrwa-commissioner-general-meeting-0