BRUSSELS — A joint statement today by members of the European Parliament slammed UNRWA for refusing to participate in a hearing, and condemned leftist parties for trying to cancel and disrupt the testimony of UN Watch's executive director. Hillel Neuer was invited to address a hearing last week about UNRWA in the European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee's Working Group on External Financial Instruments, to present UN Watch's latest report, "UNRWA's Terrorgram", which exposes 3,000 teachers who belong to a Telegram chat group that celebrated the atrocities of October 7th.
Today's joint statement, signed by MEPs David Lega, Andrey Kovatchev, Anna-Michelle Asimakopoulou and Assita Kanko, calls out UNRWA for declining to participate in the meeting and answer questions. “The EU and its Member States combined are the biggest donor to UNRWA; EU taxpayers are providing more than 100 million euro a year to UNRWA... We expect UNRWA to answer our questions and be ready to explain how EU funds are spent,” said the lawmakers. The parliamentarians said they were "astonished" at attempts by MEPs from the Left, the Greens and the Socialists (S&D) to cancel the hearing featuring Neuer. When the chair declined to cancel the meeting, the leftists MEPs then demanded the event be held off the record, forcing the removal of cameras and microphones from the event, to prevent Neuer's remarks from being recorded or broadcast. That wasn't enough, however. Left-wing lawmakers came to the hearing and then rudely walked out, after accusing UN Watch of spreading "propaganda" and accusing Neuer of unnamed "crimes," calling for his "prosecution," and saying it was a “disgrace” to sit and “let UN Watch destroy the UN institutions.” In response, four MEPs today blasted their fellow lawmakers: "We unequivocally condemn the decision of our leftist colleagues to leave the hearing, refusing to listen to the report by UN Watch and showing no willingness to find out the facts," said the lawmakers. The removal of cameras is an extremely rare occurrence for this kind of hearing when the invited witness has not himself made the request. “I had expected probing questions and also that some would boycott the meeting. But I wouldn't have thought that they would come and attack Hillel and then get up and leave the hall. That’s outrageous,” said Chairman David Lega. Neuer's testimony before the committee exposed UNRWA's terror activities while refuting misinformation propagated by the agency. He highlighted UNRWA's employment of an estimated thousands of individuals associated with terrorism, including teachers who celebrated the October 7th atrocities, and actual terrorists employed by the agency who were involved in the assault on Israel. Neuer reported 450 terrorists in Gaza who work for UNRWA, including at least 15 who took part in the atrocities of October 7th, such as the UNRWA social worker who kidnapped the lifeless body of Yonatan Samerano and dragged him into Gaza. In a post-hearing Instagram live video, Neuer underscored the detrimental impact of UNRWA's actions on the prospects of peaceful coexistence, and the agency's failure to promote it. "The very goal of UNRWA is to teach Palestinians: Your home is not here in Gaza, it's in Israel. So when Gazans gets cement to build homes, hospitals, and schools, don't be surprised that they use the cement to build hundreds of kilometers of terror tunnels. It's completely subversive to the two-state solution which the UN and the EU claim to support." |
