‘We Are United’: Former UNRWA Chief Preached Unity With Iran’s Terror Proxies

Latest Developments

• UNRWA Pledged Cooperation With Iran’s Terror Proxies: Pierre Krahenbuhl, the previous head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNWRA), pledged to meet with Iran’s Palestinian terror proxies “a thousand times” to discuss policy decisions, the Geneva-based nonprofit UN Watch revealed on November 21. In 2017, Krahenbuhl met with leaders from Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and other terrorist organizations in Beirut, where he advocated “the spirit of partnership” and assured the terror chiefs that “we are united” and “no one can separate us.”

• Palestinian Terrorists on UNRWA’s Payroll: In January, the Israeli government shared a dossier with the Biden administration that revealed the participation of 12 UNRWA employees in Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre. Israeli intelligence indicated that approximately 450 UNRWA staff in Gaza were terror operatives at the time of the attack.

• Krahenbuhl Resigned Amid Corruption Accusations: Krahenbuhl resigned from his UNRWA post in 2019 amidst allegations of misconduct, including nepotism, discrimination, and sexual misconduct. In 2023, the United Nations appointed Krahenbuhl as the director-general of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack, the ICRC has repeatedly failed to perform its most basic functions of proof of life and verification of medical treatment to hostages in Gaza.
FDD Expert Response

“If anyone was still searching for a smoking gun that exposed UNRWA’s top-down explicit policy of direct support for designated terrorist organizations, this is it. This has far-reaching implications, not just for U.S. funding but also for our consideration of UNRWA as an independent entity of the United Nations, which is not immune from sanctions or civil litigation.” — Richard Goldberg, Senior Advisor

“These revelations are more evidence of the depth of the partnership between UNRWA and Palestinian terrorist organizations. Those countries that still donate to UNRWA’s coffers are supporting an agency that honors terrorists pledged to the wholesale destruction of the world’s only Jewish state, itself a UN member. The antisemitism rampant in the schools operated by UNRWA clearly extends to the upper echelons of this agency.” — Ben Cohen, Senior Analyst and Rapid Response Manager

“It is becoming clearer and clearer that UNRWA’s deep ties to terrorists are a feature — not a bug. Hundreds of UNRWA employees are Hamas members, and the UN agency admitted that nine of its employees took part in the October 7 massacre. This can partially be explained by the fact that UNRWA does not screen employees for ties to terrorism. But the problem is much larger than that. The head of UNRWA’s teachers’ union in Lebanon was also the head of Hamas in Lebanon. And now, it has been revealed that UNRWA’s commissioner-general cozied up to terrorists in 2017. When the head of UNRWA in Gaza went against this trend, commenting in 2021 that Israel’s strikes against terrorist targets were sophisticated and precise, he had to flee the territory out of fear for his safety.” — David May, Senior Research Analyst and Research Manager