How Did Palestinians Become Eternal Refugees?
UNRWA is no longer just a relief agency. It’s part of the problem. Here’s why countries are cutting funding fast.
Stefan Tompson
Jul 11, 2025 - 10:08 AM
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Humanitarian Mission or Political Machine?
UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, was established 76 years ago to provide humanitarian aid to Palestinians displaced by the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. Its mandate included delivering essential services such as education, healthcare, and basic assistance. However, rather than resolving the refugee crisis, UNRWA has entrenched and prolonged it.
Instead of resettling the original 700,000 refugees, the agency expanded its registry to include over 5.6 million descendants. This policy has locked generations into permanent refugee status, fostering the belief that they must “return” to what is now Israel, an idea that effectively denies the Jewish state’s legitimacy.
Unlike other refugee agencies, UNRWA does not promote integration or long-term solutions. It sustains a singular political narrative centered on the “right of return” to Israel, transforming the agency from a neutral humanitarian body into a partisan political actor.
When Humanitarian Aid Becomes a Cover for Terrorism
UNRWA’s 58 refugee camps and more than 700 schools have, in many cases, become platforms for radicalization. Educational materials used in these schools frequently promote anti-Semitic tropes, glorify violence, and deny Israel’s right to exist. Children are taught that armed resistance is not only justified, but heroic.
This radicalization goes beyond ideology. UNRWA buildings have reportedly been used as rocket launch sites, weapons depots, and Hamas command centers. Tunnel shafts linked to Hamas’s underground network have been discovered beneath UNRWA schools and facilities. Weapons such as RPGs and rifles have been found hidden in UNRWA-run medical clinics, mosques, and aid warehouses. Hostages have reportedly been held in UNRWA hospitals, including 28-year-old Emily Damari, who was imprisoned in one. Nineteen-year-old Noa Mariano was killed in another, and an 84-year-old captive, Dvora Herman, was allegedly held by a teacher on UNRWA’s payroll.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched a brutal terror attack on Israel, murdering more than 1,200 Israelis and kidnapping 251, including American citizens. In the aftermath, Israeli intelligence revealed that at least 108 UNRWA employees were active members of Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad. A comprehensive Israeli intelligence dossier linked roughly 1,200 UNRWA staffers to terrorist activity, with some directly involved in planning and executing the October 7 attacks.
While the United Nations has acknowledged that some of these allegations are true, it has refused to remove many of the accused individuals from their positions, raising serious questions about UNRWA’s role and oversight.
UNRWA’s Expanding Network
The problem is not confined to Gaza. In Lebanon, Fatmeh Sherif Abu El-Amin, head of the UNRWA Teachers’ Association, was also leading Hamas’s branch in the country. A school principal responsible for directing education within UNRWA simultaneously managed terrorist operations. This is no coincidence, it reveals a deep structural failure within the agency.
Faced with overwhelming evidence, Israel officially designated UNRWA as a terrorist organization. In 2024, several donor countries began pulling back their support. The United States and Germany temporarily froze funding, while Switzerland cut its financial contributions in half, explicitly acknowledging that UNRWA was enabling terrorism and promoting anti-Semitism.
With an annual budget of roughly one billion dollars, almost entirely funded by UN member states, these recent suspensions have already had a significant impact on the agency’s operations.
Should We Keep Funding UNRWA?
UNRWA is not just dysfunctional, it has been compromised. It does not serve peace. It does not serve refugees. And it certainly does not serve the interests of its donor countries.
No other refugee agency in the world operates like this. No other organization claims the right to keep millions in a perpetual state of displacement. And no legitimate humanitarian group should be used as a storage site for rockets, a hiding place for hostages, or a platform for indoctrinating children.
So, should your country continue to fund this agency? At this point, supporting UNRWA is no longer a matter of compassion. It is a matter of denial.
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Stefan Tompson
Founder | Visegrad24