Opinion | Unrwa’s Not-So-Independent Investigators

Evidence keeps emerging that the United Nations relief agency for Palestinians in Gaza has been assisting Hamas, and even the U.N. has felt obliged to investigate after Western nations froze future funding. But what we’re learning about the supposedly independent investigation of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa) doesn’t inspire confidence.

After the news that a dozen Unrwa staffers participated in the Hamas massacre of Oct. 7, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres commissioned an internal investigation and a separate independent review. Now it turns out at least two of the three agencies selected to conduct that independent review have made statements aligning themselves against Israel or defending Unrwa.

One reviewer is the Danish Institute for Human Rights. In January one its senior researchers, Peter Vedel Kessing, praised the South African case at the International Court of Justice charging Israel with genocide. He called the charges a “breakthrough” and “important progress for international humanitarian law.” Guess who’s side he’s on?

A second review is Norway’s Chr. Michelsen Institute. In a September 2022 report, the institute notes in its summary that “skepticism and outright opposition” to Unrwa is “based on the misunderstanding that its existence helps perpetuate the refugee problem” and “unfounded claims that the Agency instigates violence.”

Then there is Catherine Colonna, the former French foreign minister appointed to lead the independent inquiry of Unrwa. It doesn’t take long to find her on X (formerly Twitter) praising Unrwa and the work of its leader Philipe Lazzarini as “plus utile que jamais” (more useful than ever).

It’s hard to imagine these people and groups providing a fair assessment of Unrwa’s links to Hamas. In 2023 the U.S. contributed $153.7 million to Unrwa, which means it helped to finance U.N. workers who helped Hamas with its massacre. Unrwa is unlikely to change, so the best policy is to stop paying for it.