David Bedein, Director.

Susannah George, AP Intelligence and National Security Correspondent, this week published a feature “Trump administration cuts aid funding for Palestinian refugees”*, which overlooked two vital issues.

First, that the US cutback to UNRWA was immediately covered by the other 67 nations who fund UNRWA.

The Center for Near East Policy Research, CFNEPR, contacted 44 nations who donate humanitarian aid to the Palestinian population in Gaza through UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, to determine if any other donor nation had cut back on its donations to UNRWA. Every   diplomatic legation that donates to UNRWA responded emphatically that they are not cutting back one penny from aid to UNRWA. Tabulating the responses from the diplomatic community, CFNEPR calculated that the 1.2 billion dollar UNRWA budget flows from the donor nations to UNRWA

This is the breakdown of donor funds to UNRWA from this past year:
https://www.unrwa.org/sites/default/files/overalldonor_ranking.pdf

Second, the AP correspondent did not deal with reasonable reforms which US asks of UNRWA:

  • Cancellation of the new UNRWA war curriculum, based on Jihad, martyrdom and the “right of return by force of arms”, which have no place in UN education
  • Ceasing paramilitary training in all UNRWA schools. UNRWA, a UN agency with a commitment to “peace education”, instead allows arms training on its premises.
  • Insisting that UNRWA dismiss employees affiliated with Hamas, in accordance with laws on the books in the US, the UK, Canada, the EU and Australia which forbid aid to any agency that employs members of a terrorist organization.
  • Allow resettlement of fourth and fifth generation refugees from the 1948 war, which UNRWA currently now blocks.
  • Demand an audit of donor funds from 68 nations, address reports of wasted resources, and a flow of cash to the terror groups that have controlled UNRWA operations on Gaza there for the past 18 years

* https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/us-cuts-funding-palestinian-refugees-un-relief-works-agency-west-bank-gaza-donald-trump-a8517641.html

The post What the AP Intelligence Correspondent Needs to Ask appeared first on Israel Behind the News.

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David Bedein
David Bedein

David Bedein is an MSW community organizer and an investigative journalist.   In 1987, Bedein established the Israel Resource News Agency at Beit Agron to accompany foreign journalists in their coverage of Israel, to balance the media lobbies established by the PLO and their allies.   Mr. Bedein has reported for news outlets such as CNN Radio, Makor Rishon, Philadelphia Inquirer, Los Angeles Times, BBC and The Jerusalem Post, For four years, Mr. Bedein acted as the Middle East correspondent for The Philadelphia Bulletin, writing 1,062 articles until the newspaper ceased operation in 2010. Bedein has covered breaking Middle East negotiations in Oslo, Ottawa, Shepherdstown, The Wye Plantation, Annapolis, Geneva, Nicosia, Washington, D.C., London, Bonn, and Vienna. Bedein has overseen investigative studies of the Palestinian Authority, the Expulsion Process from Gush Katif and Samaria, The Peres Center for Peace, Peace Now, The International Center for Economic Cooperation of Yossi Beilin, the ISM, Adalah, and the New Israel Fund.   Since 2005, Bedein has also served as Director of the Center for Near East Policy Research.   A focus of the center’s investigations is The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). In that context, Bedein authored Roadblock to Peace: How the UN Perpetuates the Arab-Israeli Conflict – UNRWA Policies Reconsidered, which caps Bedein’s 28 years of investigations of UNRWA. The Center for Near East Policy Research has been instrumental in reaching elected officials, decision makers and journalists, commissioning studies, reports, news stories and films. In 2009, the center began decided to produce short movies, in addition to monographs, to film every aspect of UNRWA education in a clear and cogent fashion.   The center has so far produced seven short documentary pieces n UNRWA which have received international acclaim and recognition, showing how which UNRWA promotes anti-Semitism and incitement to violence in their education’   In sum, Bedein has pioneered The UNRWA Reform Initiative, a strategy which calls for donor nations to insist on reasonable reforms of UNRWA. Bedein and his team of experts provide timely briefings to members to legislative bodies world wide, bringing the results of his investigations to donor nations, while demanding reforms based on transparency, refugee resettlement and the demand that terrorists be removed from the UNRWA schools and UNRWA payroll.   Bedein’s work can be found at:www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com and www.cfnepr.com. A new site,unrwa-monitor.com, will be launched very soon.

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