PM is non-comital when asked about Canadian tax dollars being sent to an organization rife with terrorist connections.
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Justin Trudeau won’t rule out restoring funding to terrorist-affiliated aid group UNRWA.
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The Prime Minister was asked three times about UNRWA funding by Canadian taxpayers on Thursday and couldn’t give a clear answer.
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The Trudeau government was scheduled to announce a restoration of funding to UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, at a Wednesday morning news conference featuring International Development Minister Ahmed Hussen and U.N. Ambassador Bob Rae.
That announcement was hastily cancelled hours after Israel released fresh evidence linking UNRWA teachers to the Oct. 7 attacks, including one boasting of taking a hostage.
“We have sabaya, I captured one!” Yousef al-Hawajara boasted to his friends on Oct. 7, 2023.
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Sabaya is the term ISIS used for their captured women, the sex slaves they took from Yazidi settlements. And al-Hawajara, he was a teacher at the UNRWA elementary school in Deir al-Balah in Gaza.
The recordings of the calls al-Hawajara made to his friends to boast of taking a young Israeli woman hostage on Oct. 7 were released by the Israeli Defense Forces this week. This, and other evidence, should preclude Canada from ever funding UNRWA again.
But the Trudeau Liberals aren’t ready to make that kind of proclamation.
“Prime Minister Trudeau, will you be restoring funding to UNRWA?” Trudeau was asked directly.
He never gave a direct answer despite three attempts by journalists.
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“The ongoing humanitarian crisis and disaster in Gaza is heart-wrenching for everyone,” Trudeau said, at first, while emphasizing the need to get aid into Gaza.
“There are serious allegations being followed up by the United Nations,” he said. “And we’re going to continue to move thoughtfully forward but our priority will always be, being there to protect innocent lives.”
Asked about restoring aid to UNRWA again, Trudeau turned back to the issue of ensuring aid gets into Gaza for innocent civilians.
Here’s the problem with his thinking, UNRWA is not an agency built for distributing food and medical aid in a war zone, they run schools and many of their employees are teachers.
This was an issue that Israeli government spokesman Eylon Levy explained during a recent episode of the Full Comment podcast.
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“UNRWA is not an agency, most of its staff are teachers, it doesn’t have the experience of doing disaster relief in emergency zones,” Levy said.
“The UN knows how to distribute aid, UNICEF World Food Programme etc. It’s time to activate them in Gaza and ditch the aid organization the organization that is a front for Hamas.”
Sadly, that’s not where the Trudeau government’s head is at.
They are desperately trying to find a way to restore funding to UNRWA as they face pressure from so-called “progressive” groups that are demanding this terror-affiliated group get your tax dollars.
Yes, we can all understand the feelings of pain and anguish for civilians in Gaza, but that doesn’t mean we need to fund a United Nations agency that is filled with terrorist agents and sympathizers.
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“Over 450 UNRWA employees are military operatives in terror groups in Gaza,” Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in releasing the new evidence of UNRWA workers taking part in the killing, raping and hostage taking of Oct. 7.
“This is no mere coincidence, this is systematic. There is no claiming, ‘We did not know.’”
The Trudeau government seems to not want to know, but thankfully many are telling them – including those inside the Liberal tent.
“Given its history, we believe that UNRWA lacks sufficient governance and internal controls to ensure that humanitarian aid delivered by Canada will be reliably delivered to those who actually need it and that there is a serious risk funds will be misappropriated by Hamas,” Liberal MPs Anthony Housefather and Marco Mendicino said in a joint statement.
Trudeau should listen to those voices, he should look at the evidence but he should not send a single penny of Canadian tax dollars to the terrorist-infiltrated UNRWA ever again.
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