Several countries have acted after Israel raised suspicions of Hamas connections among employees of the UN agency UNRWA.
If the accusations are true, it risks worsening an already bad relationship between Israel and the UN, believes Peter Haldén, docent in political science and lecturer in military science at the Norwegian Defense Academy.
– It can develop in any way, he says.
Twelve employees have been dismissed and several countries, including the US, UK, Australia and Canada have suspended their financial support to the UN agency for Palestine refugees. The reason is that Israel accuses UNRWA of having been involved in various ways in the Hamas terrorist attacks on October 7. Among other things, one of the employees must have been involved in the hostage-taking.
– These are very serious accusations and very serious if true, says Peter Haldén, docent in political science and lecturer in military science at the Norwegian Defense University.
– Then we have members of a UN body who, in that case, contributed to an incredibly horrible attack that goes against everything the UN stands for and was founded to prevent.
Previous criticism
Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz writes on X that the country “warned about this for several years”. And there has been criticism of Unrwa in the past. According to Peter Haldén, the UN body is clearly biased in favor of Palestine.
– When I saw these accusations, I was therefore horrified, but not very surprised. If you are going to operate in Gaza, you have to somehow operate with the approval of Hamas.
He emphasizes that it is still too early to draw any conclusions. Both in terms of the consequences of the suspended financial support and the scope.
– We will get more details eventually. If it is Hamas that infiltrated UNRWA or if they themselves went over to Hamas. That line can be difficult to draw, he says.
“Helping their mortal enemies”
However, Peter Haldén interprets the decisions of the major donor countries as showing that there is credibility in Israel’s data.
– Joe Biden has been subjected to internal criticism for not caring about the Palestinians. The fact that the US still does this indicates that it is sure of its cause. You don’t want to donate money to an organization that then ends up in Hamas’ pockets.
The accusations also risk worsening Israel’s relationship with the UN.
– It is already bad, because from Israel’s side it is believed that the UN has taken far too great a side against Israel in various forms. If it turns out that a UN agency is helping their mortal enemies, the relationship deteriorates further, says Peter Haldén.