Why are we supporting Hamas?

Dear Ambassador Marc-André Blanchard, Just over two months ago I wrote to you in these pages regarding renewed Canadian funding — to the tune of an initial $25 million — of the UN’s Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees. In fact, my letter was timed for you to read just before you arrived in Israel for a visit, presumably, to learn about the manner in which Canadian financial support was being utilized.

I never did receive the courtesy of a reply. But I suppose that the recent announcement by your colleague in Ottawa, Minister of International Development Marie-Claude Bibeau, that Canada has pledged an additional $10-million to support UNRWA is a response in kind.

Correct me if I am mistaken, Ambassador, but I am quite certain that you did not pop into Gaza while here in order to learn about UNRWA operations in the terrorist-controlled territory. This is where much of the Canadian money will be spent, I expect.

Since 2006, when elections were last held in the Gaza Strip, Hamas — a group listed as “terrorist” by Canada and most Western countries — has controlled life with an iron and decidedly non-progressive fist. Many Western donations find their way into Hamas hands, where they are applied to enhance the network of terror tunnels boring into Israel for the sole purpose of attacking civilians. The population’s needs are ignored, deemed always secondary to the holy struggle — jihad — to destroy Israel and all Jews.

There is copious evidence of Hamas rockets and military accessories being sheltered in the same UNRWA schools and health clinics which Canada is funding. And, then, there is the matter of the openly toxic curriculum used in these schools; where terror against the Zionist occupier (the shorthand used by Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (PA) for Israelis — a term they cannot bear to utter) is promoted and glorified. Additional Canadian funds are allocated to support UNRWA operations in the West Bank, where the curriculum is no less offensive.

You may have heard that a recent report issued by the Jerusalem-based Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education regarding the “new” and improved curriculum used in West Bank schools — including UNRWA facilities — is causing quite a stir in the U.K. The fact that the U.K. government provided £20 million pounds to support such institutions last year is receiving rather unfavourable coverage.

The “new” curriculum launched last August is, reportedly, even more radical than the previous iteration. The educational material is saturated with reference to Zionist occupiers, colonialists, invaders and oppressors. There is no promotion of peace or negotiations, but lots of sabre rattling and reverence for “martyrs” who fight the Zionist oppressors. This material is amplified by teacher commentary in social media and, very likely, in the classroom, much of which has been documented, as I shared with you in my last letter.

Unlike Canada, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, has repeatedly warned UNRWA and the Palestinian Authority that American financial support may be reduced or eliminated. She has articulated, very clearly, that America will not abide continued Palestinian incitement and absolutist rejection of Israel in schools, state-controlled media and society generally. If the PA wishes to receive financial support, she said, then it must engage meaningfully in peace negotiations with Israel. And, it must work with UNRWA to ensure neutrality in the organization, in a manner consistent with its humanitarian mandate.

Ambassador Haley is mindful of the fact that the PA authors UNRWA curriculum in the West Bank, and Hamas does so in Gaza. And she is crystal clear in saying Palestinian incitement and intransigence will not be rewarded with financial support.

This principled position stands in stark contrast to Canada’s. We hear a lot these days about Canadian values and principles but what do “Canadian values” actually mean?

Minister Bibeau, when announcing the $10-million gift, was careful to state that the Department will continue to exercise “’enhanced due diligence” with respect to UNRWA funding.

In a statement regarding this additional funding, Global Affairs Canada commented: “This assistance underlines how Canada and the (sic) UNRWA continue to work together to ensure respect for the values of the United Nations and the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, operational independence and impartiality.”

With the greatest respect, Ambassador, this is hogwash.

Ongoing anti-Jewish and Israeli incitement by UNRWA employees online is well-documented and was raised in my last letter to you. UNRWA curriculum continues to celebrate terrorist attacks against Israelis, as do the governmental authorities of the PA in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza.

When I requested information in January from the Department of Global Affairs regarding the nature of the “enhanced due diligence measures” much ballyhooed by Minister Bibeau in her previous public statements on the topic, I was provided with nothing of any substance. Nothing.

Why is there such obfuscation? Why does Canada state that we implement effective and “enhanced” due diligence measures to oversee UNRWA spending of Canadian tax dollars when we all know that to be an utterly hollow representation?

Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for saving the sick and orphaned and widowed and poor and diseased, but not if it means enriching Hamas and the Islamic State and Iran and the PA in the process, strengthening their power bases in every important respect.

As I asked you previously, Ambassador, why is Canada funding anti-Jewish and anti Israel curriculum and terror? Because, make no mistake — that is exactly what you are doing.