Tillis, Colleagues Call For UNRWA Head’s Appointment to the International Committee of the Red Cross Be Reconsidered

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Thom Tillis and his colleagues recently sent a letter to the International Committee of the Red Cross requesting they reconsider the appointment of Mr. Pierre Krahenbuhl to serve as director general.

“We write to request you reconsider the appointment of Mr. Pierre Krahenbuhl to serve as director general of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). It is our belief that the publicly reported ‘credible and corroborated’ allegations of mismanagement, ethical misconduct, and abuse of authority that prompted Mr. Krahenbuhl’s resignation from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near

East (UNRWA) in 2019 disqualify him from leading the ICRC at this pivotal moment in history,” the senators wrote.

“Extending beyond the allegations of ethical misconduct leveled against Mr. Krahenbuhl, we have serious concerns about the direction UNRWA took under his leadership between 2014 to 2019. Over this period, UNRWA facilities were repeatedly used to store weapons on behalf of the U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization Hamas. Moreover, under Mr. Krahenbuhl’s leadership, UNRWA textbooks included anti-Semitic material that incited anti-Israeli violence,” the senators continued.

“The United States Congress takes these allegations and corresponding evidence extremely seriously. As the largest donor to the ICRC, we cannot stand idly by as yet another international organization falls prey to anti-Semitism and violence, let alone gross mismanagement and moral corruption,” the senators concluded.