UN pressed for answers from GOP senator over teacher allegedly keeping Israeli hostage

The United Nations is being investigated by Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) over a report that one of its teachers for a Palestinian agency helped hide an Israeli hostage taken captive on Oct. 7 — the day the terrorist organization Hamas attacked the Jewish state and killed more than 1,200 people.

A father of 10 and teacher with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which works alongside Palestinian refugees and has long come under fire from national security experts and members of Congress for Hamas ties, kept the hostage “for almost 50 days in the attic of a house,” Almog Boker of Israeli Channel 13 reported last week. Blackburn sent a detailed list of questions on Monday to U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield and UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini in connection to the allegations, which she said in a letter “hardly come as a surprise given UNRWA’s history of antisemitism.”

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“The United States will not be complicit in propping up Hamas’ terrorism, and this report further proves why deep change is necessary within UNRWA before we even consider providing another dollar to the agency,” Blackburn, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, wrote in the letter.

“Additionally, it is deeply concerning that, despite the prevalence of these reports, the United Nations has seemingly done nothing to investigate or prevent the siphoning of UNRWA funding by terrorists,” the senator told Thomas-Greenfield and Lazzarini. “And UNRWA continues to double down on its claims that each subsequent, documented report is ‘unsubstantiated.'”

UNRWA spokeswoman Laurane March said last week the agency takes “any such allegation seriously” and is “determined to find out whether this information is genuine or false.”

“UNRWA is in contact with the author of this allegation and whoever may be in a position to assist us in determining the facts,” March said.

The demand for answers is the latest escalation of attempts by lawmakers to look into the explosive November report about the UNRWA teacher, which prompted Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) on Friday to ask U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to investigate its contents. In her letter, Blackburn cited reporting from the Washington Examiner from early November on a watchdog’s findings that UNRWA staff “immediately celebrated and justified” the Hamas-led terrorist attacks against Israel on Oct. 7.

Mariam Zuhaib/AP

UNRWA has received hundreds of millions of dollars in aid from the Biden administration despite the federal government raising concerns in 2021 that loosening sanctions on Gaza cash could result in a “high risk” of Hamas raking in taxpayer dollars. The Trump administration halted Palestinian aid over terrorism concerns.

By Dec. 18, Blackburn wants to know whether the alleged captor in Boker’s report still works for UNRWA and if “the alleged incident has been thoroughly investigated by UNRWA,” as well as the office’s “process for ensuring their employees are not simultaneously working with Hamas or other terrorist organizations.”

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The senator also requested information on “UNRWA’s process for ensuring that its facilities are not used to support terrorist activities.” Last year, the State Department said in a report that two UNRWA schools had tunnels used by terrorists for covert operations, including for transporting weapons.

“What types of oversight does the UN provide over UNRWA?” Blackburn asked in the letter. “Please document the specific processes you have put into place to ensure UNRWA personnel, facilities, and resources are not used to support terrorists or terrorist organizations.”