A Biden administration spokesperson on Monday attempted to avoid addressing allegations by employees of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees that they were tortured while in Israeli detention by claiming the U.S. State Department has not seen any media reporting on the accusations.
Ryan Grim, The Intercept‘s Washington, D.C. bureau chief, asked deputy State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel if he believes the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) staff members who say they were tortured by Israeli interrogators into making false confessions about involvement with the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which led the October 7 attacks on Israel. Israeli officials claimed that at least 12 out of UNRWA’s 13,000 staff in Gaza had ties to Hamas and October 7.
“When you originally talked about the allegations against the 12 staff, you have said that UNRWA itself was the one who forwarded those allegations alone. You said you found them credible, but since then UNRWA itself has said that its staff were tortured by Israel in order to get some of those confessions extracted,” said Grim. “Does that change your view of the evidence that was presented by Israel, and if UNRWA was credible enough for you believe the allegations the first time, is UNRWA credible enough when they make an allegation of torture against its staff?”
Patel replied, “I’ve not seen that reporting, Ryan,” adding that “we continue to find the allegations that were laid out a number of months ago to be credible.”
.@ryangrim asks about UNRWA saying Israel tortured its staff to coerce confessions. StateSpox says he hasn’t seen that report, which is over a week old.
The US cut funding to a vital aid agency during a crisis, but isn’t up to speed on reports that directly impact that funding? pic.twitter.com/KNNGo7EoTG
— Assal Rad (@AssalRad) March 18, 2024
The U.S. and more than a dozen other nations suspended funding for UNRWA in the wake of the Israeli allegations. In what UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini later called an act of “reverse due process,” the agency terminated nine employees in response to Israel’s claims, despite admitting to having no evidence to support their firing.
The European Union and nations including Canada, Sweden, and Australia subsequently reinstated funding for UNRWA, which Lazzarini said “is facing a deliberate and concerted campaign to undermine its operations.”
The controversy over UNRWA has unfolded as the agency struggles to provide shelter and humanitarian aid to Gazans, who are suffering not only Israeli bombs and bullets but also a genocidal siege and blockade that are exacerbating growing famine in the embattled enclave.
U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) this week called Israeli claims that UNRWA is a Hamas proxy a “flat-out lie.”
“If you cut off funding for UNRWA in Gaza entirely, it means more people will starve, more people won’t get the medical assistance they need, and so it would be a huge mistake,” the senator warned.
Brett Wilkins is is staff writer for Common Dreams. Based in San Francisco, his work covers issues of social justice, human rights and war and peace. This originally appeared at CommonDreams and is reprinted with the author’s permission.
The State Department would say anything to cover Israel’s hide. Israel said UNWRA is funding Hamas and causing terror attacks in Israel and says Hamas would hoard aid trucks meant for the people in Gaza.
Israel is blocking the aid from getting in and destroying aid trucks entering Gaza.
Whatever Israel does, it blames it on Hamas and twists the story of what really happened.
The thing is though, they’re willing to behave like that to Palestinians out of nationalism and religion, but in the absence of those I fear governments will just treat everyone equally but badly.
Israelis seem to treat their own people well. There is probably a positive there as well as a negative.
Israel is probably the most extreme. Sometimes colonials would mistreat alien subjects due to poverty from carrying capacity having been reached. So, that’s not entirely due to nationalism/religion. And today we possibly aren’t faced with carrying capacity concerns, globally.
Patel replied, “I’ve not seen that reporting, Ryan,” adding that “we continue to find the allegations that were laid out a number of months ago to be credible.”
He’s probably not lying. If you refuse to look, it didn’t happen.
How do you make US officials blind? …Easy, Wars. You show them documentation of Israel’s atrocities.
Why the hell does anyone even bothering asking the State Department – or anyone else in the US government (outside possibly the General Accounting Office) anything? Do we expect them to tell the truth? Seriously?
And if they did – what would you do about it? Again: nothing.
The whole UNRWA Affair seems to be planned in advance by Israel and its allies. Israel has been planning the destruction of UNRWA for quite some time. Then came Hamas attacks on October the 7th. This was the justification that Israel needed to put its plan into action. Israel made the allegations against UNRWA and immediately the US and its partners decided to cut funds to the agency without verifying the allegations.
America has to hide the WAR CRIMES Israel is committing every day, so they can hide their own War Crimes. I do not expect truth to come out of the mouths of LIARS, the Genocidal Monsters in America and Zionist Israel.
The use of torture is evil and disgusting, as well as irrational. How do you get an honest confession out of a prisoner who just wants the torture to stop? Over time, they’ll just say what the interrogator wants them to confess, right?
It probably works sometimes. I don’t want to think about it. If you’re experiencing Hell and just want to be put out of your misery, maybe the truth slips out, anything to end the suffering.
The whole Department then must be blind…!
“The U.S. and more than a dozen other nations suspended funding for UNRWA in the wake of the Israeli allegations….despite…having no evidence.”
…..dah….but isriel SED it!!!!!…..daaaaah…..