IDF: Shocked Its Gaza Intelligence Fuels Campaign to Destroy UNRWA Yet another "scandal" to distract the world from Gaza genocide

Evidence points to the Israeli foreign ministry as the source for Israeli claims published by its trusty US media outlet–the Wall Street Journal–that 1,200 UNRWA employees are members of Hamas or Islamic Jihad.  Israel told US officials that at least a dozen participated in the 10/7 attack.  Whereupon Pres. Biden immediately cut off funding to the UN humanitarian relief agency tasked with preventing starvation in Gaza.  A dozen nations have followed suit.  None apparently have reviewed or analyzed the purported “intelligence” material which buttresses these charges.

The NY Times reports that the information comes from military intelligence:

The Israeli military provided the United States with a dossier alleging that roughly 10 percent of the agency’s 13,000 employees in Gaza are Hamas members. That assessment is derived from cross-referencing an UNRWA staff list with a directory of Hamas members that soldiers found on a computer during a recent operation inside Gaza, according to the military officials.

It is preposterous that Hamas would maintain a directory of all its members on a computer.  This would be considered critical information which it would never expose by leaving it so accessible. Unless the IDF reviewed every name to determine whether and how the individuals were associated with Hamas, the directory is questionable.  Nor do we know what UNRWA staff  list was used and whether the information it contained was valid.

There is even dissension within the ranks of the Israeli government about how the intelligence was used. The army itself was shocked that the foreign ministry decided to turn its intelligence information into an international scandal:

The military leadership was so surprised that the information had reached U.S. officials that they ordered an internal investigation about how it was disseminated, according to the military officials, who spoke anonymously to discuss a sensitive matter.

In other words, the WSJ article was based on an unauthorized leak, possibly by a foreign ministry official.  The newly-appointed foreign minister is an incompetent blowhard, Israel Katz, who tells anyone he meets about his grandiose plans to build a railroad connecting Arab countries who are members of the Abraham Accords; or a seaport on an artificial island off the coast (see video).  Presumably, some or all of Gaza’s residents could be expelled there as well.  It’s not surprising that he or one of his officials would have gone rogue regarding the UNRWA “dossier.”

This bit of freelancing may destroy the only international aid organization standing between Gazans and mass starvation.  Nobody thought of that before they mounted this stunt.  Now the army is scrambling, because it realizes that without UNRWA it will be expected to stave off starvation; or else thousands will be dying on the streets in scenes reminiscent of the Warsaw ghetto. The IDF wants nothing to do with feeding Gazans. It prefers to kill them.

Wall Street Journal as Israel’s media mouthpiece

Returning to the WSJ article, this is the first of its claims:

Six United Nations Relief and Works Agency workers were part of the wave of Palestinian militants who killed 1,200 people in the deadliest assault on Jews since the Holocaust, according to the intelligence dossier.

The context offered about the 10/7 attack is false.  1,139 Israelis died in the assault.  But not all were killed by Palestinian fighters. Israeli media interviews with witnesses and survivors testify to mass killings of both fighters and Israeli hostages by IDF tanks and helicopter gunships.  We do not know who killed them because Israel has refused to do autopsies of victims, which would be a standard practice in any western country. Its refusal to do so, indicates a reluctance to acknowledge its own forces killed its own citizens.

10/7 was not an “assault on Jews.” Hamas did not kill Israelis because they were Jews.  It killed them because they were Israeli and Israel is murdering Palestinians by the tens of thousands, even before 10/7. Use of the term by WSJ invokes the anti-Semitism bugaboo, always a potent tool on behalf of Israeli propaganda.

Here is the closest we get to specificity about the source of the dossier:

The information in the intelligence reports—based on what an official described as very sensitive signals intelligence as well as cellphone tracking data, interrogations of captured Hamas fighters and documents recovered from dead militants, among other things—were part of a briefing given by Israel to U.S. officials that led Washington and others to suspend aid to Unrwa.

Note that whatever the contents of the dossier, it appears there was little or no first-hand evidence.  Instead, they relied on an unnamed “official” who interpreted it for them and told them on what it was based.  Saying your source attempted to authenticate his claims based on material you haven’t seen is not good journalism.

No intelligence agency of any of these countries has vouched for the accuracy of the Israeli claims.  Statements of concern have been made. But none have evaluated them professionally or asked their own intelligence officials to offer public comment.  Claims have been accepted verbatim.

Skepticism is in order: when I approached an Israeli security source for comment on the claim that 1,200 employees were associated with Palestinian resistance groups, he said that figure was “grossly exaggerated.”  He believes 200 UNRWA staff may be members of Hamas or PIJ, and about 10% of these took part in Oct. 7 attack.  In other words, roughly 20 employees may have participated in the attack. Given that this source bases his claims on precise and detailed intelligence gathered on the ground–which flies in the face of whatever WSJ was told–the the foreign ministry leak is based on second-hand information. The source even disputes the IDF assessment as inflated.  This alone tells you how intelligence, especially Israeli intelligence, can be manipulated to support any desired political outcome.

The article claims that 15% of the adult male population of Gaza is affiliated with Hamas.  There are 1.1-million Gazan males. According to these figures, 165,000 would be members of Hamas.  Even if we eliminate minors, the number is still preposterous considering Hamas’ fighting force is only 30,000.

More anti-UNRWA propaganda regurgitated by WSJ:

Israel and some in the U.S. have long accused it of nurturing anti-Israeli sentiment in crowded refugee camps that have been important recruiting grounds for militant groups, including Hamas.

Who is “some in the U.S.?”  How does the agency “nurture anti-Israel sentiment?” Does it put propaganda in its foodstuffs?  Does it put recruiting posters in its classrooms?  We don’t know, because the reporter offers no proof.

The WSJ article accepts every claim in the “dossier” without analysis.  A critical job of journalism is to subject every source and every piece of leaked material to scrutiny. You must determine their authenticity. This didn’t happen.

It wouldn’t be the first time.  WSJ is Netanyahu’s favorite media outlet. He knows anything he leaks to them will receive immediate and favorable coverage.  A few months ago, the WSJ published a report based on anonymous–but almost definitely Israeli–sources claiming that Iran planned and organized the 10/7 attack in direct meetings in Beirut with Hezbollah and Hamas officials. The report was immediately called into question by US and other intelligence agencies which found no such evidence. Nor has any media outlet since made similar claims.

The IDF itself has engaged in the same baseless campaigns against humanitarian NGOs.  During the last Israeli government, then-defense minister Benny Gantz declared six Palestinian human rights NGOs illegal because they were, he asserted, affiliated with Islamic Jihad.  He offered a “dossier” to US intelligence supporting the claim.  They even flew senior officials to Washington to present the “evidence.” However, US officials rejected it and declared nothing supports the claims.  The organizations continue to operate freely today and no further charges have brought against them.  But it offered Gantz a feather in his cap for his right-wing constituency.

UNRWA as deliberate distraction from ICJ ruling

The attack on UNWRA is calculated by Netanyahu to distract from the International Criminal Court finding, that there was sufficient evidence supporting a formal complaint of genocide against Israel.  Though Israel attempted to discredit the Court and its ruling, this has failed.  Scores of countries have joined South Africa in calling for it to respect the ruling and end the genocidal acts. No one is taking the bait.

So Israel decided UNRWA was the weakest link in the Gaza chain.  For decades, Israel has attacked the UN aid organization, established after the 1948 War to support the 1-million refugees expelled from Palestine.  It operates in all the countries which accepted these displaced persons (Syria, Lebanon, Jordan).

Israel claims that they and their descendants are no longer refugees. They are now residents of the countries in which they live.  Thus, there is no longer any reason for UNRWA to exist.  It wants to eliminate the refugee issue since it buttresses Palestinian claims to their homes and villages destroyed during the Nakba.  Eliminate UNRWA and you eliminate the refugees. Eliminate the refugees and you have an Arab-rein state. A state by, for, and of Jews and Jews alone.  This is a cherished goal of Israel’s far-right since the founding of the State.  One it is closer to than any time in Israel’s existence.

During the Trump presidency, as a slavish supporter of Israeli interests, he moved the US embassy to Jerusalem and defunded UNRWA. Biden is now following suit.  He has retained most of the Trump policies regarding Israel-Palestine, including recognizing the West Bank and Golan as sovereign Israeli territory. Nor has Biden reopened the US consulate in East Jerusalem, which Trump closed.

In defunding the UN agency, Biden continues his obsequious policy toward Israel.  One with which a majority of Americans disagree. He is being burned. The UNRWA non-scandal only adds to his burden of bad judgment.