Israel blasts Canada and Sweden for resuming funding to UNRWA before probe completed

Israel condemns Canada and Sweden for resuming their funding to UNRWA, saying decisions to do so “after having received the intelligence-based information about [UNRWA’s] employees who participated in the 7 October massacre and prior to the completion of the work of the investigative bodies and the publication of their findings is a serious mistake that constitutes tacit agreement and support by [Ottawa and Stockholm] to ignoring the involvement of UNRWA employees in terrorist activity.”

But the statement from Israel’ Foreign Ministry appears to be part of a mixed messaging campaign, given that a senior Israeli official reached out to The Times of Israel to assert that Jerusalem opposes dissolving UNRWA mid-war, in an apparent effort to warn countries not to permanently sever their funding.

“The return to funding UNRWA will not change the fact that the organization is part of the problem and will not be part of the solution in the Gaza Strip,” the Foreign Ministry adds.

“Israel calls on the governments of Canada and Sweden to stop the funding and not to support an organization whose ranks include hundreds of members of the Hamas terrorist organization.”