"Truth is a rare commodity when it comes to international organizations, all the more so when it comes to the United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA), the internationally funded welfare organization for Palestinians. For UNRWA employees, truth-telling can be a career killer, or worse.
Consider the case of Matthias Schmale, UNRWA’s director of operations the Gaza Strip, who is now persona non grata and forbidden to return to Hamas-ruled Gaza. Schmale’s crime was telling Israel’s Channel 12 that Israeli attacks on Hamas installations were precise: 'I’m not a military expert but I would not dispute that. I also have the impression that there is a huge sophistication in the way the Israeli military struck over the last 11 days.' Schmale also denied that there were shortages of food and medical supplies in Gaza.
Despite saying that 'So yes they did not hit, with some exceptions, civilian targets, but the viciousness and ferocity of the strikes was heavily felt,' Schmale’s remarks produced outrage among Palestinian factions, including Hamas, which stated his 'comments are a complete distortion in favor of the Zionists including an attempt to exonerate the Occupation of the murder of 254 Palestinians, more than 40% of them children, women and the elderly.' Other Palestinian factions quickly argued that Schmale was 'a major reason for the suffering of thousands of Palestinian refugees and UNRWA employees in the Gaza Strip.'
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UNRWA, including both its international and Palestinian employees, are simply hostages, partly of their own making. Like other totalitarian governments, the atmosphere of harassment and intimidation created by Hamas is real and palpable. Having seen Hamas throw its political opponents off of buildings and dragging their bodies through the streets is highly instructive. For this reason, Western media had little to say when observing Hamas operatives dig up water pipes for conversion into missiles or constructing miles of tunnels under Gaza. Nor did the Associated Press need to be reminded to ignore Hamas facilities in their shared building. Antagonizing the hosts with the truth can be self-destructive.
When access is everything, Westerners willingly make themselves hostages. And when the truth slips out, access is lost and apologies flow... With $150 million of renewed U.S. funding and yet another 'emergency appeal' from UNRWA, the stakes are high, but truth seems unlikely to reappear soon."