U.S. must end funding of terrorist propaganda in Palestinian camps

The Daily Tribune

When you examine the websites about the United Nations Relief and Work Agency, you get glowing reports of its wonderful humanitarian work.

You're told of an agency that is helping care for an estimated 1.5 million Palestinians in refugee camps.

The pictures are inspiring and heartwarming. It's impossible not to feel sympathy for the refugees.

But the sanguine picture painted on the Web is, in many respects, just a facade.

Israeli investigative journalist David Bedein has looked underneath the surface and has found some very sinister activity. Bedein, the Jerusalem bureau chief of the Israel Resource News Agency, has raised many questions about the refugee camps and the U.N. agency supporting them.

Bedein has discovered that the camps are funded by donations from individuals and countries from throughout the world. As might be expected, the United States is one of the largest contributors, providing more than 30 percent of the funds.

Americans are told that their money supports social services, nutrition and educational programs. But we're not told about the biased indoctrination that maybe be provided under the guise of education.

Bedein said while the U.N. agency is responsible for the camps, administration of them and the money obtained is done by Hamas, the terrorist organization that has vowed to wipe Israel off the map. Hamas is not too fond of the United States either.

He notes that unlike other refugee camps, where efforts are made to relocate the inhabitants, no such work is being conducted for the Palestinians.

As Bedein notes "Palestinian refugees are staying refugees. The U.N. is not making an effort to resettle them, but instead is financing what appears to be an Hamas-administered population that is being taught that they will stay refugees until they return to their 1948 homes in Israel.

"Those homes obviously don't exist anymore, and it would mean displacing Israelis. In fact, they're not against killing Jews."

The United States says it supports Israel, yet through its donations to the refugee camps, it is figuratively providing guns to terrorists. In this case, the "guns" are in the form of hateful propaganda, but the damage can be just as severe. Bedein said hundreds of thousands of refugees are being brainwashed and taught to despise Israel and accept nothing but its complete destruction.

All of this is going on under what has been termed "Right to Return" policy, which says refugees have a right to return to their native countries.

However, if their native countries no longer exist, how long should they be housed - or imprisoned - in refugee camps?

As Bedein notes, the Palestinian camps are the only ones sponsored by the U.N. that do not make an effort to relocate their inhabitants. There are numerous Arab countries where these poor souls could find kindred spirits and be relocated.

But there's no such effort. Instead, the extremists in the Middle East are using them as pawns in their fight against Israel.

There is some hope. In recent news reports, congressional Republicans and Democrats have said the U.S. aid to the Palestinians is in jeopardy if Hamas' direct involvement in the camps continues.

Obviously, our leaders must be aware of the situation. We just hope they have the courage to follow through and stop the aid. Whatever good it is doing is being negated by the hateful messages it supports.