Australia warns Israel, reveals anti-UN misinformation

Australia has found multiple instances of misinformation regarding a United Nations organisation helping Palestinian refugees that Israel wants disbanded.

The government is also raising concerns about humanitarian aid reaching Gazans on top of alarm about the scale of civilian casualties that would stem from an Israeli ground invasion of the southern city of Rafah.

Tel Aviv raised allegations that workers with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) had participated in the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7.

In January, Australia joined a slate of other nations in suspending funding for the organisation as the allegations were investigated.

While the initial report said 30 agency staff had been involved, it found less than half were staff, the assistant secretary for the foreign affairs department’s Middle East division told a Senate hearing on Thursday.

“Some of the people that are involved in some of the alleged acts are employees, but often significant numbers of people are not and so it sort of gets a little bit blurred,” Marc Innes-Brown said.

Australia has been advised two people were fired and further investigations by the UN were taking place into about 10 employees, he added.

There was no evidence against three others.

A report claiming 3000 agency teachers were part of a Telegram channel celebrating the October 7 attacks wasn’t substantiated, Mr Innes-Brown said.

“I’m not sure where the 3000 came from, but the channel wasn’t set up by UNRWA, it was people seeking work with UNRWA,” he said.

A picture circulated with the report alleging those 3000 people were dancing in the streets celebrating the attack was also false, Mr Innes-Brown said.

The photo, investigated by the Australian office in Ramallah, was taken before the attack and showed a protest outside the relief agency’s headquarters related to compensation for the 2014 conflict.

There were sometimes “kernels of truth” in the allegations made by groups who want the Palestinian aid agency disbanded, Mr Innes-Brown said.

“But … unfortunately often these reports can contain a significant amount of exaggeration,” he said.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong defended the decision to suspend funding in January, saying it was in line with international partners, but said she was still waiting for Israel’s evidence after requesting it.

“I would hope that the Israeli government would ensure that its friends and partners are provided with that information,” she said.

The lack of evidence “smacks of a political decision to cut off aid to Palestinians amidst a humanitarian catastrophe”, Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi said.

Australia’s pledge of $46.5 million in humanitarian assistance since the war began would be delivered in full, Senator Wong said.

In a joint statement on Thursday, the prime ministers of Australia, New Zealand and Canada said they were “gravely concerned” about a military offensive in Rafah.

Such an invasion would be catastrophic, they said, with 1.5 million Palestinians taking refuge in the area, many at the behest of Israeli forces.

“Palestinian civilians cannot be made to pay the price of defeating Hamas”, they said, again condemning the designated terrorist organisation and calling for the release of hostages.

“We urge the Israeli government not to go down this path. There is simply nowhere else for civilians to go.”

The devastation of a ground invasion “would be unjustifiable,” Senator Wong added, saying Israel had yet to produce a credible plan on how it would ensure the safety of civilians.

“Even in war, there are limits; even in war, there are rules,” she said.

The Australian Council of Australian Jewry shared concerns about civilians but said the government offered no alternatives to defeat Hamas and rescue some 130 hostages.

“Israel has the right and the duty to defeat Hamas by force,” co-CEO Alex Ryvchin said.

The Zionist Federation of Australia notes the joint statement issued by the Prime Ministers of Australia, New Zealand and Canada reinforces the Australian Government’s clear position that the hostages must be released and Hamas must surrender. The ZFA also notes Senator Wong’s reiteration in Estimates today that Hamas must have no role in governing Gaza in the future.

ZFA President Jeremy Leibler said, “It is extremely disappointing and frankly unreasonable for the Government to call for the removal of Hamas from power as the only pathway to end the war and simultaneously call on Israel to refrain from entering Rafah to remove the last remaining Hamas stronghold. It places Israel in an impossible position and sets a precedent that terrorist organisations will have immunity by hiding behind civilians. The simple fact is that Israel did not start this war and does not want this war. If it were possible to rescue the hostages and remove Hamas from Gaza without risking any civilian lives or the lives of Israeli soldiers, Israel would do so. As demonstrated by the rescue of two Israeli hostages last week from Rafah, it is clear that Hamas continues to operate from that area, knowing they are putting Palestinian civilians at risk”.

Mr Leibler continued, “The humanitarian situation in Gaza is dire and has been brought about by Hamas’s tactic of shielding itself within civilian areas, which is a gross violation of the laws of armed conflict.  Israel has consistently warned civilians before undertaking military operations and has made it clear that it would only commence a ground operation in Gaza after ensuring that are arrangement in place to minimize civilian casualties.

The Hamas-Israel war could end tomorrow if only Hamas were to surrender and release the hostages. While the Australian Government has rightly reiterated this point, we call on all governments, including Australia, to focus their efforts on applying this pressure on Hamas. This is the only pathway to addressing the significant humanitarian crisis in Gaza and ending the war.”

The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) today expressed its appreciation for calls for Hamas to lay down its arms and free the hostages in today’s joint statement from the Prime Ministers of Australia, Canada and New Zealand,  but also said it was disappointing the statement’s comments expressing “grave concerns” regarding Israel’s planned military operation in Rafah betrayed a “disturbing lack of realism.”

AIJAC Executive Director Dr Colin Rubenstein said, “We are pleased that the statement acknowledges that under any permanent ceasefire, Hamas must lay down its arms and release all hostages immediately.

The PMs also quite rightly called for a negotiated ultimate political solution, to achieve lasting peace and security. However, this can’t happen while Hamas, dedicated to Israel’s destruction, retains power in Gaza – which it would if the statement’s advice regarding Rafah prevailed.

Hamas has made it abundantly clear that it will not lay down its arms and release all hostages if given the choice. It has also made it clear that it intends to keep control of Gaza, and to rebuild its military capacity and attack Israel again when it is able.

These obvious contradictions in the statement by the three PMs make it appear disappointingly divorced from reality.

The statement also fails to acknowledge that Israel is currently delaying its plans to attack Rafah so it can implement a mass evacuation plan precisely to avoid the devastating humanitarian impact the PMs fear, and that Israeli leaders have repeatedly said they will not launch a ground invasion without such a plan. It further fails to acknowledge that Rafah is the last bastion of Hamas, with four divisions holed up there, together with the Hamas leaders and their Israeli hostages, and is also being used by Hamas to intercept much of the humanitarian aid entering Gaza.

Thus, the statement inadvertently reinforces the notion that terrorist groups should be free from repercussions from their barbaric actions as long as they have civilians to hide behind – which has nothing to do with what international law actually says. It will thus encourage continued use of that heinous tactic by Hamas and potentially other terrorist groups.

The only way to disarm Hamas and to prevent it from scuttling any future hope for a political solution is to decisively defeat it, and that will only happen if Israel does conduct a military campaign in Rafah – or the threat of such a campaign forces Hamas to lay down its arms. The PMs need to decide whether they want Gaza and Israel to have a future free of Hamas on which a two-state resolution can be built or whether they want Israel to refrain from attacking Rafah even after making and implementing a detailed plan to evacuate civilians from there. Trying to have it both ways reflects a disturbing lack of realism,” Dr Rubenstein concluded.

Dominic Giannini in Canberra/AAP  with J-Wire