UN teachers celebrated Oct. 7 attack, praised Hamas terrorists as ‘heroes’ on Telegram: watchdog
A Telegram channel used by more than 3,000 teachers for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in Gaza was found replete with posts celebrating Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, praising the terrorists who raped and murdered civilians as “heroes.”
The Telegram channel is intended for UNRWA teachers and contains files with staff names, ID numbers, schedules, and curriculum materials, according to UN Watch, which highlighted the troubling messages in a Wednesday report.
Smoke rises from damaged residential buildings in Khan Yunis seen from the city of Rafah following the Israeli attacks on January 11, 2024, in Rafah, Gaza. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Users on the channel glorified the “education” the terrorists received, shared photos of dead or captured Israelis and urged the execution of hostages – in some cases, minutes after the attack began.
Users also regularly share videos, photos, and messages inciting “Jihadi terrorism” and openly celebrate the massacre and rape of civilians by Hamas terrorists, the report alleged.
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In one post highlighted in the report, UNRWA teacher Waseem Ula shared a video glorifying the Hamas attacks and posted a photo of a suicide bomb vest wired with explosives.
The caption read: “Wait, sons of Judaism.”
He was also alleged to have glorified one of the perpetrators of the Oct. 7 attack as a “friend” and “brother” whom he prayed to Allah to “admit him to paradise without judgment.”
Destruction from Israeli airstrikes is seen in Gaza City on Oct. 11. (AP/Adel Hana)
“This is the motherlode of UNRWA teachers’ incitement to Jihadi terrorism,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, the Geneva-based organization that monitors the UN.
Fox News Digital has reached out to UNRWA for a response to UN Watch’s report.
This is not the first time troubling reports regarding the UNRWA have emerged since the Oct. 7 attack.
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The U.K.-based Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) issued a 123-page report in November accusing UNRWA teachers of having “publicly celebrated the October 7 massacre and other Hamas attacks on their social media accounts.”
The Trump administration cut ties with UNRWA in 2018, with the State Department calling the organization an “irredeemably flawed operation.”
Smoke rises following Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, Dec. 6. (AP/Ariel Schalit)
However, President Biden reestablished the relationship in June 2021, pumping an estimated $1 billion of taxpayer money into the organization since then.
Hamas terrorists killed 1,200 people – mostly civilians – and took 240 hostages when it stormed into Israel’s borders on Oct. 7. In the weeks since then, Israel has waged an all-out assault on Gaza with the express aim of destroying the terrorist group’s military capabilities.
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The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says more than 23,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed in the offensive, though Israel has disputed these figures.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
