Liberal MPs Anthony Housefather and Marco Mendicino have condemned Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to resume and increase payments to an alleged Hamas-affiliated relief program. “We are deeply troubled by the allegations that United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) employees were involved in the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel,” they said. Ottawa had paused UNRWA funding in January due to allegations 12 of the organization’s staff had connections to Islamic terror group Hamas, which is also the head of the Palestine government. However, the Trudeau Liberals this week announced they will resume, and increase, relief payments to the UNRWA. The next payment, $25 million, is scheduled for April, with additional funding to come. The annual budget for the dwindling Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) is $30 million. Housefather and Mendicino published a joint statement to social media Thursday, criticizing their own party’s funding of the UNRWA, despite the organization's “contribution to the spread of violence, disinformation and hate." They also warned “funds (sent to Palestine) will be misappropriated by Hamas.”.The MPs said that while they strongly support “efforts to deliver life saving humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza," they “encourage Canada to find new ways to provide” resources to suffering Palestinian civilians. “We did not believe that this aid should flow through UNRWA and strongly support Canada's recent decision to suspend funding, as did our G7 partners and other key allies,” wrote the MPs. “We are deeply troubled by the allegations that UNRWA employees were involved in the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel.”.“In addition, UNRWA employees have been sanctioned in the past for facilitating terrorist activity and for using antisemitic materials in educational textbooks,” the statement continues. “This misconduct has contributed to the spread of violence, disinformation and hate." "Given its history, we believe that UNRWA lack sufficient governance and internal controls to ensure that humanitarian aid delivered by Canada will be reliably delivered to those who actually need it and that there is a serious risk. Funds will be misappropriated by Hamas.”“The independent investigation reports into UNRWA have yet to be released. Consequently, serious questions remain as to UNRWA’s ability to reform its structure.”“In the meantime, we have recommended to the federal government that Canada work in lockstep with the US and other allies to leverage alternate partners and to create new vehicles of humanitarian aid that will meaningfully reach the civilians of Gaza in the short term.”
