[Opinion] Unrwa, Hamas and the ‘Genocide’ Smear Against Israel
[Excerpts]
Twelve employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, including seven primary- or secondary-school teachers, had links to Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, the Journal reported Monday, citing intelligence that Israel supplied to U.S. officials. Unrwa, which deals exclusively with Palestinians, also has a connection with last week’s proceedings at the International Court of Justice. Thirteen footnotes in South Africa’s petition cite Unrwa in support of its claim that the Jewish state is waging genocide against the Palestinians.
This isn’t justice but a dangerous aberration of the concept. South Africa is doing Hamas’s bidding, and the case is about more than false claims of genocide. In a war of narratives, the court, which refused to dismiss the petition, is essentially adopting a narrative that rejects Israel’s right to defend itself and to exist.
Two accusations repeatedly appear in South Africa’s petition to the court and in the bevy of supportive statements from nongovernmental organizations: genocide and apartheid. This isn’t a coincidence. Genocide is about the worst thing a country can do. Apartheid is about the worst thing a country can be. South Africa surely understands this, as its people lived through decades of true racial apartheid.
Dozens of Western-funded NGOs claiming to support human rights are responsible for the spread of this antisemitic slander and misuse of international law. For four years, a network of organizations involved in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been engaged in a concerted and coordinated effort to attach the “apartheid” charge to Israel.