Rabbi Jay Kaufman, executive vice president of B’nai B’rith, charged today that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) had permitted its facilities to be used to “subvert minds and poison hearts” against Israel in its “desire to remain acceptable to the host Arab countries.”
(The special political committee of the UN General Assembly will begin debate on the Palestine Arab refugee problem next Monday and will continue for four days. The debate usually stretches out over several weeks.)
Rabbi Kaufman called for an overhaul of the agency’s policies and action by the United States which has borne about 75% of the agency’s budget, to end the “perpetuating practice in which idleness and indolence have been forced upon the refugees.” Among these measures, he said, should be replacement of most of the 11,500 UNRWA employees who are Palestinian Arabs and “find it in their self-interest to keep the refugee problem alive and the refugees from becoming self-sufficient, self-respecting bread winners for themselves and their families.” He suggested ending UNRWA jurisdiction over the problem in favor of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
