Pierre Krähenbühl led UNRWA, known to use Hamas members, for five times
A bipartisan coalition of lawmakers is pressuring the Biden administration to withdraw its support for Pierre Krähenbühl’s appointment as the next leader of the International Committee of the Red Cross ( ICRC ), citing his” troubled tenure” as head of the U.N.-based Palestinian aid organization, which is now used by scores of Hamas militants.
Krähenbühl will take over the ICRC’s leadership on April 1, after five years as the charitable organization in the Gaza Strip that employed more than a hundred people who participated in Hamas’s terror attack on Israel. At least 10 percent of UNRWA’s labor, or around 1, 200 people, are believed to be affiliated with Hamas, with some using the assistance team’s facilities to prepare attacks and keep weapons.
” Mr. Krahenbuhl’s tenure at UNRWA disqualifies him for this role, especially at a time when ICRC’s impartiality is under question for its posture toward the Israel- Hamas war”, the lawmakers, led by Rep. Darrell Issa ( R., Calif. ), wrote in a letter sent earlier this week to the State Department and obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. ” Under Mr. Krahenbuhl’s administration, however, UNRWA people displayed a distinct discrimination against the State of Israel as he tolerated a culture of hatred and instigation”.
We’ve already started the necessary investigation into UNRWA’s relationship with violence and the many ways that it has repeatedly violated its goal, Issa told the , Free Beacon. That means that mature personnel who messed up their lessons have no business being given the ICRC’s reins.
Krähenbühl’s independence and history of incident while serving as UNRWA’s chief are raising concerns from legislators in Congress and exterior advocacy groups. A 2019 U. N. research into ,” sexual misconduct, corruption, retribution, prejudice, and other abuses of authority for specific gain” at UNRWA under Krähenbühl’s leadership found evidence he had” major managerial issues”. Before he finally resigned from the position, the United Nations placed him on administrative left.
At a time when the Red Cross is accused of anti-Israel discrimination, concerns are also being raised about Krähenbühl’s ability to lead the organization, which has increased its aid efforts in Gaza in recent months. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this year alleged that the Red Cross had failed to deliver treatments to Israeli victims held hostage by Hamas.
Given the extensive scope of Mr. Krahenbuhl’s difficult tenure at UNRWA and the need to reestablish impartiality in regard to Israel, the Democratic lawmakers wrote in their letter.” We believe that Mr. Krahenbuhl’s demonstrated lack of discretion and impartiality makes him utterly unqualified to lead the ICRC,” the lawmakers wrote. We ask that you use your roles to convince the ICRC to evaluate this interview in light of this.
Additionally, they want information from the State Department and the United States Agency for International Development ( USAID), a partner of the Red Cross, regarding any actions they may take to compel Krähenbühl’s appointment.
The lawmakers also provide proof that UNRWRA schools “devoted a lot of time and money” to creating a curriculum that focused on warfare, hatred, and hate.
UNRWA, the lawmakers say, “accepted]the agency’s ] extreme articles’ without changing a collection,'” resulting in at least 100 Hamas terrorists who were educated by the support group in Gaza to join in the terror group’s raid on Israel.
Additionally, “UNRWA’s Gaza staff regularly posted antisemitic content and called for violence against Jews” while Krähenbühl was in charge, according to the lawmakers. ” Employees reporting to Mr. Krahenbuhl also showed disturbing anti-Israel biases in their official capacities.”
Krähenbühl’s tenure at UNRWA demonstrated that the potential Red Cross leader is unfit to lead another aid organization operating in Gaza, according to Toby Dershowitz, managing director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracy think tank’s advocacy arm.
” Krahenbuhl’s tenure at UNRWA was filled with controversy, alleged corruption, anti- Semitism and reportedly mismanagement of funds as well”, Dershowitz said. ” On his watch, Hamas built terror tunnels underneath UNRWA facilities, and UNRWA used Hamas’s playbook in its curriculum”.
Congress, she said, “is right to call out Mr. Krahenbuhl’s record and to urge that he not be permitted to take the helm of the ICRC”.
