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, who spent five years leading the philanthropic organization UNRWA in the Gaza Strip, is scheduled to take over the ICRC’s leadership on April 1. He spent that time leading the organization’s involvement in Hamas’s terrorist assault on Israel on October 7. 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, according to Issa, who spoke to Free Beacon. That means that mature members who omitted to follow their orders have no business being given the ICRC’s ropes.
Krähenbühl’s independence and history of incident while leading UNRWA are the subjects of the letter, which comes amid growing concerns from Congress’s lawmakers and other 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 as a result of this finding.
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 charged the Red Cross with failing to deliver treatments to Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
According to the Republican lawmakers,” we believe Mr. Krahenbuhl is utterly unfit to assume the leadership role of the ICRC,” given the extreme scope of his dangerous tenure at UNRWA and the need to reestablish impartiality with regard to Israel. We ask that you use your roles to urge the ICRC to evaluate this visit 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 time at UNRWA, according to Toby Dershowitz, the managing director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracy think tank’s advocacy arm. Krähenbühl’s tenure at UNRWA demonstrates that the potential Red Cross leader is unfit to lead another aid organization operating in Gaza.
” 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”.
