Waheed Borsh, a UN aid worker indicted for assisting Hamas. Photo courtesy of the ISA.
Just days after Israel revealed that an aid worker was diverting funds from the charity World Vision to build up the military prowess of Hamas, another aid worker was exposed to be using his humanitarian position to also assist the terror group. And this time, the worker was part of a United Nations organization. Waheed Borsh, an engineer with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Gaza, was charged in an Israeli civilian court with supporting Hamas on Tuesday according to a press release from the Israel Security Agency (ISA).
The UNDP works to rehabilitate homes damaged during conflict, including demolition where necessary. Borsh confessed that he used UNDP resources to help Hamas build a dock for the terror group’s naval forces. He also pushed—per Hamas’ request—to prioritize home restoration in areas of Hamas membership. And his work wasn’t the only UN work influenced by the Gaza terrorists.
Borsh further unveiled that there were times when UNDP projects came across a location storing weapons and Hamas would take over and confiscate the arms. “This violates clear UN procedures according to which [United Nations Mine Action Service] is supposed to be immediately notified as the [UNMAS] is the UN body in charge of dealing, inter alia, with explosive remnants of war,” noted the ISA press release.
The ISA statement said the above instance was an example of cases in which Hamas would “blatantly and aggressively exploit UNDP humanitarian activities for its own purposes.”
Israel has notified senior officials in the UN and at the UNDP of the arrest and indictment of one of its workers for helping Hamas. The Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) posted a statement on its website from its spokesperson on the matter, saying that, “Israel has informed these officials of its expectation that the UN, and especially its aid agencies, will unequivocally condemn Hamas for exploiting the humanitarian aid system for its own aims and will take concrete measures to ensure that humanitarian activities actually assist those in need in Gaza instead of assisting the terrorist leaders of Hamas.”
Dr. Dore Gold, the Director General of the Israeli MFA, said on Twitter that over a decade ago, the UNDP was also “implicated in transferring funds to Hamas.”
Dr. Gold published on Twitter an image of his letter sent on Tuesday to the head of the UNDP, Helen Clark, in which Dr. Gold notes that “the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip is not just an international interest but a goal fully embraced by the Government of Israel as well. We must do everything we can to prevent Hamas from undermining our efforts.”
Hamas, which has hidden munitions in mosques and fired weapons near UN locations, has long violated the rules of war by intentionally putting their own civilians in harm’s way. The ISA said that the Borsh investigation unveiled that there are even more aid workers that are also working for Hamas.
Said the ISA of the Hamas activities, “This case—along with last week’s case in which Hamas operative Mohammed El-Halabi infiltrated the World Vision humanitarian aid NGO in order to divert funds and other resources for use in Hamas’ military/terrorist efforts—demonstrates how Hamas exploits the resources of international aid organizations at the expense of the civilian population of the Gaza Strip.”
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, August 9, 2016)