Austria Suspends Payments to UNRWA

istockphoto-171358755-612x612 — "Vienna, Austria - July 5, 2012: The coal market is a shopping street in the first District of Vienna Inner City. It extends from the St. Michael's Square to the ditch and is due to a high concentration of jewelers and branches of international fashion brands as luxury shopping street of Vienna. The coal market is home to many exclusive shops and a former imperial Purveyors such as the Demel, the tobacco business Mohilla, the Manz publishing and university bookstore and the cartographic institute Freytag + Berndt. Many people go to visit when the weather through the shopping street, and buy in the shops."

(VitalNews.org) – Austria is now the 12th country to suspend payments to the UNRWA, which is the United Nations’ Palestine Aid Agency, which supplies aid to Gaza.

The suspension of the funds to the UNRWA has become a huge deal for many, because people who work under the UNRWA have been accused of being involved in the deadly attack that took place on October 7.

The Austrian ministry said, “We call on UNRWA and the United Nations to conduct a comprehensive, swift and complete investigation into the allegations.” Multiple countries have ceased their funding of the UNRWA with Austria being the most recent. Among this list are the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Australia, Finland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Canada, and Japan, which have all paused funding to the UNRWA.

“France has not planned a new payment at UNRWA in the first quarter of 2024 and will decide when the time comes what action to take in conjunction with the United Nations and the main donors,” France’s Foreign Ministry said as they paused funding.

Japan said, “Against this backdrop, Japan is extremely concerned about the alleged involvement of UNRWA staff members in the terror attack on Israel on October 7 last year. In response, Japan has decided to suspend additional funding to UNRWA for the time being while UNRWA conducts an investigation into the matter and considers measures to address the allegations,” when they announced the pause of their funding.

As they announced the pause of their funding, The United States said, “The United States is extremely troubled by the allegations that twelve UNRWA employees may have been involved in the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel. The Department of State has temporarily paused additional funding for UNRWA while we review these allegations and the steps the United Nations is taking to address them.”

Many different individuals in UNRWA have varying accusations concerning their involvement or support in the October 7 attack. For example, the Israeli foreign ministry stated that the teachers at UNRWA were said to have celebrated the October 7 attacks in the classroom with students in it.

However, some countries have said that they’re going to continue providing aid to the UNRWA. Norway said that they understand the concerns, but that they will continue providing aid for the time being. Other countries have made it clear that they will help the Palestinian people at any cost, which means continuing funding to the UNRWA as well.