In a stunning display of moral bankruptcy and brazen hypocrisy, the United Nations, a global body ostensibly dedicated to peace, recently held an annual memorial service honoring employees who died during the previous year. Yet, among the names read aloud to a mournful violin and the glow of an "eternal flame," was a notorious Hamas terrorist leader, Imad El Samhouri.
El Samhouri, who served as a teacher and principal at a school funded by the highly controversial U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), was killed by an Israeli airstrike. The revelation that the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and U.N. General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock presided over such an event immediately drew outrage from critics, including Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon and U.N. Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer.
Neuer swiftly exposed El Samhouri's extensive history as a Hamas commander, complete with damning social media posts and a chilling "martyrdom video." In this video, El Samhouri, clad in military garb and surrounded by weapons, declared, "We have chosen jihad as our path. Death in the cause of Allah is our highest aspiration." He even gloated about Hamas's terror tunnels, funded by stolen humanitarian aid, taunting Israel: "the Zionist enemy never imagines we will emerge from beneath the ground."
The terrorist's infiltration of UNRWA schools was no secret to those familiar with his activities. Neuer meticulously mapped out how El Samhouri brought other Hamas operatives into UNRWA facilities, building a terror network right under the UN's nose. For years, El Samhouri moved through various UNRWA schools, gaining access to thousands of Palestinian children, indoctrinating them into his extremist ideology.
As Neuer highlighted, El Samhouri was "a big man on campus," openly active with senior Hamas officials and recruiting for Hamas-linked "athletic clubs" that taught children how to use firearms. One such club, Al-Qadisiyah Rafah, was directly funded by Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. These are not the actions of a humanitarian worker, but a dedicated foot soldier in a terrorist organization.
In a powerful open letter to Guterres and Baerbock, Neuer challenged the UN's leadership, demanding they confront UNRWA's deep-seated terrorist infiltration. He asked, "Excellencies, how many UNRWA teachers must emerge from Hamas tunnels before you admit that the terrorists are not merely beneath UNRWA’s schools, but actually inside them?"
Neuer reminded Guterres of his own words, where he called it "the privilege of my life" to work alongside the very people he honored at the ceremony, vowing to "carry forward their work." Neuer pressed, "Now that the man you praised has been exposed as a Hamas field commander, do you stand by those words? Is Imad El Samhouri’s work – the jihad, the terror tunnels, the indoctrination of children – the work you intend to carry forward?" He further demanded a retraction of the tribute, an apology to Hamas's victims, and an independent investigation into how a terrorist commander could run UNRWA schools for over a decade.
The UN’s response? A stunning refusal to apologize or retract. Guterres' spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, claimed the list of names was "shared with Israeli authorities" and "no issues were raised," effectively attempting to shift blame for the UN's own negligence. "If those allegations had been shared with us at the time through official channels, it would not have been included," Dujarric declared, adding that "had we known and had we been told, his name would probably not have been included."
As Neuer sarcastically summarized the UN’s position: "Yes, we honored a Hamas commander. No, we won’t apologize. No, we won’t correct it. And somehow, this is Israel’s fault."
Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon minced no words, stating, "It is outrageous to watch the U.N. spokesperson struggle to clearly condemn the crimes committed by former UNRWA employees." Danon added that the UN's response reflects Secretary-General Guterres’s entire tenure, where "the organization has lost its moral compass." He underscored that it is precisely "because of terrorists like Imad Youssif El Samhouri and others that Israel ended UNRWA’s operations in Israel."
This episode serves as a stark reminder of the global challenges facing institutions that are meant to foster peace but often turn a blind eye to radical extremism. The UN's unwavering refusal to hold itself accountable, instead attempting to deflect blame, further undermines public trust and highlights the urgent need for a serious re-evaluation of its mission and leadership. Americans, who generously contribute to these international bodies, deserve to know that their resources are not inadvertently supporting those who seek to destroy freedom and promote terror, but rather upholding the values of peace, accountability, and security.
