Latest news with #UNRWAUSA
08-08-2025
- Politics
US citizens file lawsuit against UN agency that provides aid for Palestinians, the agency that Trump seeks to dismantle
Some U.S. citizens who are victims and family members of victims of Hamas and Hezbollah attacks have filed a lawsuit against the largest U.N. agency that provides humanitarian assistance for Palestinians, accusing the aid organization of promoting terrorism. Filed in a Washington, D.C., district court last week, the lawsuit targets the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and its U.S.-based non-profit, UNRWA USA, which is based in Washington, D.C. The 200 plaintiffs accuse UNRWA of violating antiterrorism laws by allegedly providing funds and other methods of support to Hamas and Hezbollah, which are classified by the State Department as foreign terrorist organizations. They also accuse the agency of employing staff who they say were directly involved in terror attacks. In a press release, UNRWA slammed the lawsuit as "meritless, absurd, dangerous, and morally reprehensible." "Both UNRWA and UNRWA USA's missions are legal, moral, and humanitarian," the organization said in the statement. It called the allegations "misinformation to dismantle a life-saving institution precisely because of its central role in keeping Palestinian refugees and the hope of Palestinian freedom and self-determination alive." One of the plaintiffs, the Mathias-Troen family, is suing on behalf of Shachar Deborah Troen Mathias and his wife, Shlomi David Mathias, who were "heinously murdered" by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, according to the lawsuit. In addition to their deaths, the couple's son was physically injured, prompting 12 family members to seek reparations for the "severe mental anguish and extreme emotional pain and suffering" they endured. While many of the allegations center around Hamas' Oct. 7 attack in Israel, some plaintiffs are also seeking compensation for attacks that occurred years prior. "This is a case seeking justice and accountability against an entity that holds itself out as 'humanitarian' but which has utterly failed in its mission and purpose while unconscionably providing material support for terror," Richard D. Heideman, lead counsel for the plaintiffs, said in a statement to ABC News. Samuel Silverman, counsel for all plaintiffs, told ABC News that the lawsuit is about putting an end to the "foster[ing of] a culture of terrorism." The plaintiffs seek unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, with Heideman telling ABC News that they demand payment for "any judgment for which [the defendants] are found liable." A similar lawsuit was filed in New York last year, where noncitizen victims and their families accused UNRWA of assisting Hamas during the Oct. 7 attack, citing alleged instances in which they say UNRWA employed Hamas members, contributed to the construction of Hamas military centers, and held Israeli hostages, among other allegations. UNRWA USA called this a "baseless lawsuit," filing a motion to dismiss the case. "This legal attack is not just on UNRWA USA but on millions of Palestine refugees who rely on its funding for critical needs like food, water, and medical care," they said in a statement. The agency argued that it should be immune from litigation because it is a subsidiary organ of the U.N. As a subsidiary of the U.N., the Biden administration supported UNRWA having immunity from civil liability, which protected the agency from this legal action. But the Trump administration's Justice Department reversed this stance in April, issuing a letter to the judge overseeing the case that said the prior administration's stance on the matter was "wrong." "Previously, the Government expressed the view that certain immunities shielded UNRWA from having to answer those allegations in American courts. The Government has since reevaluated that position, and now concludes UNRWA is not immune from this litigation," the letter read. Silverman called this reversal "a real step in the right direction" and emphasized the need to "support victims of terrorism," which he believes to be "bipartisan." "This lawsuit is sort of going to be novel, as we've seen by the two positions that the Justice Department has taken," he said of the 2025 lawsuit, expressing his confidence in the case. Outside of the courts, the Trump administration has determined that UNRWA as an organization is "compromised" and should be "dismantled." "We can confirm the Administration has determined UNRWA is irredeemably compromised and now seeks its full dismantlement," a State Department spokesperson told ABC News on Tuesday. Earlier this year, Trump signed an executive order demanding "renewed scrutiny" for UNRWA, particularly regarding its role in Oct. 7, citing reports that the agency was "infiltrated" by members of foreign terrorist organizations. In a January interview with ABC News, Director of UNRWA's DC office, Bill Deere, promised that "every allegation that is brought to our attention with information gets investigated." UNRWA previously acknowledged possible wrongdoing in the Oct. 7 attack, terminating nine U.N. employees last summer for potential involvement in the attacks after an investigation led by the U.N.'s Office of Internal Oversight Services. The Biden administration paused UNRWA funding in January 2024 in light of these allegations and the subsequent investigation. The funding remains frozen today, despite multiple congressional efforts to restore it. "Without the US government's full financial support, UNRWA's ability to continue its life-saving work for Palestine refugees at the scale needed, including in Gaza will be in jeopardy," UNRWA USA said in a statement in March. According to an UNRWA report released last Friday, food parcels ran out "several weeks ago," and "no UNRWA supplies entered the Gaza Strip" since March. The largest U.N. agency operating in Gaza, UNRWA was established in 1949 as a "subsidiary organ" of the UN General Assembly, with operations commencing a year later. "UNRWA provides humanitarian assistance and contributes to protection of refugees through essential service delivery, primarily in the areas of basic education, primary health care and mental health care, relief and social services, microcredit, and emergency assistance, including in situations of armed conflict, to millions of registered Palestine refugees located within its five fields of operations (Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza)," their mandate says. Deere also told ABC News that UNRWA "represents most of the U.N. staff, the facilities, the expertise and supporting infrastructure for the response in Gaza." In 2021, UNRWA said the U.S. was their "largest donor with a total contribution of over US$338 million across all UNRWA funding portals." They have also referred to the U.S. as one of their "most reliable supporters."
Kuwait Times
29-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Kuwait Times
Reluctant fame of Gaza photog Motaz Azaiza
PHILADELPHIA: At a church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, hundreds of people gathered recently for a weeknight charity fundraiser hosted by a celebrity guest. The venue was not announced in advance due to security concerns, and attendance cost at least $60 a pop — with some spending $1,000 to get a photo with the host. Yet, the event was not a gala hosted by a movie star or famed politician, but by a photojournalist: Gaza native Motaz Azaiza, whose images of the Zionist assault in Gaza launched him to international recognition. Wearing a black T-shirt, jeans, sneakers and gold-framed glasses, the 26-year-old boasts nearly 17 million followers on Instagram for his images from the war in Gaza. 'I wish you would have known me without the genocide,' Azaiza told the crowd, his voice faltering. Before the war, Azaiza was a relative unknown, posting photos from his daily life in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip to his roughly 25,000 Instagram followers at the time. But as soon as the first strikes from the Zionist entity hit Gaza, he became a war photographer by virtue of circumstance, and his wartime posts soon went viral. 'As a photojournalist, I can't watch this like anyone else, I'm from there, this is my home,' Azaiza said. After surviving 108 days of Israeli bombardment, Azaiza managed to escape Gaza via Egypt, and he has since become an ambassador of sorts for the Palestinian territory, sharing the story of his people as the conflict rages on. 'Every time you feel like you regret leaving, but then you lose a friend, you lose a family, you say, OK, I saved my life,' Azaiza said. Before the war, Azaiza had been hired to manage the online content for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the humanitarian agency accused by Israel of providing cover for Hamas militants. This month, he is touring the United States to raise money for UNRWA USA, a nonprofit which collects funding for the agency. 'I can't handle this much of a real big responsibility,' Azaiza told AFP from the fundraiser in Philadelphia. 'This is not me... I'm waiting to the genocide to stop. I want to go back to Gaza, continue my work capturing pictures,' he added. At one point he embedded himself in the crowd, posing for a selfie before shaking hands with donors. At the fundraiser, a UNRWA USA official solicited donations. 'Is there someone who wants to give $20,000? I would like to have $20,000. Nobody? Is there someone who want to give $10,000? I would like to have $10,000,' the official calls out. Once the call lowered to $5,000, five hands raised, and even more went up when asked for donations of $2,000 and $1,000. One of the donors, Nabeel Sarwar, told AFP Azaiza's photographs 'humanize' the people in Gaza. 'When you see a picture, when you see a child, you relate to that child, you relate to the body language, you relate to the dust on their face, the hunger, the sadness on their face,' Sarwar said. 'I think it's those pictures that really brought home towards the real tragedy of what's going on in Gaza.' Veronica Murgulescu, a 25-year-old medical student from Philadelphia, concurred. 'I think that people like Motaz and other Gazan journalists have really stuck a chord with us, because you can sense the authenticity,' she said. 'The mainstream media that we have here in the US, at least, and in the West, it lacks authenticity,' she added. Sahar Khamis, a communications professor at the University of Maryland who specializes in Arab and Muslim media in the Middle East, said Gazan journalists like Azaiza who have become social media influencers 'reshape public opinion, especially among youth, not just in the Arab world, not just in the Middle East, but globally and internationally, including in the United States.' 'The visuals are very, very important and very powerful and very we know in journalism, that one picture equals a thousand words. 'And in the case of war and conflict, it can equal a million words, because you can tell through these short videos and short images and photos a lot of things that you cannot say in a whole essay.' – AFP
Iraqi News
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Iraqi News
The reluctant fame of Palestinian photojournalist Motaz Azaiza
Philadelphia – At a church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, hundreds of people gathered recently for a weeknight charity fundraiser hosted by a celebrity guest. The venue was not announced in advance due to security concerns, and attendance cost at least $60 a pop — with some spending $1,000 to get a photo with the host. Yet, the event was not a gala hosted by a movie star or famed politician, but by a photojournalist: Gaza native Motaz Azaiza, whose images of the Israeli assault following the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas launched him to international recognition. Wearing a black T-shirt, jeans, sneakers and gold-framed glasses, the 26-year-old boasts nearly 17 million followers on Instagram for his images from the war in Gaza. 'I wish you would have known me without the genocide,' Azaiza told the crowd, his voice faltering. Before the war, Azaiza was a relative unknown, posting photos from his daily life in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip to his roughly 25,000 Instagram followers at the time. But as soon as the first strikes from Israel hit Gaza, he became a war photographer by virtue of circumstance, and his wartime posts soon went viral. 'As a photojournalist, I can't watch this like anyone else, I'm from there, this is my home,' Azaiza said. – 'I want to go back' – After surviving 108 days of Israeli bombardment, Azaiza managed to escape Gaza via Egypt, and he has since become an ambassador of sorts for the Palestinian territory, sharing the story of his people as the conflict rages on. 'Every time you feel like you regret leaving, but then you lose a friend, you lose a family, you say, OK, I saved my life,' Azaiza said. Before the war, Azaiza had been hired to manage the online content for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the humanitarian agency accused by Israel of providing cover for Hamas militants. This month, he is touring the United States to raise money for UNRWA USA, a nonprofit which collects funding for the agency. 'I can't handle this much of fame…it's a real big responsibility,' Azaiza told AFP from the fundraiser in Philadelphia. 'This is not me… I'm waiting to the genocide to stop. I want to go back to Gaza, continue my work capturing pictures,' he added. At one point he embedded himself in the crowd, posing for a selfie before shaking hands with donors. At the fundraiser, a UNRWA USA official solicited donations. 'Is there someone who wants to give $20,000? I would like to have $20,000. Nobody? Is there someone who want to give $10,000? I would like to have $10,000,' the official calls out. Once the call lowered to $5,000, five hands raised, and even more went up when asked for donations of $2,000 and $1,000. One of the donors, Nabeel Sarwar, told AFP Azaiza's photographs 'humanize' the people in Gaza. 'When you see a picture, when you see a child, you relate to that child, you relate to the body language, you relate to the dust on their face, the hunger, the sadness on their face,' Sarwar said. 'I think it's those pictures that really brought home towards the real tragedy of what's going on in Gaza.' – 'A million words' – Veronica Murgulescu, a 25-year-old medical student from Philadelphia, concurred. 'I think that people like Motaz and other Gazan journalists have really stuck a chord with us, because you can sense the authenticity,' she said. 'The mainstream media that we have here in the US, at least, and in the West, it lacks authenticity,' she added. Sahar Khamis, a communications professor at the University of Maryland who specializes in Arab and Muslim media in the Middle East, said Gazan journalists like Azaiza who have become social media influencers 'reshape public opinion, especially among youth, not just in the Arab world, not just in the Middle East, but globally and internationally, including in the United States.' 'The visuals are very, very important and very powerful and very compelling…as we know in journalism, that one picture equals a thousand words. 'And in the case of war and conflict, it can equal a million words, because you can tell through these short videos and short images and photos a lot of things that you cannot say in a whole essay.'
New Straits Times
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- New Straits Times
The reluctant fame of Gazan photojournalist Motaz Azaiza
AT a church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, hundreds of people gathered recently for a weeknight charity fundraiser hosted by a celebrity guest. The venue was not announced in advance due to security concerns, and attendance cost at least US$60 a pop – with some spending US$1,000 to get a photo with the host. Yet, the event was not a gala hosted by a movie star or famed politician, but by a photojournalist: Gaza native Motaz Azaiza, whose images of the Israeli assault following the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas launched him to international recognition. Wearing a black T-shirt, jeans, sneakers and gold-framed glasses, the 26-year-old boasts nearly 17 million followers on Instagram for his images from the war in Gaza. "I wish you would have known me without the genocide," Azaiza told the crowd, his voice faltering. Before the war, Azaiza was a relative unknown, posting photos from his daily life in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip to his roughly 25,000 Instagram followers at the time. But as soon as the first strikes from Israel hit Gaza, he became a war photographer by virtue of circumstance, and his wartime posts soon went viral. "As a photojournalist, I can't watch this like anyone else, I'm from there, this is my home," Azaiza said. After surviving 108 days of Israeli bombardment, Azaiza managed to escape Gaza via Egypt, and he has since become an ambassador of sorts for the Palestinian territory, sharing the story of his people as the conflict rages on. "Every time you feel like you regret leaving, but then you lose a friend, you lose a family, you say, OK, I saved my life," Azaiza said. Before the war, Azaiza had been hired to manage the online content for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the humanitarian agency accused by Israel of providing cover for Hamas fighters. This month, he is touring the United States to raise money for UNRWA USA, a nonprofit which collects funding for the agency. "I can't handle this much of a real big responsibility," Azaiza told AFP from the fundraiser in Philadelphia. "This is not me... I'm waiting to the genocide to stop. I want to go back to Gaza, continue my work capturing pictures," he added. At one point he embedded himself in the crowd, posing for a selfie before shaking hands with donors. At the fundraiser, a UNRWA USA official solicited donations. "Is there someone who wants to give US$20,000? I would like to have US$20,000. Nobody? Is there someone who want to give US$10,000? I would like to have US$10,000," the official calls out. Once the call lowered to US$5,000, five hands raised, and even more went up when asked for donations of US$2,000 and US$1,000. One of the donors, Nabeel Sarwar, told AFP Azaiza's photographs "humanise" the people in Gaza. "When you see a picture, when you see a child, you relate to that child, you relate to the body language, you relate to the dust on their face, the hunger, the sadness on their face," Sarwar said. "I think it's those pictures that really brought home towards the real tragedy of what's going on in Gaza." Veronica Murgulescu, a 25-year-old medical student from Philadelphia, concurred. "I think that people like Motaz and other Gazan journalists have really stuck a chord with us, because you can sense the authenticity," she said. "The mainstream media that we have here in the US, at least, and in the West, it lacks authenticity," she added. Sahar Khamis, a communications professor at the University of Maryland who specialises in Arab and Muslim media in the Middle East, said Gazan journalists like Azaiza who have become social media influencers "reshape public opinion, especially among youth, not just in the Arab world, not just in the Middle East, but globally and internationally, including in the United States." "The visuals are very, very important and very powerful and very we know in journalism, that one picture equals a thousand words. "And in the case of war and conflict, it can equal a million words, because you can tell through these short videos and short images and photos a lot of things that you cannot say in a whole essay."
France 24
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- France 24
The reluctant fame of Gazan photojournalist Motaz Azaiza
The venue was not announced in advance due to security concerns, and attendance cost at least $60 a pop -- with some spending $1,000 to get a photo with the host. Yet, the event was not a gala hosted by a movie star or famed politician, but by a photojournalist: Gaza native Motaz Azaiza, whose images of the Israeli assault following the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas launched him to international recognition. Wearing a black T-shirt, jeans, sneakers and gold-framed glasses, the 26-year-old boasts nearly 17 million followers on Instagram for his images from the war in Gaza. "I wish you would have known me without the genocide," Azaiza told the crowd, his voice faltering. Before the war, Azaiza was a relative unknown, posting photos from his daily life in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip to his roughly 25,000 Instagram followers at the time. But as soon as the first strikes from Israel hit Gaza, he became a war photographer by virtue of circumstance, and his wartime posts soon went viral. "As a photojournalist, I can't watch this like anyone else, I'm from there, this is my home," Azaiza said. 'I want to go back' After surviving 108 days of Israeli bombardment, Azaiza managed to escape Gaza via Egypt, and he has since become an ambassador of sorts for the Palestinian territory, sharing the story of his people as the conflict rages on. "Every time you feel like you regret leaving, but then you lose a friend, you lose a family, you say, OK, I saved my life," Azaiza said. Before the war, Azaiza had been hired to manage the online content for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the humanitarian agency accused by Israel of providing cover for Hamas militants. This month, he is touring the United States to raise money for UNRWA USA, a nonprofit which collects funding for the agency. "I can't handle this much of a real big responsibility," Azaiza told AFP from the fundraiser in Philadelphia. "This is not me... I'm waiting to the genocide to stop. I want to go back to Gaza, continue my work capturing pictures," he added. At one point he embedded himself in the crowd, posing for a selfie before shaking hands with donors. At the fundraiser, a UNRWA USA official solicited donations. "Is there someone who wants to give $20,000? I would like to have $20,000. Nobody? Is there someone who want to give $10,000? I would like to have $10,000," the official calls out. Once the call lowered to $5,000, five hands raised, and even more went up when asked for donations of $2,000 and $1,000. One of the donors, Nabeel Sarwar, told AFP Azaiza's photographs "humanize" the people in Gaza. "When you see a picture, when you see a child, you relate to that child, you relate to the body language, you relate to the dust on their face, the hunger, the sadness on their face," Sarwar said. "I think it's those pictures that really brought home towards the real tragedy of what's going on in Gaza." - 'A million words' - Veronica Murgulescu, a 25-year-old medical student from Philadelphia, concurred. "I think that people like Motaz and other Gazan journalists have really stuck a chord with us, because you can sense the authenticity," she said. "The mainstream media that we have here in the US, at least, and in the West, it lacks authenticity," she added. Sahar Khamis, a communications professor at the University of Maryland who specializes in Arab and Muslim media in the Middle East, said Gazan journalists like Azaiza who have become social media influencers "reshape public opinion, especially among youth, not just in the Arab world, not just in the Middle East, but globally and internationally, including in the United States." "The visuals are very, very important and very powerful and very we know in journalism, that one picture equals a thousand words. "And in the case of war and conflict, it can equal a million words, because you can tell through these short videos and short images and photos a lot of things that you cannot say in a whole essay."
