Irish Examiner view: Ireland is right to continue funding UNRWA in Gaza

The revelation that some UNRWA members participated in Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel is a grievous setback. But Ireland is right to continue funding its humanitarian efforts

Mon, 29 Jan, 2024 - 01:30

The revelation that some of the members of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) participated in the October 7 Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel is a grievous setback for aid workers, volunteers, and NGOs on humanitarian missions in Gaza and elsewhere.

Those who provide assistance and compassion in conditions of great danger rely on the perception that they are honest brokers, operating in zones of conflict between competing forces. Acceptance of that narrative is fundamental to the ability to provide help. Evidence that some personnel are also participants in violence is hugely damaging.

However, the balance of mercy — a quality for which there is an enormous need at present — dictates that a greater evil exists in turning off funding for people and organisations engaged in lifesaving work.

And for that reason, Ireland — and Tánaiste Micheál Martin — are right to eschew the actions of others who have suspended or cancelled financial support for UNRWA.

UN secretary general António Guterres pledged to hold to account, including criminal prosecution, “any UN employee involved in acts of terror”.

After allegations made by Israel, nine countries have paused funding to the aid agency, which is a critical source of support for the people of Gaza. However, this is not the moment to be casting desperate refugees and victims of war even more adrift. Ireland provided UNRWA with €18m last year, and Mr Martin said we will continue to supply funds in 2024.

“UNRWA’s 13,000 employees provide lifesaving assistance to 2.3m people and at incredible personal cost — with over 100 staff killed in the last four months,” he added.

This is right. It is a time to be increasing help, not blocking it. A time for calm consideration, rather than knee-jerking.

Ireland does well to keep a level head. It is wise at this stage, with reports of a plan emerging to free Israeli hostages in return for a ceasefire of some form, not to join any genocide case following an interim ruling by the International Court of Justice.

Matters may look considerably different one month from now, when Israel has to report back on certain conditions laid down in the Hague. While Israeli public opinion is very focused on the return of its nation’s hostages and the defeat of Hamas, it would be wrong to imagine that support for prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is unflinching.

In recent weeks, the former head of Israel’s domestic security force — Shin Bet — warned that his nation will not have stability until Palestine has its own state, and that support in Gaza for Hamas has risen from below 50% to over 75% because of the conflict.

Ami Ayalon, a retired commander of Israel’s navy, said that any lasting settlement depended on hopes for an eventual two-state solution.

“The Zionist movement is the result of a dream,” he added.

“The majority of Jewish people stayed in Europe and were assassinated there. A minority of Jews created a dream, and it took them about 50 years to achieve it. We should not underestimate the power of hope and the power of a dream.”

This vision requires two changes. The first is that momentum must increase in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. The second is that Palestinians in Gaza must be led by politicians who have forsaken military Jihad and the destruction of Israel.

Let us keep hoping, and helping.

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Climate impact on home design

While much was rightly made of Ireland’s first Climate Change Assessment, there has been much less public debate about the implications of our “unrecognisable” meteorological future for one key area of our lives.

What does it mean for the design of our homes and the cost of the roofs over our heads as we embark upon a century of change? Many of the residences in which we live were fitted to cope with the climate of the past. It was only in 2007 that BER (Building Energy Rating) certificates became mandatory for all buildings being constructed, sold, or rented in Ireland, and their take-up was slow enough.

Other environmental standards are inching their way into new contracts. Where once the objective was to keep heat in, future buildings have to take into account increases in ambient temperatures and be able to withstand regular periods above the 33C experienced in the Republic last July.

The quest for resilience has started with Met Éireann providing data to developers on the “driving rain index” as well as charting extremes in temperature, soil temperature, snow loadings, and rainfall frequencies.

Another potential metric is the impact of shorter “return” periods — the passage of time between severe, recurring, weather events.

Many cities and countries are changing building codes. It’s obviously better to provide mitigating features in new projects than retrofitting. But given the age of Ireland’s housing stock, the costs of conversion will become an unforeseen cause of contention in the future.

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Traitors uncloaked

We shouldn’t be taken aback that the most popular TV show of 2024, to date, celebrates modern personality traits with which we are becoming wearyingly familiar.

That’s treachery, manipulation, ruthlessness, lying, greed, cheating, and sociopathic malevolence — all on display in BBC’s Traitors, which was broadcast in Ireland on Friday.

Overall audience figures for the finale topped 6m, more than double the first series. For those who have the show on catch-up, we won’t reveal which of Harry, Andrew, Evie, Molly, and Jaz came out on top.

The show’s commissioners and producers have found another format to appeal to the worst of us. It would be nice, once in a while, if there was something to inspire what Abraham Lincoln — a Republican, lest we forget — described as “the better angels of our nature” at his first presidential inauguration. It is, after all, those that we must rely on if we are to save the world.

Irish Examiner view: Swift action needed following Gaza findings