By: Gašper Blažič
After the reports on the World Health Organisation’s calls for countries to continue funding the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), it is now clear that Slovenia will continue its funding, despite well-founded suspicions that the money intended for humanitarian aid was actually used to finance Hamas’s terrorist operations. Furthermore, Slovenia is even urging other countries to continue paying the mentioned agency.
Foreign news agencies reported, among other things, that despite Israel’s accusations of collaboration by employees of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in the October 7th attack, Slovenia joins calls for further funding of the agency. The Croatian news agency Hina reported that Slovenia, despite Israel’s accusations of collaboration by UNRWA staff in the October 7th attack, supports the UN Secretary-General’s call for continued funding of the agency. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasised that UNRWA is one of the most important organisations for the protection and provision of humanitarian aid to millions of Palestinians. Therefore, Slovenia allocated 1.2 million euros to UNRWA last year, the highest amount in all previous years. Slovenia does not have a funding agreement with UNRWA, and the contribution amount for this year has not yet been determined.
In this context, it is worth noting that the United States, followed by the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Italy, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, initially announced the temporary suspension of funding for the agency. Soon after, Austria, Sweden, and Japan also followed suit. This means that the West took the accusations very seriously, and it is necessary to clarify any suspicion that the money intended for civilians was actually used for Hamas’ terrorist operations. The fact is that the Gaza Strip is under the control of Hamas, making the distribution of humanitarian aid very challenging. Considering that countries have so far provided assistance in the form of financial resources and not in kind, and that United Nations agencies are strongly influenced by the Arab lobby, there is a significant probability that the money intended for Gaza ended up funding Hamas’ purely military projects. Theoretically, the 1.2 million euros, paid by Slovenian taxpayers, could have been used to finance Hamas rocket attacks on Israel and other criminal operations.
Obviously, the Golob government’s decision to continue funding UNRWA in 2024, despite serious suspicions that Hamas is being financed through the agency, was a logical consequence of Slovenia’s support for South Africa’s lawsuit against Israel, as the only European country that supported the said lawsuit. The Golob government’s decision resonates strongly all over the world, as Slovenia is currently recognised as the most anti-Israel country within the EU, apparently also due to the completely pro-Palestinian policy of the parties of the ruling coalition. This means that the Slovenian left-wing government is also abusing the institution of Slovenia’s non-permanent membership in the UN Security Council.
The Visegrad24 portal has also noticed this:
With this, Slovenia has caused significant international damage, for which not only Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon is responsible but the entire government.
“The actions of our government, which does not even demand an explanation of what happened to the money of Slovenian citizens, embarrass us. Citizens have never agreed to finance the killings of girls in Israel, the abduction of babies, and the genocidal acts of Hamas, which were unsuccessful only because they (still) did not have enough resources. We do not support the policies of Tanja Fajon and Robert Golob. On the contrary. This was also not aid to the Palestinians. The consequences for them are catastrophic. If the money continues to be used for these purposes, this is not our government,” wrote Peter Jančič, editor of the Spletni časopis (newspaper).