Philippe Lazzarini, the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), on Saturday accused the Israeli government of purchasing advertisements on Google to slander the agency and prevent users from donating.
Lazzarini expressed on the “X” platform, “As part of its campaign to undermine and tarnish UNRWA’s reputation, the Israeli government has bought ads on Google to deter users from donating to the agency and to defame it,” emphasizing that “this not only harms the agency’s reputation but more importantly, it endangers the lives of our staff.”
The UNRWA Commissioner-General called for an immediate halt to these deliberate efforts to spread misinformation and demanded an investigation. He highlighted that “the dissemination of false and misleading information continues to be used as a weapon in the Gaza conflict,” pointing out that “companies, including social media platforms, continue to profit from the dissemination of misinformation.”
Lazzarini underscored the “need for more regulation to combat misinformation and hate speech” on these platforms, noting that “UNRWA is among the most responsive humanitarian organizations in the Gaza crisis.”
Meanwhile, Hamas, in a statement, emphasized that “the escalation by the Zionist occupation authorities in their campaign of incitement against UNRWA, by purchasing Google ads to defame the agency and demonize its staff, and calling on users to stop donating to it; is a criminal behavior that falls within the occupation’s policy aiming to end the agency’s humanitarian and legal role, and deprive our Palestinian people of their right to the services provided, amid the brutal extermination campaign they are subjected to.”
Hamas urged international humanitarian organizations and United Nations institutions, especially UNRWA, which “today stands as a witness to the crimes and terrorism of the extremist Zionist government, and its deliberate targeting of all aspects of life and civilians in the sector, including relief workers, to not succumb to the threats and actions of the occupation, and to expose its fascist crimes and methods that seek to deepen our people’s humanitarian suffering, and erase their political and legal rights, including their right to return to their homeland from which they were displaced.”
UNRWA has been the target of an Israeli attack and systematic defamation over allegations against 12 employees, which led 18 countries and the European Union to suspend funding. However, some of these entities and countries have reversed their decisions and released funds to the agency following UN investigations that disproved these allegations.
UNRWA was established by a United Nations General Assembly resolution in 1949 and is mandated to provide assistance and protection to refugees in its five areas of operation in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip.
