Will the UN High Commissioner for Refugees also help Israelis?
The Shurat Hadin organization wrote to Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees around the world, demanding he help the Israeli war evacuees.
In a letter first published for Srugim/JFeed, Shurat Hadin Chairwoman Nitsana Darshan-Leitner wrote that the commissioner is duty bound to help the 130,000 Israelis forced to uproot from their homes due to the massacre in the Gaza Perimeter and the fighting in the north.
Help Israelis, Too, Not Just Gazans
The letter states that "The UNHRC champions itself as the aid agency that evacuees and refugees can expect will be there to rescue them and safeguard their human rights. - It is your obligation to assist families in reaching safety and help them find safe and secure shelter until they can return home and rebuild their lives. Your conduct, however, is grossly inconsistent with your advertised mandate to 'protect and assist everyone who has been affected by forced displacement including internally displaced people' and you are hereby demanded to take immediate action to assist Israel’s IDPs [Internally Displaced Persons - Ed.]."
According to Darshan-Leitner: "Presently, the entire burden for Israel’s unexpected internal refugee problem has been borne by Israel’s government and, most prominently, on its incredibly generous citizens. Families have opened their homes, kitchens, businesses and pocketbooks to Israeli IDPs."
Furthermore: "Many Israeli IDPs barely escaped with their lives, fleeing from Hamas’ carnage with only the shirts on their backs. Some bore witness to a level of brutality that experienced war reporters labeled “indescribable,” and left a permanent “scar on their soul.”
"All the while, UNHCR has denied Israel its expertise to “galvanize and contribute to government led efforts to address the needs of IDPs.”3 Nothing has been done to fulfill UNHCR’s principle of “‘leaving no-one behind'” or “build[ing] effective approaches to resilience” and recovery for Israeli IDPs who bore witness to Hamas atrocities."
"Accordingly, we demand on behalf of the Israeli families that the UNHCR immediately send its personnel to meet with our organization in Israel and with representatives of the evacuated communities. We insist that your UN agency determine what staff and resources and funds are required and provide the Israelis with all adequate shelter, food, clothing, medical care and schools necessary to meet this humanitarian crisis. Finally, we expect that so many weeks after the crisis has unfolded that the UNHCR will finally act on behalf of the 130,000 Israelis and not allow the UN’s historic racism, bias and discrimination against Israel influence and obstruct its legal and moral responsibilities."
As Darshan-Leitner acerbically notes:
"Your brazen lack of interest concerning the 130,000 Israelis is even more evident given that you have made no efforts to protest publicly their plight, nor demanded a UN General Assembly session on this specific topic, nor requested aid donations for Israelis internationally nor taken any steps at all to ensure the safety of Israeli families in this war zone. As such, we can only draw the damning conclusion that you are ignoring the circumstances, danger and trauma of the Israelis because they are Jews and not Muslim Gazans and therefore, not worthy of your efforts or protections."