UNRWA rebuffs Israeli Google ad campaign questioning agency's neutrality

WASHINGTON

An Israeli government advertisement campaign targeting the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) on Google makes claims that are "simply untrue," the agency said in response to inquiries from Anadolu on Thursday.

The campaign includes sponsored links posted at the top of Google searches for "UNRWA" that allege the agency's neutrality has been "compromised."

The advertisement links to an Israeli government website that makes a series of allegations against the agency, including that its staff participated in the Oct. 7, 2023 cross-border attack on Israel by Hamas and that UNRWA's ranks have been infiltrated by Hamas and other militant groups.

UNRWA said in response to an inquiry from Anadolu that it is "aware of this site and similar pages created in the past by a variety of entities." The agency maintained that "it is simply untrue that UNRWA’s neutrality has been 'compromised.'"

"An independent review recently concluded that we have one of the most robust neutrality frameworks among UN agencies and NGOs. And we have repeatedly taken investigative and remedial action when allegations of breaches of neutrality have emerged, whether amid the war in Gaza or before," spokesperson Jonathan Fowler said.

"We also reject claims that UNRWA has been 'infiltrated' by Hamas and others," he added.

Another investigation from the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services found on April 26 that of the 19 UNRWA staff members Israel has accused of involvement in the Oct. 7 attack, one person was "completely cleared" of wrongdoing and was reinstated, and investigations into four others have been put on hold due to a lack of evidence presented by Israel. Independent investigations by the Office of Internal Oversight Services remain ongoing into the 14 others. To date, no evidence has been found of wrongdoing.

Fowler condemned the "abhorrent" Oct. 7 attack but maintained "there has been nothing to substantiate any involvement by any of our employees."

"Investigations into allegations against around a dozen staff are continuing. But they remain precisely that – allegations – however anyone else may like to depict them," he added.

It is unclear how far-reaching the Google search campaign is, but the ads were reported by several users across multiple states in the US who searched for "UNRWA" on the search engine.

The tech giant did not address an Anadolu question that sought to determine if the campaign is solely limited to searches originating from within the US, and it is unclear what criteria were used to display the ads to Google users.

But Google said in a lengthy statement that it has reviewed the advertisement and has not found it to be in violation of its advertisement policies.