When Israeli forces shelled a UN school in Gaza last week, Israel faced a lot of criticism, including by yours truly. The Jewish nation-state said that Hamas terrorists used the school as a military basis, hiding in it and firing at Israeli forces from it. The UN, however, said this was not the case, or could not have been the case. Many argued that attacking schools was per definition not done, while people like me argued that Israel should have given those in the school the opportunity to get out before it was attacked.

Today Fox News adds important information to the debate by reporting that UN officials admit that its schools in Gaza employed Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters (terrorists) in the past and that the schools provide textbooks to children that contain hate speech and other incendiary information.

The schools are administered by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which has been criticized before. This time around, however, the criticism is more severe than ever before, and quite rightfully so indeed.

Rep. Steve Rothman, D-N.J., introduced a resolution in the fall calling for greater transparency and accountability at UNRWA. The bill called on the agency to make its textbooks available on the Internet for public inspection and to implement “terrorist name recognition software and other screening procedures that would help to ensure that UNRWA staff, volunteers, and beneficiaries are neither terrorists themselves, nor affiliated with known terrorist organizations.”

He told Fox that he plans to re-introduce the resolution this week because, “as timely as this bill was before, it is even more timely now. It is urgent that Congress can be assured that U.S. taxpayer money is not being spent to support Hamas and its murderous activities.”

The network explains: ‘There have been several high-profile examples of terrorists being employed by UNRWA. Former top Islamic Jihad rocket maker Awad Al-Qiq, who was killed in an Israeli air strike last May, was the headmaster and science instructor at an UNRWA school in Rafah, Gaza. Said Siyam, Hamas’ interior minister and head of the Executive Force, was a teacher for over two decades in UNRWA schools.’

The situation has become so grave, in fact, that children educated at UNRWA schools are more likely to become suicide bombers than those who are not.

Of course, the report does not mean that Israel was right to attack the school in the way it did, but it does put the whole episode in perspective. The UN admits that it does not check its Palestinian employees; if they say they do not belong to any extremist organization, the UN takes it at face value. Since terrorists are more than willing to lie about their affiliations, this system is not exactly bulletproof.

This makes Israel’s explanation of what happened more likely; even in the eyes of those who tend to be highly critical of the Jewish nation-state.

An important point should be made, however; even if the school employed terrorists who were firing at IDF troops, and even if it was providing children with textbooks that contained anti-Jewish information, Israel could have opted to simply surround the building, give those inside a chance to come out, and attack it a bit later.

Also be sure to read this post at Crimson Politics.