Watchdog demands apology after UN memorial erroneously honors Hamas terrorist
Guterres lit the candle. A violin played. Hamas later named the honoree as an Al-Qassam field commander.
Summary
- Fox News reports the United Nations' June memorial for 136 staff who died in 2025 included Imad Youssif El Samhouri, an UNRWA teacher who became principal of UNRWA Rafah Preparatory Boys School B. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres helped light the candle.
- On Aug. 8, Hamas identified El Samhouri on Telegram as a field commander in the Al-Qassam Brigades. UN Watch director Hillel Neuer demanded an apology and said UNRWA is unwilling or unable to remove terrorists from its schools.
- Spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the agency was not aware when the name was included and that the 2024 UNRWA staff list was shared with Israel with no concern raised. Pressed on an apology, he said the name would probably not have been included had they been told.
- Israel's U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon called the response a loss of moral compass and said Israel had warned that Hamas operatives inside UNRWA took part in Oct. 7. UN Watch cataloged posts attributed to El Samhouri praising kidnappings and Hamas attacks from 2012 to 2014. The Institute for Palestine Studies said he was killed June 8, 2025.
Commentary
A Jewish father still packs a backpack and wonders if the school hallway learned the wrong name. He does not get a violin if a U.N. candle honors an Al-Qassam commander. He gets another year of 'we did not know.'
That is the gap. One hundred thirty-six names. One principal. One Telegram post that told the truth the memorial would not. The honest dad pays dues to an institution that still needs Israel to do the vetting.
Look every Oct. 7 family in the eye and answer this: if a field commander can sit on a U.N. honor roll, what part of 'never again' still lives at that podium?
Comments
A school principal who is a field commander is not a clerical error. It is a cover that worked until Telegram.
I read a roster. Sharing a 2024 list and then blaming Israel is not due diligence. It is a dodge.
UNRWA had the name. Hamas had the rank. The apology is the least the statute of decency requires.
Allied taxpayers fund that podium. A candle for a commander is a second insult.
Watch the 2012 to 2014 praise posts. The file was not empty. The memorial was.
I get written up for a wrong time card. They honored a commander and asked Israel why it did not catch the typo.
A boys' school with that principal is not a classroom I would trust with my kid. Neither should Rafah.
Oct. 7 already answered the UNRWA question. Pull the funding. Keep the names off the candle.
Fox printed 136 names, Aug. 8 Telegram, Rafah School B, and Danon's rebuke. Argue those nouns.
Demand the apology. Audit the roster. Stop lighting candles for men Hamas already claimed.
