Four Canadians who lost family members in the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel are joining the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs’ court challenge of the government’s decision to resume funding to UNRWA, the UN aid agency for Palestinians.

On March 8, the federal government announced that it was resuming its $25 million annual payment to the United Nations Relief Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. The payment had been temporarily suspended after allegations that UNRWA employees had been directly involved in the terrorist attacks that killed over 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped about 250 others. Although Canada had temporarily halted funding, no payments to the agency were missed.

Shortly after the announcement by International Development Minister Ahmed Hussen, CIJA said it intended to seek judicial review of the decision.

Dikla Mizrachi, mother of Ben Mizrachi of Vancouver, and Rachel Ohnona, mother of Alexandre Look of Montreal, whose sons were both killed in the attack on the Nova music festival have joined the legal application. Jacqui Vital, mother of Adi Vital-Kaploun, who was killed on her kibbutz in front of her two little boys, and Iris Lianiado, whose parents Judih Weinstein and Udi Haggai were killed and whose bodies are still held in Gaza, are also named in the court documents.

CIJA’s filing alleges that 15 UNRWA employees participated in the Oct. 7 attacks. “Videos from October 7, 2023, also show Hamas terrorists, including UNRWA employees, dragging dead bodies and innocent hostages into cars and celebrating and parading Israeli bodies around Gazan cities.”

A total of 1,650 UNRWA employees are members of a terrorist organization and 327 UNRWA employees are members of the Hamas militant wing, CIJA’s application states.

UNRWA Deputy Commissioner Leni Stenseth has “affirmed her solidarity” with Hamas on behalf of the agency, in a meeting with Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, CIJA stated.

Hamas “terror tunnels” have been located under or next to UNRWA schools in 2017, 2021, 2022 and after Oct. 7. UNRWA institutions have been used as rocket launch sites, weapons arsenals and for computer servers for Hamas use, CIJA stated. None of the allegations have been proven in court.

Hamas is listed as a terrorist group by the Canadian government.

 The Jewish advocacy group said it sent several letters and emails outlining the UN agency’s involvement with Hamas and encouraged Ottawa to find alternative ways of providing aid to Gazans.

However, Canada announced it would resume funding before the UN had completed its own review of the aid agency, or an independent review had been conducted.

The decision reflects a level of “amateurism” in the federal government, Richard Marceau, CIJA’s vice-president and general counsel told The CJN at the time.

“We are seeing a government that shortly after Oct. 7 was clear-eyed about who the culprits were and the necessity to destroy Hamas. This government has since lost that clarity, lost that principled approach and I think making Canada more irrelevant,” he said.

The decision to resume funding to the UN agency meets the legal test of being “unreasonable,” CIJA states, “because on or before March 8, the Minister (Hussen) had information which confirmed UNRWA’s history of involvement with Hamas and how the use of funds by UNRWA did not respect or reflect Canadian values.

“The impugned decision was made by the Minister at a time when he knew of the facilitation, involvement and participation of UNRWA and its employees in the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre.”

UNRWA has been a primary supplier of education, social and health services in Gaza and the West Bank. In July 2023, Canada made a four-year commitment to contribute $100 million to the agency.

Canada and many other international donors had suspended funding to the international agency in January after news reports that UNRWA staff had actively participated in the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks.

Some nations have since resumed their funding, in response to UN reports that Gaza is in the midst of a severe food crisis.

The UN agency has already taken measures to “strengthen oversight, accountability and transparency,” Canada said March 8 in its announcement that it was resuming funding.

The United States has said it will suspend its annual payment until reviews of the UN agency have been completed. A funding bill is currently before the U.S. Congress that would permanently block funding to UNRWA.

Iddo Moed, the Israeli Ambassador to Canada, said in an interview with The CJN Daily in late March that Israel had shared intelligence about UNRWA with Canadian officials before Canada made the decision to resume funding.

“And we also say that to the Canadian government and it is still possible, even if it’s financing UNRWA at the time—it is necessary, not only possible, but it is necessary to find alternatives to UNRWA’s flawed organization,” Moed said in an interview.