Report exposes pro-Israel network pushing Germany to defund UNRWA

A coordinated network of Israel-aligned organisations working to pressure Germany into cutting support for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), has been uncovered by a new report. 

Commissioned by the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation and written by German-Israeli researcher Alon Sahar, the report maps a transnational advocacy ecosystem that has worked for more than a decade to discredit UNRWA and weaken the Palestinian right of return. It argues that the campaign intensified after 7 October, 2023, when Israel accused UNRWA staff of links to Hamas, triggering a wave of donors suspending ties to the UN refugee group.  

Germany is a critical target for the campaign. After the US halted contributions to UNRWA in January 2024, Berlin became the agency’s largest governmental donor. Germany gave $116.8 million to UNRWA in 2025, more than twice the contribution of the UK, the second-largest governmental donor.  

UNRWA provides education, healthcare, humanitarian aid and social services to around 5.9 million Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. The Rosa Luxemburg Foundation report notes that Germany has supported UNRWA since 1952 and became one of its largest donors over the following decades.  

The report maps a network of organisations that, it says, perform different roles in a wider campaign to discredit UNRWA and push German policy towards defunding, conditionality or replacement. It describes UN Watch, NGO Monitor, IMPACT-SE and former Israeli politician Einat Wilf as “narrative originators” that generate claims and policy arguments against UNRWA. 

UN Watch, based in Geneva, has focused on allegations of bias and links between UNRWA staff and Palestinian armed groups. NGO Monitor, based in Israel, produces reports attacking international and Palestinian civil society groups and has pushed donors to carry out excessive scrutiny of UNRWA. 

READ: ‘The political-media-industrial complex’ undermining truth and democracy in service of Israel

IMPACT-SE focuses on school textbooks and has repeatedly alleged that Palestinian educational material promotes hatred. Wilf has become one of the most visible advocates of the argument that UNRWA sustains the Palestinian refugee issue and the right of return.  

A second group functions as domestic brokers in Germany. The report lists the European Leadership Network (ELNET), the Deutsch-Israelische Gesellschaft (DIG), the Mideast Freedom Forum Berlin (MFFB) and Nahost Friedensforum (NAFFO). 

ELNET, often described as a European equivalent of AIPAC, works through delegations, closed briefings and access to lawmakers. DIG maintains long-standing relations with German ministries and parliamentary groups and receives public funding. MFFB and NAFFO translate Israel-aligned arguments into German policy debates, parliamentary events and briefings.  

The report also names several groups that shape how Germany talks about Israel, antisemitism and Palestine, including the Central Council of Jews in Germany, the Amadeu Antonio Stiftung and WerteInitiative. It says these organisations help move the debate away from UNRWA’s humanitarian role and towards questions of German responsibility, antisemitism and national security.  

The media arm of the ecosystem, according to the report, includes the Axel Springer-owned outlets WELT and BILD. The study says BILD reproduced allegations from Israeli-aligned NGOs and Israeli intelligence sources, while WELT relied heavily on material from UN Watch and IMPACT-SE. It argues that repeated coverage in these outlets helped move claims about UNRWA from advocacy circles into mainstream political debate.  

Because humanitarian and development budgets are negotiated in parliament, the campaign to defund UNRWA has focused heavily on German lawmakers. One Social Democratic Party (SPD) parliamentarian told Haaretz: “This lobby operates under the radar. No one in Germany wants to touch it.” The lawmaker added: “Political figures and journalists in Germany are scared to go against this very influential network, which also has deep ties to the media and business world.”  

Ilyas Saliba, a political scientist and former Green Party foreign policy adviser, described the groups involved as “a delegitimization machine” targeting established NGOs. He warned that, in Germany, even suggesting that an Israel-aligned lobby exists can be branded antisemitic, leaving sceptical politicians afraid to challenge the network publicly.

Luise Amtsberg, the former federal government commissioner for human rights policy and humanitarian assistance, described Germany’s debate over UNRWA “was most definitely not evidence-based, but driven by a lack of understanding of UNRWA’s difficult mandate and by unsubstantiated allegations.”

READ: What is UNRWA, and why is Israel trying to have it closed down?

Amtsberg said she repeatedly asked Israeli officials to substantiate claims that UNRWA had been infiltrated by Hamas. “The allegation that UNRWA had been infiltrated by terrorists was never substantiated in any of these discussions,” she said. She added that “the Israeli government and advocacy organizations aligned with it succeeded in creating a lot of hesitation around working with UNRWA.”

Israeli claim that UNRWA was systematically infiltrated by Hamas has not been substantiated by independent investigations. The UN-commissioned Colonna Review, led by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, found that Israel had not provided supporting evidence for claims that a significant number of UNRWA employees were members of terrorist organisations, while also recommending reforms to strengthen neutrality mechanisms.  

The UN’s separate Office of Internal Oversight Services investigation examined allegations against 19 UNRWA staff members. It found no evidence in one case and insufficient evidence in nine others, while saying the evidence regarding another nine employees indicated that they “may have been involved” in the 7 October attacks. UNRWA said those staff members were dismissed.  

Germany initially suspended new funding commitments after Israel’s allegations. The Rosa Luxemburg Foundation report says the pause translated “precautionary framing into practice” before final findings were available. Berlin later resumed cooperation after the Colonna Review, though the report notes that the issue remained politically unresolved and continued to generate parliamentary scrutiny.  

Haaretz also highlighted ELNET’s role in cultivating German lawmakers. Isabel Cademartori, an SPD member of the Bundestag, described ELNET as “very influential” and said it targets new MPs early in their parliamentary careers. “When I came into parliament in 2021, very early on we got invitations for an all-expenses-paid, week-long program,” she said. “They do it for everyone across all parties.”

READ: Israel suffers major blow as Germany resumes funding to UNRWA

Another former parliamentary adviser told Haaretz: “There is no lobby group that flies out parliamentarians and decision-makers like ELNET.” He added that parliamentarians “have no say in the program” and that it is “totally decided by ELNET.”

The report also highlights NAFFO, which has organised parliamentary events such as “Alternatives to UNRWA – What’s Next for Gaza?” and published material portraying UNRWA as structurally subordinate to Hamas. Cademartori said NAFFO holds parliamentary breakfasts and brings in experts to explain “why Israel is not breaking international law, campaigns against UNRWA and argues that the UN is antisemitic.”

DIG, meanwhile, has worked with NGO Monitor and IMPACT-SE on policy material calling for a fundamental overhaul of Germany’s humanitarian policy toward Palestinians. The report says a joint 12-point policy paper questioned UNRWA’s mandate and challenged the inherited Palestinian refugee status framework. DIG later declared: “UNRWA cannot be reformed. Germany must stop funding these structures.”  

The Rosa Luxemburg Foundation report argues that the campaign against UNRWA is not merely about the agency’s conduct, but about the political question of Palestinian refugees and the right of return. It stresses that refugee status and the right of return do not derive from UNRWA’s existence, but from UN General Assembly resolutions and international law. Defunding UNRWA, it says, would not eliminate Palestinian refugee rights, but would deepen humanitarian harm.  

UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned last week that UNRWA was “fighting for its life” and that further cuts could push conditions “past the breaking point”.

READ: UN gives update on 19 staff accused by Israel of 7 October involvement