RFI interview Fleur Hassan Nachum, Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem: about the situation in the Middle East since the beginning of the war after the bloody Hamas attack on October 7.

During the conversation Hassan Nahum severely criticized the UN position regarding the conflict and the role the organization has played for years through the United Nations Palestine Refugee Agency (UNRWA), which it accuses of “complicity in the war crimes that Hamas is committing in the Gaza Strip.”

Here’s the interview:

RFI. Vice Mayor, what is the situation in Jerusalem today, two months after the start of the war between Israel and Hamas?

We’re still a little traumatized by everything that happened. Last week there was a terrorist attack in Jerusalem that killed three people while waiting for a bus. We also have the case of many soldiers who died in this war. This is a very sad situation. We bury 22-year-old boys. Thank God we had two or three hostages who came out. But there are still those who remain in captivity.

RFI. More generally, we would like to ask you about the relationship between the United Nations and Israel. Traditionally this has been difficult. But tensions have risen since the deadly Hamas attack two months ago. Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen even called for the resignation of Secretary General Antonio Guterres. How would you describe them right now?

The UN is an organization that has always discriminated against Israel a lot. It’s ironic because they were the ones who gave us our birth certificate in 1948. But the UN is an organization that has many countries with brutal dictatorships. In recent years, for example, 15 resolutions have been adopted against Israel, but only one against Iran and one against Syria. I think that says it all.

RFI. What do you think about the role of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres?

Antonio Guterres does not understand the situation and does not want to take any responsibility. But the UN is also responsible because its agency, UNRWA (United Nations Palestine Refugee Agency), is an organization that is full of Hamas members in the Gaza Strip. UNRWA has a network of schools that teach hatred. They teach children that they should be martyrs. They teach children that Jews are not people. This is education that is subsidized by the UN. This is why Guterres bears great responsibility for what is happening here, for the hatred that he incited with this agency.

RFI. The UNRWA spokesman explained that the vast majority of its 30,000 members were blameless, although he acknowledged that some had publicly expressed support for the deadly October 7 attack.

It’s a lie. An UNRWA hostage was found in the Gaza Strip. There was a hostage who was hidden by an UNRWA teacher. Two days ago it was revealed that UNRWA has food and drink, and instead of distributing it to normal people, it is saving it to give to Hamas. The UN is involved in this. UNRWA is complicit in the war crimes Hamas is currently committing in the Gaza Strip.

RFI. Don’t you think UNRWA will be able to investigate the facts and punish those responsible?

No, UNRWA is rotten from the inside. We are not talking about punishing four or five people. He’s rotten inside. This is an organization that perpetuates Palestinians as victims. They are not trying to deny Palestinians refugee status. They started with 700,000 refugees in 1948 and today there are 5 million. How to explain that the organization, instead of helping to integrate refugees, did the opposite?

RFI. Even many people who support Israel criticize their country for continuing colonization despite several UN resolutions declaring it illegal. What do you say about this?

That we did not have any colony in Gaza. We left there in 2005. What then is their justification for what happened in Gaza? We left, we left an area that could have been beautiful. They could turn this territory into Singapore, into Dubai. Instead they turned it into Beirut. They also invited Iran, which is the biggest threat to the free world. Israel is just the first stop in Iran’s global ambitions. So what colonies are we talking about? Hamas hates Fatah (which governs the West Bank). They killed them. Hamas drove them out of Gaza after brutal elections.

RFI. What can you tell us about US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s statement that there is a gap between Israel’s intentions to protect civilians and what is actually happening on the ground?

The Israeli army is the only one in the world that warns civilians where we are going to attack. This means that we also warn the enemy. The enemy knows exactly where we are going to bomb. Because we do this to reduce civilian deaths. They place civilians in places that are supposed to be safe zones. But our enemy does not care about his people.