The Mirage of 'Humanitarian Reconstruction': Billions for Gaza — But Who Will Prevent the Next Jihad?
by Pierre Rehov • November 9, 2025 at 5:00 am
The UNDP's own auditors uncovered more than 100 investigations into fraud, bribery, and "ghost projects." If corruption could flourish under nominal Iraqi government control, imagine the diversion potential in Gaza — where much of the terror regime remains intact.
Earlier UN experiments, such as the Oil-for-Food scandal, showed how -- when oversight is weak and politics trumps accountability -- "humanitarian" programs become self-enriching rackets.
For years, Hamas forces have been filmed confiscating relief shipments directly from UN trucks and warehouses. It is not chaos; it is a business model.
These are not isolated abuses — they form a structural pattern in which humanitarian efforts in fact bankroll jihad.
After Hamas's October 7, 2023 invasion of Israel, investigations confirmed that many UNRWA employees participated in or facilitated the Hamas attacks, leading more than 20 donor countries — including the U.S., Canada, and Germany — to suspend funding. Some countries, however, under political pressure, resumed payments months later, even as fresh evidence emerged of UNRWA staff ties to Hamas's military wing.
The U.S. administration... continues to push for a "political process" aimed at reviving a desired "peace framework" partially disconnected from the region's realities. Washington may view reconstruction as a path to normalization, but for Israel — the country whose citizens were massacred and whose borders remain under threat — security comes before expediency, and survival before consent.
When the guns fall silent, Western governments rush to rebuild. The European Union, the United States, and several Arab states are now pledging tens of billions of dollars to "reconstruct" Gaza. The impulse may be humane, but the outcome could be catastrophic. Unless funds are subjected to strict, transparent and enforceable controls, they will once again be used to fertilize the same terror infrastructure responsible for Gaza's destruction.
Lessons from the Rubble of Mosul
In Iraq, after ISIS's defeat, the UN and Western donors launched the Funding Facility for Stabilization (FFS), pouring more than $1.5 billion into bridges, hospitals, and power grids. Within two years, the UNDP's own auditors uncovered more than 100 investigations into fraud, bribery, and "ghost projects." If corruption could flourish under nominal Iraqi government control, imagine the diversion potential in Gaza — where much of the terror regime remains intact.
