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.
