Hostage's Daughter Condemns UNRWA at UN Human Rights Council
Ditsa Heiman's daughter addressed the UN Human Rights Council, criticizing UNRWA over a teacher holding her captive, as a new report challenges agency reforms.
Neta Heiman-Mina, the daughter of 84-year-old Gaza hostage survivor Ditsa Heiman, addressed the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva on Tuesday, condemning UNRWA for employing a teacher who held her mother captive. Heiman-Mina spoke during a panel discussion on human rights education, delivered jointly on behalf of UN Watch and Ingénieurs du Monde.
Captivity and UNRWA's Role
Ditsa Heiman was kidnapped from her home in Kibbutz Nir Oz by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, and held in Gaza for 53 days until her release in November of that year. According to her testimony, she spent 48 of those days locked in the attic of a UNRWA teacher in harsh conditions with minimal food. Addressing the UN, Heiman-Mina demanded to know how the organization could entrust the education of future generations in Gaza to someone involved in holding an elderly woman hostage.
"For 48 days, a UNRWA teacher kept my mother trapped in his attic—in horrendous conditions, with very little food," Heiman-Mina said. "I ask the UN: How could you entrust the education of the next generation in Gaza to someone who was involved in holding an elderly woman as a hostage?"
While criticizing UNRWA's continued funding and systemic flaws, Heiman-Mina clarified that she does not call for halting vital services to Gaza's residents, but rather urged the international community to find untainted alternatives for education, healthcare, and food security.
UN Watch Report on UNRWA Reforms
Heiman-Mina's address coincided with the release of a new report by UN Watch titled 'Report Card on UNRWA Reform', which challenges the agency's claims regarding the implementation of reforms following the October 7 massacre. Following the revelation that UNRWA staffers participated in the attacks, an independent review group led by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna issued 50 recommendations.
Although UNRWA claimed to have completed 41 of the recommendations, the UN Watch report asserts that the agency merely repackaged administrative procedures as substantive reforms, concluding that at most 13 recommendations were genuinely fulfilled. UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer stated that the agency essentially graded its own homework while failing to root out institutional terror ties and radical educational content.
