Unraveling UNRWA

Unraveling UNRWA

In the aftermath of the October 7 attacks and allegations of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA)’s staff involvement in kidnappings, the agency faced global fallout and Israel’s legislative move to sever ties amid Gaza’s deepening humanitarian crisis. Many donor nations temporarily suspended funding but later resumed support; the United States—the agency’s largest donor—has yet to reinstate its contributions.

The film traces UNRWA’s 75-year evolution, from its post-1948 origins as a temporary relief organization for Palestine refugees to its pivotal and often controversial role amidst the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It unravels new and surprising insights, offering an inside look at the only UN agency dedicated to a single group of people. With its three-year mandate expiring in December 2025, the UN General Assembly faces a crucial vote on whether to extend UNRWA’s mission.

Screening followed by a conversation with director Duki Dror and moderated by Foundation for Defense of Democracies Fellow Hussain Abdul – Hussain.

Born in Tel Aviv and educated at UCLA and Columbia College in Chicago, Duki Dror Darwish is an internationally award-winning documentary filmmaker. His extensive body of work spreads over multiple topics and forms – character-driven journeys, experiment biographies, investigative docs, and historical epics, have won him international recognition and success. With acute sensitivity, innovative style, and engaging story-telling, Dror creates parables that convey human dilemmas and challenge the viewer’s conventions.

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Hussain Abdul-Hussain is a research fellow at FDD. He focuses on the Gulf region and Yemen, including on Gulf relations with Iran and Gulf peace with Israel. Born and raised in Beirut, Baghdad and Baalbek, cities that have been the theater of major Middle Eastern events, Hussain earned a degree in History and Archeology from the American University of Beirut, after which he worked as a reporter, and later managing editor, at Beirut’s The Daily Star. He reported from war zones on the Lebanese border with Israel, and from Iraq. In Washington, Hussain helped set up and manage the Arabic satellite network Alhurra Iraq, after which he headed the Washington Bureau of Kuwaiti daily Alrai.

Hussain has worked as a Visiting Fellow with London’s Chatham House, and has published in English in The New York Times and The Washington Post and in Arabic in various publications. His analysis has been quoted by Vox, The Jerusalem Post and Newsweek. Hussain has appeared on CNN and MSNBC and is a frequent commentator on major Arabic satellite networks.