Israeli parliament bans UN mission for Palestinians for involvement in terrorism
Photo Israel has banned the UN mission for Palestinians for terrorism (Getty Images)
The Israeli parliament approved a law that effectively bans UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees and their descendants, from operating in Israel. The 1967 exchange of notes, the basis of its activities, was canceled, according to Times of Israel.
Israel claims that more than 10% of UNRWA staff in the Gaza Strip are affiliated with terror and that educational institutions under the organization's auspices constantly incite hatred of Israel and glorify terror.
In February, the Israeli Defense Forces revealed the existence of an underground Hamas data center directly under the UNRWA headquarters in the Gaza Strip. The IDF has also repeatedly targeted Hamas command centers and militants hiding in UNRWA schools.
The measure is one of two bills put forward by lawmakers to restrict UNRWA's activities. The other bill would prohibit government agencies from having any contact with UNRWA, effectively severely limiting its activities in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said that the adoption of the bills would be a “catastrophe,” and European Commission Vice President Josep Borrell recently warned that it would “have disastrous consequences.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin have also expressed concern about the bills, saying that “enactment of such restrictions would devastate the Gaza humanitarian response,” as well as the provision of “vital” services in East Jerusalem.
Justification for the ban
In an interview with The Times of Israel, Likud MK Boaz Bismuth, the author of the bill, says that “there’s no reason whatsoever that UNRWA is functioning in Israel. With all due respect, we’re a sovereign country, and we can deal with our citizens.”
Jerusalem, he argues, is providing unprecedented amounts of humanitarian aid to Gaza, and “if we do that in Gaza, after October 7, do you expect us not to give services” to the residents of East Jerusalem?
“On the contrary, not only will [Israel provide] services, it will give better services” than UNRWA, he claims. “And I think that if the secretary of state would have been an MK in the Likud on the seventh of October, he would have done this thing” as well.
The UN has admitted that 9 employees of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) could have been involved in the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas militants on Israel.
