The U.N. Security Council (UNSC) issued a statement on Wednesday that “strongly warned” Israel against “any attempts to dismantle or diminish” the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) – the Palestinian relief agency that has been repeatedly linked to the terrorists of Hamas.
The UNSC statement asserted the “vital role” played by UNRWA in “providing life-saving humanitarian assistance to Palestinian refugees through essential education, health, relief and social services programs.”
The Security Council insisted the organization “remains the backbone of all humanitarian response in Gaza,” and cannot be replaced by any other agency or humanitarian endeavor.
The statement expressed “grave concern” about legislation adopted by the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, that would effectively block UNRWA from working in Gaza. UNSC demanded the Israeli government “respect the privileges and immunities of UNRWA and live up to its responsibility to allow and facilitate full, rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian assistance in all its forms.”
The Security Council statement did not mention Hamas at all, although it alluded to one of the bombshell Hamas scandals by insisting UNRWA did enough to address Israel’s concerns with “measures taken to terminate the employment of 9 UNRWA staff members following the attacks of 7 October 2023.”
The statement did not mention the reason why the Knesset passed the legislation opposed by the Security Council, although it vaguely alluded to Palestinian misbehavior by calling on “all parties” “enable UNRWA to carry out its mandate” in “all areas of operation, with full respect for the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence.”
The Knesset overwhelmingly approved two bills on Monday that would effectively ban UNRWA from operating in Israel, and would severely restrict its activities in Gaza and the West Bank.
The bill pertaining to UNRWA operations in Gaza and the West Bank stated that the treaty which established the U.N. operation after the Six Day War in 1967 would expire in seven days, and Israel would end all official contact with UNRWA within three months after that.
The Knesset resisted enormous international pressure to pass the legislation, including heavy pressure from the Biden administration, which threatened to retaliate with an arms embargo.
“It’s outrageous that a member state of the United Nations is working to dismantle a U.N. agency which also happens to be the largest responder in the humanitarian operation in Gaza,” the agency said when the legislation was passed.
“UNRWA workers involved in terrorist activities against Israel must be held accountable. Since avoiding a humanitarian crisis is also essential, sustained humanitarian aid must remain available in Gaza now and in the future,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded.
“In the 90 days before this legislation takes effect – and after – we stand ready to work with our international partners to ensure Israel continues to facilitate humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza in a way that does not threaten Israel’s security,” a statement from Netanyahu’s office said.
The bills were approved only a few days after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) eliminated a Hamas commander who gleefully participated in the abduction and murder of Israeli civilians on October 7 – and had been on UNRWA’s payroll since July 2022.
The IDF has discovered Hamas command centers located inside, or beneath, UNRWA facilities on numerous occasions throughout the Gaza war, including a massive data center hidden underneath UNRWA’s Gaza headquarters. The IDF maintains that building and operating these Hamas facilities would have been impossible without the active collusion of some UNRWA staffers.
Contrary to the UNSC statement, the Israeli government has never been satisfied with the U.N. response to Israel uncovering UNRWA employees who applauded, and actually participated in, the October 7 atrocities. Israel regards the handful of particularly egregious examples terminated by UNRWA as merely the tip of the iceberg.
“Let’s call a spade a spade: NUMEROUS UNRWA employees were directly involved in the October 7 massacre, where 1,200 Israelis were murdered, kidnapped, and injured,” the Israeli government said on Wednesday.
“This is an organization infiltrated by Hamas terrorists. There are alternatives to UNRWA. Humanitarian aid is already being managed by reliable organizations like the World Food Program (WFP), UNICEF, and the World Health Organization (WHO),” the Israelis said.
“UNRWA is part of the problem, not the solution,” the Israelis said.
Israel’s ambassador to India, Reuen Azar, wrote an op-ed for the Indian Express on Wednesday that laid out the case against UNRWA in detail. Azar mentioned another longstanding Israeli complaint about schools distributing material to children that was tainted with terrorist ideology.
“Unfortunately, UNRWA has been ‘successful’ in fulfilling its mandate to the extent that millions of graduates from its schools have been taught to object to Israel’s existence for the last 76 years. Many of them became active members of terrorist organizations,” he observed.
“We will continue to abide by international law. But we will not agree to continue to cooperate with UNRWA, a corrupt organization that is completely compromised by terrorist organizations like Hamas,” he declared.
