Israel set to pass bills shutting down UNRWA despite int’l pressure

The Knesset is set to pass two bills on Monday that would shut down the United Nations Relief and Works Agency operations in east Jerusalem, Gaza, and the West Bank within 90 days, despite a massive international pressure campaign against such a step.

A source in the Prime Minister’s Office confirmed to The Jerusalem Post that the bills were expected to pass.

Foreign Ministers from Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, and the United Kingdom issued a joint statement expressing their “grave concern” over the shutdown, particularly in light of the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza due to the war.

“It is crucial that UNRWA and other UN organizations and agencies be fully able to deliver humanitarian aid and their assistance to those who need it most, fulfilling their mandates effectively,” they said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Israeli officials last week about the importance of ensuring that UNRWA, which has serviced Palestinian refugees in east Jerusalem, Gaza, and the West Bank since 1949, remains operational. 

The Biden administration mentioned the importance of maintaining UNRWA operations in a letter it wrote Israel in October, threatening to restrict military assistance to the IDF as dictated under Memorandum 20 unless Israel took steps to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew is among a group of envoys, including from Germany, Italy, Australia, and Great Britain, who have also been holding conversations with Israeli politicians urging them to maintain UNRWA services. 

Israel fears that the international community could seek retribution by taking steps against it at the United Nations. Among the possible political action at the UN could be a push to strip the Jewish state of voting rights at the General Assembly, or the credentials of the Israeli mission to the UN could be stripped.

UNRWA services 5.9 million refugees in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, the West Bank, Gaza, and east Jerusalem. The UN General Assembly approves its mandate to operate on an annual basis and only the UNGA has the power to close the organization.

Israel, however, has the power to prevent UNRWA from operating in territory under its sovereign or military control. Netanyahu and Right-wing politicians have long called for the UN to eliminate UNRWA. They have not, however, seized control of the situation locally by using the government and legislative power they have to close the agency, which is seen as the primary organization providing humanitarian services to Palestinians.

Israel had long argued that the organization incited against Israel and Jews and helped ensure that there would be a permanent and ever-expanding group of Palestinian refugees. Print to October 7, 2023, many security officials had held that UNRWA’s provision of humanitarian services provided an important element of stabilization in the region.

In the last year, since the Hamas-led invasion of Israel on October 7 and the IDF’s subsequent military campaign against Hamas in Gaza, Israel and the IDF have come to believe that UNRWA is so intertwined with Hamas that it can not be a neutral service provider. Worse Israel has charged that a number of UNRWA employees were involved in the seizure of captives on October 7 and that Hamas terrorists were employed by the organization.

Some six pieces of legislation have been put forward with regard to closing UNWRA, which have now been reduced to two private member bills.

The two bills were approved by the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and are now set for their final second and third readings. Committee chairman MK Yuli Edelstein (Likud) said that the bills have broad support from the opposition and the coalition and could garner the support of as many as 100 parliamentarians.

The opposition party Yesh Atid on Sunday evening had not yet decided whether it would support the bill or abstain, but in any case, it will not oppose the bill, according to the party's spokesperson.

At least three authors of the bills, MKs Boaz Bismuth (Likud), Yulia Malinovsky (Yisrael Beytenu), and Dan Illouz (Likud) wrote on X on Sunday that they believed the bills would indeed be brought forwards on Monday and passed into law. 

The first bill states that UNWRA will no longer "operate any institution, provide any service, or conduct any activity, whether directly or indirectly," in Israel.

The second bill states that the treaty between Israel and UNWRA, signed following the Six-Day War in 1967, will expire within seven days of bill passing its final voting in the Knesset plenum, that no Israeli government agencies or representatives may contact UNWRA or a representative of it, beginning three months after the bill passes; that criminal proceedings into UNWRA employee's involvement in acts of terror will continue;  and that Israel's National Security Council must report to the committee every six months regarding the bill's implementation.

Edelstein told The Jerusalem Post that the first bill relates just to east Jerusalem, and the second broad one cancels the invitation to UNRWA to operate in any area under Israeli control and bars Israeli officials from engaging with it.

There is an irreparable difference of opinion between Israel and the international community, Edelstein said, adding that “This is a gap we can’t bridge.” 

The international believes that UNRWA is “irreplaceable” as a service provider and part of a “solution” for Palestinians, he said.

“Our approach is that we have to legislate something that will effectively stop UNRWA activities in our area because they are part of the problem,” he said.

Turning a blind eye

Prior to October 7, everyone turned “a blind eye” to the problem, he said. It’s “absurd” that a year has passed since the October 7 attack and the government has not yet taken any action against UNRWA. It’s asking every other country to stop UNRWA’s operations but has not taken any steps available to it to shut UNRWA down.

“There is no doubt,” he charged, “that UNRWA is part of the Hamas rule in Gaza. It’s part of raising another generation of terrorists in Gaza and Judea and Samaria, and we have to put an end to it.”

He noted that there is now wide consensus against UNRWA both in the opposition and the coalition, estimating that some 100 lawmakers are likely to support the two bills.

He noted that once the bills pass, there would be a three-month period before UNRWA would have to cease its operations. This would allow time for another alternative to be found to provide services to Palestinians.

A US Embassy spokesperson, however, hinted that Israel could be responsible for filling that gap.

“Pending legislation would make it impossible for UNRWA to operate and would leave a vacuum that Israel would then be responsible for filling. Adding to the humanitarian crisis that already exists would undermine stability and security for Israel and the region,” the spokesperson told The Jerusalem Post.

The “involvement of UNRWA personnel on Oct 7 was reprehensible and led the US to halt funding,’ the spokesperson said.

“We have called for those involved to be held accountable and for UNRWA reforms to address serious concerns about its facilities and personnel being involved in terrorist activities,” the spokesperson said.

“At the same time, UNRWA provides vital services in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, and Jordan - including humanitarian assistance, health benefits care and sanitation,” the spokesperson explained.

UNRWA called the pending Knesset vote "outrageous.

“Such a move by a UN member state against a UN General Assembly-mandated organization is unprecedented and dangerous. It opposes the UN Charter and violates the State of Israel’s obligations under international law,” a UNRWA spokesperson said. 

“This is a step against the multilateral system. It is the latest step in the ongoing, systematic campaign to discredit UNRWA and delegitimize its role towards providing human-development assistance and services to Palestine Refugees,” the spokesperson stressed.

Such a step would interrupt the provision of important humanitarian assistance to two million people in Gaza in the West Bank, “with severe impact on the lives of people,” the spokesperson said

“Without UNRWA, the delivery of food, shelter, and health care to most of Gaza’s population would grind to a halt,” the spokesperson stressed. Social services for Palestinians in the West Bank and east Jerusalem would collapse, the UNRWA spokesperson added.

“This legislation would set a grave precedent for other conflict situations where governments may wish to eliminate an inconvenient United Nations presence” and would compromise humanitarian work worldwide, the spokesperson said.