Why UNRWA’s continued existence threatens Israel’s security post-October 7 – opinion

UNRWA [The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East] poses an existential threat to the State of Israel. It was first created to undermine the legitimacy of Israel’s very existence and has since manufactured and continues to perpetuate the baseless and fictional “right of return” for people who had little to no connection to the region to begin with – and most of whom have been living elsewhere for 76 years. 

This ridiculous attempt to stop history in its tracks is the reason Israel is the only country on the planet whose right to defend itself is not only discussed but questioned. Did anyone ask whether the United States had the right to defend itself after the 9/11 attacks?

The symbolism of this concept is far from trivial. And in the wake of the October 7 massacre and the subsequent outburst of anti-Israel and antisemitic sentiment worldwide, Israel can no longer afford to ignore its effects. Surely, a former Israeli diplomat should be well aware of the risks of this sort of perpetual attack on the legitimacy and national security of a country – especially one as unique as Israel.

UNRWA officials have shown no remorse for the outcome of their absurd “Don’t ask, don’t tell” terror screening policy and have no qualms about their schools being used to harbor weapons and terror tunnels, nor do they seem perturbed by the fact they have allowed United Nations protections to be abused in this fashion. 

UNRWA poisons public trust internationally

Therefore, even if we were inclined to entrust UNRWA once more with the task of education – which would be concrete evidence that we had learned nothing at all – the agency is effectively poisoning public trust in international cooperation, not only in Israel but worldwide. 

The task of Israeli diplomats isn’t to acquiesce submissively to international powers but to persuade them of the common threat to Western hegemony and values that UNRWA’s continued existence has become. True, that is a very difficult task after 76 years of neglect. That may be the reason why the current head of J Street in Israel, Nadav Tamir, who doesn’t always seem to have Israeli interests at heart, is a former diplomat.

As anyone with working knowledge of the actual situation on the ground, Tamir knows full well that UNRWA in Jerusalem is worse than useless. 

The services it provides are substandard compared to the municipal services available to all residents: An Israeli, even one who wasn’t a policy adviser on this issue, who wonders who will replace UNRWA seems a bit out of touch with the political reality in the city. 

We should be telling the truth about UNRWA.

There are nevertheless those who argue that UNRWA must be allowed to stay in place since the Palestinian Authority (PA) is useless at providing education, health and welfare services – tasks with which it is both entrusted and receives international support to perform – and then, in the same article, claim that the PA could one day become an independent state without international aid serving as training wheels: Those I suspect of being disingenuous.

UNRWA’s net contribution to its “clients” is a negative one – it has kept five generations trapped as eternal refugees, teaching them nothing but hatred and despair. 

Asking “What will replace UNRWA?” is, therefore, a fallacy. It assumes a need that is not in evidence, and that exists nowhere else in the world. To be clear, even in Gaza, UNRWA “supports” less than a 10th of the population – and it does so at Hamas’s behest, allowing the terror organization to maintain its stranglehold on the population. Anyone who truly wishes Hamas gone should remember that UNRWA is effectively one of its only lifelines. 

I can understand why a Jordanian minister would be concerned that Israel no longer seems to be cooperating with the idea of creating another failed Arab state on Jewish soil. He lives in just such a state – the moral foundation of which is questionable, to say the least. 

But most Israelis, or at least, those who sincerely care about historical truth and the consequences of ignoring the dangers that UNRWA’s existence poses, know only too well why it is in the interests of Israel, the region, and in fact the world, to end it at long last. 

The writer is a strategic policy adviser and former senior political intelligence analyst at the Foreign Ministry.