FALCON POWERS – The Knesset plenum approved a preliminary reading today, Wednesday, of a bill that would have Israel declare the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) a “terrorist organization”. The bill was approved with the support of 42 Knesset members and opposition from 6 members.
The bill stipulates that the “Counter-Terrorism Law” will apply to the UN agency UNRWA, and all communications and relations between Israel and its citizens and UNRWA will be severed, the agency’s offices in Israel will be closed, and the punitive measures applicable to “terrorist organizations” under the law will also apply to the UN agency.
The bill was submitted by Knesset member Yulia Malinovsky from the “Israel Beiteinu” party. The head of this party, Avigdor Lieberman, said that “UNRWA is a terrorist organization”, claiming that “it has become clearer today more than ever that the UNRWA organization, which helped in the killing, kidnapping and rape of Jews in the October 7 attack, is not helping refugees, but only the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip”.
Israel has claimed that UNRWA employees participated in the “Temple Mount Uprising” attack, but has not provided evidence for this. Furthermore, countries that had cut funding to UNRWA following Israel’s allegations have since reversed their decisions and resumed funding the agency.
An independent review of UNRWA’s performance concluded that there is “no alternative” to the agency, stressing that Israel has not provided evidence of the alleged involvement of agency staff with Hamas or affiliation with resistance factions in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli Foreign Ministry commented on the report by claiming that it lacks “genuine and comprehensive examination”.
The review, chaired by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna at the request of the United Nations and with the participation of three research institutes, confirmed that “UNRWA has been regularly providing Israel with lists of its staff names for verification, while the Israeli government has not informed UNRWA of any concerns regarding any of its staff.”
The review explained that Israel has not yet proven any of its broader claims about the “involvement” of UNRWA employees in affiliation with Hamas or Islamic Jihad. The review noted that in March of last year, “Israel issued public allegations that a large number of UNRWA employees are members of terrorist organizations, however, Israel has not yet provided supporting evidence for this.”
The review stressed that “the Israeli authorities have not yet provided any supporting evidence and did not respond to letters from UNRWA in March and again in April, requesting the names and supporting evidence that would enable UNRWA to conduct an investigation.” Colonna’s review clarifies that UNRWA is “indispensable” for the humanitarian and economic development of Palestinians.
