On Oct. 28, an overwhelming majority of Israel’s Knesset adopted two bills to outlaw the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. The first bans the agency from operating on Israeli sovereign territory, including East Jerusalem, and the second prohibits Israeli government officials from having any contact with UNRWA.
The Knesset’s action was spurred in part by the confirmed finding that a number of UNRWA employees took an active role in the Hamas attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and were involved in the kidnapping and holding of hostages in Gaza. But Israeli leaders and others have long been critical of UNRWA and have accused it, among other things, of teaching incitement against Israel and Jews in its schools and of abetting terror groups.
The bill barring UNRWA activities in Israel passed by a vote of 92-10, and the bill banning state authorities from contact with the agency passed by a vote of 87-9. Lawmakers from both the governing coalition and the opposition voted in favor of the two bills. The laws are scheduled to take effect in late January 2025.
The U.S., several of Israel’s other Western allies and U.N. officials have expressed serious concern about the legislation. Before it was passed, efforts were made to pressure Israeli leaders to withdraw the legislation or at least to withdraw their support for it. And since the laws have been passed, the pressure has increased with mounting concern for the humanitarian consequences of banning UNRWA from much of its work in the region.
There are, unquestionably, legitimate grounds for concern. Millions of Palestinians rely on UNRWA for essential services, including health care and primary and secondary education.
But there have long been questions about whether UNRWA is the best relief agency to provide the needed services. And, in any event, if UNRWA wants to continue providing services, nothing in the new laws would prevent it from doing so — it simply would not have any of the coordination protections from Israel that its personnel have been accorded until now.
It is important to understand the history. Under UNRWA’s policies, all Palestinians who left or were expelled from Israel in 1948, and all their descendants, are considered refugees. Because of that standard, what began as approximately 700,000 refugees in 1948 has now expanded to 6,000,000 Palestinian “refugees” in 2024.
The multi-generational refugee treatment for Palestinians is different than any other refugee group aided by the United Nations. And Palestinians are the only refugee group with a dedicated U.N. relief agency.
Critics maintain that over the past seven decades, UNRWA has promoted Palestinian victimhood rather than fostering independence and rehabilitation. Thus, instead of helping refugees get back on their feet, live independently and move forward, critics argue that UNRWA has worked to perpetuate the aggrieved and refugee status of Palestinians while promoting hatred, antisemitism and incitement to terror.
Israel has now said it has had enough of UNRWA and will no longer deal with the agency.
That move came as no surprise. As to next steps, however, part of the burden of figuring things out will fall on Israel, since Israel has some responsibilities to the Palestinian population under international law that could be implicated if UNRWA stopped providing services.
There is a lot to sort out over the next 80 days.
UNRWA has been working with the Palestinians for over 75 years, and yet there is no progress in producing a moderate State, no progress in moderating the hatreds spread by radical Palestinian ;leaders. and no progress in the Palestinian desire to annihilate Israel. In fact the exact opposite has occurred. Doing the same thing over and over is insanity.