Israel Cracks Down: UNRWA’s Operations Banned on Israeli Soil

The measure was controversial and the consequences could be serious. Israel severely restricts the work of the UN aid organization for the Palestinians after terrorist allegations.

The Palestinian aid organization UNRWA will have to suspend its work in Israel next year. The Israeli parliament approved a controversial bill banning the organization from operating on Israeli territory. This means that the organization can hardly continue its operations in the Palestinian territories because Israel controls the border crossings.

In Israel’s 120-seat parliament, the Knesset, 92 members of the government and the opposition voted for the plan. This severely limits the work of the Palestinian liberation movement. The UN Secretary General, António Guterres, and Israel’s key Western allies have clearly spoken out against the plans.

Israel accuses the organization that some of its employees are involved in terrorist activities, such as the massacre by the Islamist Hamas on October 7 last year. The originally planned official classification of UNRWA as a terrorist organization was no longer part of two bills on the subject on the Knesset agenda. But authorities in Israel will be banned from any contact with the organization once the new law comes into force. This should happen within 90 days of publication. The aid organization would have to stop all activity on Israeli territory – this particularly affects the Arab-dominated eastern part of Jerusalem.

There were angry debates in the Senedd before the vote. An Arab MP spoke of a “fascist law” aimed at the continued oppression of the Palestinian people. The initiators responded with loud shouting, and a representative had to be removed from the hall after several warnings.

The Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, spoke clearly against the project. Such a law would “stifle” efforts to alleviate human suffering and tensions in the Gaza Strip – and also in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, he warned. “It would be a disaster in what is already an absolute disaster.” Especially in the Gaza Strip, there are fears of dramatic effects on the population of around two million people who depend on UNRWA’s vital assistance.

According to media reports, representatives from the Israeli Foreign Ministry also expressed concerns about the practical consequences. In the worst case scenario, Israel could be excluded from the United Nations. But the USA could prevent this through a veto in the Security Council.

Israel has repeatedly made serious allegations against UNRWA in the past. According to this, several employees of the organization were involved in the massacre on October 7, 2023 and the entire organization was infiltrated by Hamas.

Shortly before the Knesset’s decision, seven Western countries expressed their “deep concern” about the legislative plans. In a statement, the foreign ministers of Germany, France, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, Japan and South Korea “strongly” called on the Israeli government to comply with its international obligations.

UNRWA’s prerogatives must not be curtailed and humanitarian aid and basic services for the civilian population must continue to be made possible. The ministers emphasized that UNRWA has taken steps to dispel allegations of support from individual workers to terrorist organizations.

The Palestinian Authority in the West Bank had also strongly criticized the Knesset’s decision beforehand. The law violates international law and is an affront to the entire international community.

There can be no solution to the conflict without a just solution to the refugee issue in accordance with international law, confirmed the authority of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a statement carried by the Palestinian news agency Wafa.