Israel’s Knesset plenum approved final voting for two bills aimed at blocking the activity in areas under Israeli control of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNWRA), which services Palestinian refugees in east Jerusalem, Gaza, and the West Bank.
The bills passed 92-10, with support from the opposition parties National Unity, Yisrael Beytenu, and Yesh Atid. The Democrats party abstained.
Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman MK Yuli Edelstein presented both bills in the Knesset plenum. According to Edelstein, UNWRA’s operations “eternalized” the issue of Palestinian refugees.
In addition, Edelstein cited the fact that UNWRA employees had participated in, and even served as commanders, in the October 7 Hamas massacre. Edelstein also mentioned incitement in UNWRA school curriculums. According to Edelstein, the time had come to ban the agency from Israel.
Edelstein did not address in his speech who would replace the services UNWRA provides for Palestinians in east Jerusalem, Gaza, and the West Bank.
After the bills passed, Edelstein called the bills “historic” and the “elimination of one of the arms of terror that acted under UN auspices.”
“UNWRA long ago ceased to be a humanitarian aid agency, but in addition to it being an integral supporter of terror and hate, is an agency to eternalize poverty and suffering. The rationale is simple – in order to survive, UNWRA created demand for the product it provides. The circle of horror ended today, they are out!” Edelstein concluded.
The two bills are an amalgamation of five bills that were proposed by a large number of Members of Knesset from both the coalition and opposition, indicating broad support.
What do the bills state?
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.
The first bill passed 92-10, with support from the opposition parties National Unity, Yisrael Beytenu, and Yesh Atid. The Democrats party abstained. The second bill passed 87-9.
Edelstein told The Jerusalem Post earlier this week that the first bill relates just to east Jerusalem since the other areas under Israeli control are not officially part of sovereign Israel, 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.
One of the bill’s authors, MK Dan Illouz (Likud), said that the Jerusalem Ministry had plans in place to take over UNWRA’s responsibilities in east Jerusalem.
The ministry said in response to a query that regarding education, the ministry and Jerusalem Municipality are acting to create “alternative education sites in the immediate time range,” and “founding permanent educational institutions in the long run.”
Regarding health services, the ministry was acting together with the health ministry and Jerusalem Municipality to provide “health solutions” to people who used UNWRA’s services. The ministry was also working with the municipality to “examine the need for alternatives in the field of cleanliness and sanitation”.
The ministry added that it had “filed a request for approval” for funding from the budget department, and the finance ministry will “convene relevant teams to approve the plans” and set a timetable.
The ministry added, “It should be noted that that process consists of two waves, one directed at the short term and the other at the long term.”
“As the ministry that is responsible for coordinating the government decision to find alternatives to UNWRA, and alongside the education and health ministries and the Jerusalem Municipality, we prepared to provide a solution so that there will not be a single child without an educational framework at the stage of the bill’s implementation, and no person will be left without an alternative health framework.”
In addition, according to Illouz, the three-month interim period was intended to replace UNWRA’s operations in the West Bank and Gaza with other agencies, which will be independently funded and will not be a budgetary burden on Israel.
Illouz said that plans were being formulated by the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) to this effect but that the information was classified.
Another author of the bills, MK Boaz Bismuth (Likud), wrote in a statement following the bill’s passage, “UNWRA is not an agency to aid refugees, it as an aid agency for Hamas!”. Bismuth also mentioned the “chilling” footage of Yonatan Smarno being kidnapped from the Nova party on October 7 by what Bismuth said was a UNWRA social worker. Smarno’s father was present in the Knesset visitor’s balcony during the votes.
Opposition to the bill
The Knesset’s Arab MKs, as well as members of the left-wing Democrats party, opposed the bill.
Hadash-Ta’al chairman MK Ayman Odeh responded by pointing out what he said was the “irony” that Israel opposed the fact that the descendants of Palestinian refugees retained their refugee status and claimed a “right of return”, but at the same time maintained that Jewish refugees expelled 2,000 years ago had a “right of return” to the Land of Israel.
MK Ahmad Tibi, also of Hadash-Ta’al, said that there were 90,000 UNWRA workers who supplied services to Palestinian refugees, and outlawing all of them was a de-facto attempt to “harm the Palestinian people.”
According to Tibi, UNWRA can be shut down when the Palestinian refugee problem is solved by the formation of a Palestinian state.
Bills condemned internationally
The bills were passed into law despite immense international pressure to the contrary.
Foreign Ministers from Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, and the United Kingdom issued a joint statement this week 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 also spoke with Israeli officials last week about the importance of ensuring that UNRWA remains operational.
In addition, 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.
The bills also passed despite fears that the international community could seek retribution by taking steps against it at the United Nations.
Among the possible political actions 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.
UNWRA responds
Following the passing of the bills, the media adviser to UNRWA, Adnan Abu Hasna, reportedly said that Israel’s decision to ban the organization’s operation inside the country would entail the collapse of the humanitarian process as a whole, according to a Reuters report.
Hasna reportedly described the decision as an “unprecedented” escalation, Reuters added.
