High Court signals it will likely reject petition against laws banning UNRWA activities

The High Court of Justice recommends that petitioners retract a petition filed against legislation barring UNRWA, the UN relief agency for Palestinians, from working in Israel and restricting its operations in the West Bank and Gaza, indicating that it will likely reject them.

The recommendation comes at the end of a hearing in which the justices expressed skepticism that the rights of Palestinians have been adversely affected by the cessation of UNRWA’s activities, as claimed by the Adalah legal aid organization that filed the petition, noting that the Palestinian Authority and other organizations are still providing for the needs of those formerly aided by UNRWA.

At the start of the hearing, Likud MK Tali Gotliv began shouting at Adalah attorney Shuaa Masarwa Mansour, and a shouting match soon erupted also involving National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, with court security guards trying to calm the situation.

Gotliv and Ben Gvir told Mansour to “get out of here,” and said the fact that he had a lawyer’s license is “a disgrace to the Israel Bar Association.”

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir (center) and Knesset members Tally Gotliv (left) and Yulia Malinovsky (right) attend a High Court of Justice hearing on a petition challenging laws barring UNRWA activities in Israel, at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, August 3, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Mansour reacted in kind, calling Ben Gvir “worthless” and “a criminal,” in reference to the far-right minister’s multiple criminal convictions, including for incitement to racism and supporting a terror organization.

In October 2024, the Knesset passed two laws with massive majorities banning UNRWA’s operations in sovereign Israel, including East Jerusalem, and barring state agencies from cooperating with UNRWA for its operations in Gaza and the West Bank. The legislation was passed due to evidence of Hamas’s infiltration of UNRWA, the participation of some UNRWA members in the October 7, 2023, atrocities, and the rampant incitement against Israel and Jews in UNRWA’s vast educational network.

In October 2025, the International Court of Justice issued a non-binding advisory opinion asserting that Israel was legally obligated to allow UNRWA’s operations.

Israel rejected the ruling, saying the country would “not cooperate with an organization that is infested with terror activities.”