US urges Israel to rethink anti-UNRWA laws, warning millions at risk of ‘catastrophe’
US official blasts ‘disingenuous’ PM for saying Israel ready to work with int’l community on Gaza aid after approving laws that will crimp UN agency without an alternative in place
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
The US blasted legislation passed by the Knesset on Monday that targets the UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees, arguing that it risks “catastrophe” for millions of Palestinians and urging Jerusalem to hold off on implementing the laws.
The two bills overwhelmingly passed through final votes ban UNRWA from operating in Israeli territory and bar Israeli authorities from any contact with the agency. The legislation will shutter UNRWA’s operations in East Jerusalem where it provides education, health and civil services to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. It will also severely curtail UNRWA activities in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank where the agency relies on coordination with Israel to provide humanitarian aid and other services.
Israel has long had a combative relationship with UNRWA, which it argues has perpetuated the Palestinian refugee crisis by allowing the status to be passed down through generations. Frustration with UNRWA in Jerusalem has picked up over the past decade as Israel has found the Gaza-ruling Hamas terror group embedded within the agency’s infrastructure.
That anger has peaked since Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, in which a number of UNRWA staffers were found to have participated. Israel has gone on to claim that 10% of the UN agency’s staff have ties to Hamas — a charge the agency has denied.
It was against this backdrop that the two bills managed to swiftly make their way through the Knesset, with sponsorship from both coalition and opposition lawmakers.
Related: UNRWA confirms terrorist killed by IDF who led Re’im shelter massacre was a staffer
The legislation’s passage sparked immediate alarm in the international community, which has called for major reforms within UNRWA while also expressing concerns that forcing its closure in the middle of the Gaza war without a viable alternative would shatter the already dire humanitarian situation in the Strip, where it plays a critical role in providing aid.
In an October 13 letter to Israel warning that continued US security assistance was at risk if Jerusalem didn’t take major steps to alleviate the Gaza humanitarian crisis, top Biden administration officials raised the then-still-pending anti-UNRWA legislation and urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to use his authorities to ensure that it was not implemented.
The letter did not include a call to scrap the legislation in the specific steps the administration was asking Israel to take to ensure continued US security assistance. However, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said earlier Monday that the Knesset’s passage of the bill “could have implications under US law.”
The US is legally barred from transferring offensive weapons to countries that block the delivery of humanitarian assistance, and Miller suggested during a press briefing that barring the main agency responsible for supplying aid from doing its job could lead to curbs on US military support to Israel.
Miller said UNRWA plays “an irreplaceable role right now in Gaza where they’re on the front lines of getting humanitarian assistance to the people they need it. There’s nobody that can replace them right now in the middle of the crisis.”
“If UNRWA goes away, you will see civilians — including children, including babies — not be able to get access to food and water and medicine that they need to live. We find that unacceptable,” he added.
“We continue to urge the government of Israel to pause the implementation of this legislation. We urge them not to pass it at all, and we will consider next steps based on what happens in the days ahead,” Miller said hours before the Knesset approved the bill.
A reporter pointed out that the Biden administration itself suspended its funding to UNRWA following the revelations against UNRWA and that Congress passed legislation barring the resumption of such funding until at least March of next year.
Miller said the administration thinks this ban should be lifted, arguing that UNRWA is engaged in important reforms.
He added that UNRWA has launched investigations of its own accord into the Israeli allegations, but that Israel has yet to provide the agency with the evidence necessary to properly probe the matter, and the State Department spokesperson urged Israel to do so.
“In a number of important ways, the relationship between Israel and the United Nations is not one that is productive,” Miller said, adding that the US has urged Israel to work more cooperatively with the UN.
For its part, Jerusalem has long accused the UN of institutional bias against Israel and points to the overwhelmingly disproportionate attention and criticism that the Jewish state receives at the international body.
After the legislation was passed later on Monday, the State Department issued a statement saying the US was deeply troubled by the move, as it could force the UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees to discontinue all of its operations in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
“Implementing the legislation risks catastrophe for the more than 3 million Palestinians who rely on UNRWA for essential services, including health care, and primary and secondary education,” the State Department said. “We urge the government of Israel to pause and further consider implementation of this legislation to ensure UNRWA can effectively carry out its mission and facilitate humanitarian assistance.”
“UNRWA has also long been an organization in need of reform. We support steps to strengthen UNRWA impartiality and neutrality, including to respond to allegations of ties to terrorism,” the US State Department added.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken raised the issue with Netanyahu during a one-on-one meeting that the two held in Jerusalem last week, according to an Axios report.
Netanyahu falsely told Blinken that opposition lawmakers were the ones responsible for advancing the legislation and that the secretary should raise the issue with its leader Yair Lapid, a US official told Axios.
While Lapid’s party voted in favor of the legislation, the bills were brought to a final vote earlier today by Netanyahu’s coalition, not the opposition.
An Israeli official told The Times of Israel on Monday that the Israeli security establishment and professional staff cautioned the political echelon against passing the legislation that massively hampers UNRWA’s capacity to operate in Gaza in the middle of a war without a viable replacement in place.
While some Israeli political leaders recognized the humanitarian risk and the international backlash that would result from the law passed by the Knesset, “the political cost of opposing the legislation became too significant to endure,” the official said, noting that the IDF itself has spent months building a campaign that ties UNRWA to Hamas.
In an effort to address the mounting international alarm, Netanyahu’s office issued an English statement asserting that Israel is prepared to work with international partners to ensure that humanitarian aid can still reach Gazan civilians in the 90 days before the law is implemented.
“UNRWA workers involved in terrorist activities against Israel must be held accountable. Since avoiding a humanitarian crisis is also essential, sustained humanitarian aid must remain available in Gaza now and in the future,” the statement aid.
“In the 90 days before this legislation takes effect – and after – we stand ready to work with our international partners to ensure Israel continues to facilitate humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza in a way that does not threaten Israel’s security.”
But a US official scoffed at the statement, telling The Times of Israel that passing legislation against UNRWA without an alternative in place to replace the agency “and then turning around and saying that you want to ensure that aid can continue reaching civilians… It’s disingenuous and reckless.”