Knesset committee launches bill to suspend UNRWA activity in Israel

Guterres alerts Netanyahu of the seriousness of this proposal, which would constitute an attack on the UN Charter by a member country

Oct. 6 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee of the Israeli Parliament, the Knesset, has given its approval to the implementation of a bill that, if finally declared, could lead to the suspension of the activities of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in the country.

The project actually consists of two regulations. The first, promoted by deputy Yulia Malinovsky, from the Yisrael Beitenu party, would declare the total and absolute interruption of communication between UNRWA and the Israeli authorities.

For example, the Israeli foreign and interior ministries would not be able to issue entry visas for UNRWA staff and customs officials would not be able to process goods imported by the agency, in addition to the revocation of tax benefits granted to the agency. organization.

The second, even harsher, would mean the prohibition of the agency’s activities in Israeli territory, which is of enormous importance for its work in Gaza and in the Palestinian refugee camps.

GUTERRES ALERTS ISRAEL OF THE SERIOUSNESS OF THIS PROPOSAL

In fact, and according to the Israeli newspaper ‘Yedioth Aharonoth’, the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, has already sent a letter to the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, that the legislation, if approved, “could prevent UNRWA continued its activities in the occupied Palestinian territories, thereby denying essential aid and protection to Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.

“It is extremely worrying,” Guterres warns in the letter. “that a member state of the United Nations is considering legislation that would fundamentally contravene the principles of the founding Charter of the UN.”

Furthermore, Guterres has warned that such a decision would motivate the immediate convening of the UN General Assembly to address what would be an event “of historic significance” given that “UNRWA is an integral part of the United Nations and it is impossible to separate it from it.” “.

Malinovski, in statements reported by the ‘Times of Israel’, has indicated that the next step consists of the approval of the bill in two additional readings in the plenary session of the Knesset, and has called on both the Government and the opposition to approve the regulations “to get rid of the agency”, greatly criticized by Israel for its alleged complicity with the Palestinian militias, something that the organization categorically denies, “once and for all.”

Last March, Israel accused “a significant number” of UNRWA workers of “being members of terrorist organizations,” which led 16 countries to suspend or freeze funds, suddenly depriving this organization of $450 million and casting doubt on the continuity of its operations.

However, in mid-April, the external investigation led by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna ruled out that the Israeli authorities provided evidence to support the alleged terrorist links attributed to several UNRWA employees.

In fact, and in response to Guterres, the Israeli ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, has insisted that Israel has provided the UN with information on more than 100 UNRWA employees who participated in the October 7 massacre and has assured that the UN’s own internal investigation determined that some UNRWA employees are Hamas terrorists.

“UNRWA has failed both professionally (in building educational and economic infrastructure) and morally, by allowing free access to Hamas terrorists to use its resources to carry out a barbaric and brutal massacre,” the ambassador concludes. “UNRWA has become part of Hamas and it is time for the UN to recognize it,” he concluded.