Israel Passes Bills to Deem UNRWA a Terrorist Organization

Facts

• The Knesset (Israel's parliament) on Monday passed the first reading of three bills aimed at shutting down the operations of the UN's primary agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in Israel, stripping its personnel of legal immunities, and branding the agency as a terrorist organization.¹
• The three bills will now be sent to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee for preparation for the second and third readings, which are necessary for the legislation to become law.¹
• The trio of bills received support from the ruling coalition parties as well as from lawmakers from the opposition parties United Right, Yisrael Beytenu, National Unity, and Yesh Atid.²
• Israel has alleged that UNRWA staff participated in Hamas' Oct. 7 attack, the agency employed Hamas operatives, and Hamas fighters have used its infrastructure in Gaza.³
• While Israel's accusations led many to pause funding to UNRWA, most donors reinstated funding after a UN-authorized independent review found that Israel hadn't provided credible evidence for its assertions.⁴
• Established in 1949, UNRWA provides civic and humanitarian services to around 5.9M Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, and neighboring Arab countries. It employs around 13K people in Gaza.⁵

Sources: ¹Timesofisrael, ²Jerusalem Post, ³The Media Line, ⁴Al Jazeera and ⁵Reuters.

Narratives

• Pro-Israel narrative, as provided by Jerusalem Post. UNRWA has long facilitated terror and provided cover for Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Several UNRWA employees participated in Hamas' Oct. 7 massacre, which should be more than enough of a reason to once and for all get rid of the terror-adjacent organization. Indeed, UNRWA schools indoctrinate Palestinians into hating Israel, something that must finally end.
• Pro-Palestine narrative, as provided by Middle East Eye. UNRWA is the only international organization with the infrastructure capable of providing humanitarian aid in Gaza. That almost all of the donor countries — most of whom are allies of Israel — have reinstated funding to the agency should indicate that Israeli claims are nonsense and entirely baseless. Attacks on UNRWA only serve to make the humanitarian situation in Gaza worse.

Predictions