Israeli Knesset Votes to Ban UNRWA

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Facts

  • Israel's Knesset voted on Monday to ban the UN's primary agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) from conducting 'any activity' or providing any service inside Israel as well as East Jerusalem, Gaza, and the West Bank. The Knesset also designated the UNRWA as a terror group.[1]
  • The legislation will effectively cut all ties between the UNRWA and the Israeli government. The agency is the main distributor of aid in Gaza and provides education, health, and other basic services to millions of Palestinian refugees across the region.[2]
  • Israel has accused the UNRWA and its employees of being complicit in 'terrorist activities.' The UNRWA has said that nine employees may have been involved in Hamas' Oct. 7 attack and would terminate their contracts if proven true. The UNRWA has around 14K staff members in Gaza.[3][4]
  • The first bill received 92 votes in favor and 10 against, with the second receiving 87 votes in favor. The US Dept. of State said the bills risk 'catastrophe for the more than 3 million Palestinians who rely on UNRWA for essential services, including healthcare and education.'[5]
  • UN officials condemned the move, with the UN human rights office saying that 'Without UNRWA, the delivery of food, healthcare, education, among other things, to most of Gaza's population, would grind to a halt.'[6]
  • An Israeli official said that the UNRWA 'was already limited and reduced' in Gaza in recent months, as Israel has been systematically 'minimizing its activities' in the strip. The official added that UNICEF and the UN World Food Programme would fill in for the UNRWA.[7]

Sources: [1]Guardian, [2]Associated Press, [3]NBC, [4]CNN, [5]FOX News, [6]UN News and [7]Timesofisrael.

Narratives

  • Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by CNN. The US and international community are deeply troubled by the Knesset's move to ban the UNRWA. Though the agency is surely flawed and employees who have taken part in terrorist activities must be held accountable, the UNRWA is crucial to delivering aid to Gaza. Israel is risking its international support by passing such legislation.
  • Pro-Israel narrative, as provided by Jerusalem Post. In its 75 years of existence, the UNRWA has only perpetuated conflict between Israelis and Palestinians by providing a pretense of never-ending victimhood and suffering. Almost every camp established by the UNRWA has become hotbeds of terrorism, and the agency's only function in recent decades has been to provide Palestinian terror with international legitimacy. Other agencies and organizations will be able to step in and provide aid to those suffering in Gaza.
  • Pro-Palestine narrative, as provided by Middle East Eye. The UNRWA was created as a bandaid solution in the wake of Israel's ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948 to silence Palestinians rightfully enraged by their dispossession. Nonetheless, in the decades since, the agency has served as a reminder to Israel and the international community of Israel's many crimes. Israel's banning of the UNRWA has been in the making for some time, and Israel's goal is to escalate its genocide in Gaza by starving the population of even more much-needed services.

Predictions