90 days after legislation was passed to outlaw an agency complicit in terror, and 2 days before it takes effect, Israel has not taken steps to insure it plays out as MKs intended.
The law prohibiting contact with UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, which was approved in the Knesset 90 days ago, will come into effect on Thursday.
The law was enacted just over a year after the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led invasion and slaughter in southern Israel, after Israel presented the UN with evidence that UNRWA employees had participated — including filmed documentation of the abduction of the body of Jonathan Samerano at Kibbutz Be’eri.
In addition, Israel exposed Hamas’s extensive use of UNRWA schools, facilities, and vehicles in Gaza to conceal terror operatives and stockpiles of ammunition. One of the hostages who returned from Gaza at the end of November 2023 said that he was held in the home of a UNRWA teacher.
On August 5, 2024, the UN published a report with the findings of its investigation into UNRWA in which it announced the dismissal of nine of the agency’s employees. However, the UN continued to provide full backing to UNRWA, a body that, according to Israel, has become an organic part of Hamas.
The UNRWA ban was passed with a wide Knesset majority, including the support of opposition parties, amid a series of revelations about employees of the agency who were actively involved in terror groups in the Gaza Strip, and after repeated use of UNRWA infrastructure for terror activities, as well as evidence that the agency’s schools incited hatred of Israel and glorification of attacks against Israelis.
Some 5.9 million people are registered as Palestinian refugees by UNRWA, because they are descended from Arabs displaced in the war surrounding Israel’s creation in 1948. Israel has also long argued that UNRWA perpetuates the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by using this definition of refugee, the only case in which the status is passed down generationally.
The Knesset legislation includes two main components: the first, the cessation of UNRWA’s activity within the sovereign territory of the State of Israel. The second, a prohibition on contact between Israeli authorities and public officials and the organization.
Both components will come into effect on January 30, while it is unclear what will replace the organization in providing services to Palestinian populations that rely on it, such as schools and other welfare services.
In recent weeks, discussions have been taking place in the Knesset regarding the implementation of the law. Last week, a closed discussion was held in the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. At its start, committee chair MK Yuli Edelstein gave Kobi Samerano, father of the late Jonathan Samerano, the opportunity to make public remarks. Jonathan’s body is still being held by Hamas in Gaza.
“I am going through the hardest days of my life,” Samerano said. “On one hand, there’s great joy for those [hostages] who are returning, and on the other, there’s the thought of those who remain there. ”
“UNRWA had – and still has – the ability to bring my son back, but it chooses not to do so. UNRWA is a terrorist organization whose employees took part in the atrocities of October 7, and the State of Israel cannot allow a bypass of the law that was passed,” he concluded.
On Monday, a Finance Ministry representative, Yuri Metzlaoui, told the Knesset Finance Committee that implementing the law would mean the cancellation of various exemptions that had been granted to UNRWA over the years.
According to the Finance Ministry’s interpretation, the cancellation of UNRWA’s exemptions does not require an additional declaratory order. Once the law takes effect, the exemptions and tax benefits granted to UNRWA – such as VAT, tariffs, excise tax and purchase tax – will automatically cease. This is due to the prohibition on officials from various departments in the Finance Ministry from corresponding with UNRWA representatives or maintaining any contact with them.
MK Yulia Malinovsky of Yisrael Beytenu, who shepherded the law through the legislative process and is now pushing for parliamentary oversight of its implementation, argued in the discussion that the Finance Ministry should issue direct orders prohibiting communication with UNRWA. According to her, merely halting contact passively is not sufficient.
Another issue raised in the discussions concerns the activities of commercial banks in Israel regarding UNRWA. The wording of the law refers to severing contact with “state authorities, including entities and individuals performing public roles according to the law.”
However, despite the 90 days that have passed since the law’s approval, the Justice Ministry and other authorities, including the Bank of Israel, are still examining whether the wording also applies to the holding of UNRWA bank accounts in Israeli commercial banks.
As of today, at least two of Israel’s largest banks manage accounts for UNRWA. The banks have not yet received instructions from the Bank of Israel on how to proceed – whether they should close the accounts or continue providing banking services to the organization.
During Monday’s discussion, Bank Supervisor representative Miri Rosenstock stated that while the entire banking system is aware of the UNRWA law, discussions are still ongoing regarding the interpretation and scope of its application. Here, too, Malinovsky is pushing for a faster and clearer implementation.
In Monday’s discussion, Malinovsky said: “If there is no money, there is no terror… The Bank Supervisor’s response is unacceptable. They had three months to prepare… I expect them to issue clear instructions to the banks on how to proceed. It is not acceptable that everyone will act as they please while money continues to flow to the organization.”
Finance Committee chairman MK Moshe Gafni (UTJ) added: “From what I understand from the wording of the law, [the ban on communication with UNRWA] applies to the banks as well. The law states this explicitly. I do not agree that the Bank of Israel should not be involved in this matter.”
Another significant aspect related to the law’s implementation this week was not discussed on Monday. UNRWA provides critical services to Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem, an area that is under the jurisdiction of the Jerusalem Municipality. Starting Thursday, it is unclear who will replace UNRWA in managing schools and providing additional services in East Jerusalem. As of now, the Jerusalem Municipality is not prepared to handle the situation.
For many months, Israel has refrained from offering an alternative or a solution to fill the void left by UNRWA’s departure from East Jerusalem.
Furthermore, while UNRWA is not required to cease its the West Bank operations as the area is not under Israeli sovereignty, closure of the organization’s bank accounts in Israel and the prohibition of any contact with it may hinder its ability to continue functioning there as well.
Regarding UNRWA’s activities in Gaza, Israel has also not proposed an alternative, and the deteriorating relations between Israel and the United Nations prevent the UN from filling the gap created. As a result, shutting down UNRWA’s operations in Gaza could strengthen Hamas, as it would be the only group responsible for distributing humanitarian aid in the area.
28/01/2025 by THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
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