J Street today expressed deep concern over new Israeli legislation to bar UNRWA from operating in Israel and blocking coordination with the organization in Gaza and the West Bank, calling it “morally and strategically inexplicable.”
The legislation, passed late Monday by the Knesset, would effectively dismantle UNRWA’s operations in the West Bank and Gaza. It was passed despite the pleas of the Biden Administration and other international actors. The Israeli government now has several months to determine whether and how to actually implement the UNRWA ban, putting it at risk of sanction by the international community for violating the obligations of a United Nations member state.
If implemented, the new laws will also have significant implications for the United States, where laws bar American security assistance to nations that hinder US-supported humanitarian aid. As Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned in an October 13 letter, the laws now passed by the Knesset “would devastate the Gaza humanitarian response” and “could have implications under relevant US law and policy.” Professional Israeli security and diplomatic officials reportedly also warned Netanyahu against enacting these laws.
“Blocking aid and effectively criminalizing aid agencies at this acutely grave moment is inexplicable – morally and strategically,” said J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami. “This ban threatens to drastically intensify suffering, to do incalculable further damage to Israel’s global standing and to harm Israeli security in the long run.”
“There is a brief window now, before these laws go into effect in January, for the Biden Administration to press the Israeli government to change course. The administration must use all available leverage to make clear that this move – and others that are impeding the provision of humanitarian assistance – have real implications under US law on security assistance.”
UNRWA is far from perfect, and J Street has consistently called for important reforms to address security and other concerns. But it is unacceptable that the entire organization – and that the civilian population of Gaza and the West Bank as a whole – pay such a devastating price for individual acts. We urge Israel to work in partnership with the US to constructively resolve issues rather than continue its years-long ideological campaign to defund and dismantle the agency. As the Biden Administration has said, UNRWA plays an “irreplaceable” role in Gaza and is the only organization currently able to address the humanitarian crisis and provide essential services in both Gaza and the West Bank.
UNRWA and its more than 13,000 staff of teachers, doctors, nurses and relief workers in Gaza alone operate over 100 emergency shelters and coordinate emergency food, water and medical supplies – including vaccinations and hygiene supplies to prevent disease outbreaks. In peacetime, it operates over 270 schools that educate over 290,000 students, as well as more than 20 hospitals and clinics. In the West Bank, UNRWA operates 96 schools for 46,000 students and 43 hospitals and clinics.