Disdain for terror-enabling UNRWA is a unifying force across Israel’s political spectrum

Israelis protest against the U.N. Relief and Works Agency outside one of its offices in Jerusalem, March 20, 2024. Photo by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90.

by Douglas Altabef

(JNS) — It is not the norm in Israel today to have a broad-based, across-the-aisle consensual vote in the Knesset that results in the passage of legislation.

Yet that is exactly what happened this week, as 92 out of 120 Knesset members voted to ban the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) from any activities within sovereign Israel. This is an important exercise in self-respect and moral clarity, as UNRWA has shown itself time and again to be an active actor and abettor of terrorism.

Why is this law an important statement and a necessary act?

UNRWA employees participated in the Oct. 7 pogrom and have actively supported Hamas by housing hostages and weapons in the residences of its employees, as well as giving Hamas aid and comfort.

UNRWA has availed itself of the immunity granted to the United Nations and its affiliates, and has used that immunity in a fifth-column fashion to actively oppose Israel.

The law bans UNRWA from any presence or activities in sovereign Israel, so their significant presence in eastern Jerusalem will be shut down.

In addition, the law strips UNRWA of immunity, not only in sovereign Israel but in Gaza as well. This means that Israel can arrest and prosecute UNRWA employees who act on behalf of or in conjunction with Hamas.

It is not an overstatement to say that this legislation represents a distinct disavowal of the Oct. 6, 2023 “conceptzia” and proof that political consensus can be reached in asserting Israel’s rights, interests and values.

A likely testimony to the significance of the legislation is that it has generated hysterical handwringing among many in the West. This would be expected, of course, with the United Nations itself, which has threatened to evict Israel from the international body because of its effrontery.

Many Western leaders are heavily invested in keeping a lid on an unsustainable status quo and, in the name of cheaper oil, would prefer to see Israel perennially at risk. They, too, have warned of dire consequences for this action.

Do these leaders not realize that constantly crying wolf about Israel’s actions only renders them spineless sycophants of Iran and a world order based on Islamic intimidation?

International pressure was quite intense in the days leading up to the Knesset vote, leading many to conclude that somehow the proposed legislation would be delayed or diluted or just pulled.

Happily, that did not happen, and I would attribute that defiance to a renascent spine stiffening shown by our leadership on so many fronts in dealing with the international community.

Surely, the internal assessment here had to recognize that Israel would get no benefit from caving into international pressure. The United Nations would take a few days to find something else to condemn us for, as would be the case with many, if not most, Western leaders.

So, an Israel that can eviscerate Hamas, decapitate Hezbollah and pull the curtain back from a seemingly invulnerable Iran can stand up, yet again, and exile UNRWA.

While this seems self-evident, getting to the point of actual legislation required a Herculean effort.

While several Knesset members were stalwart, focused and determined to make banning UNRWA a reality, the legislation might not have happened without the intense, persistent and focused efforts of the grassroots Zionist NGO Im Tirtzu.

For the past year, Im Tirtzu activists have protested loudly outside UNRWA headquarters in East Jerusalem. They have continuously detailed UNRWA’s treacherous activities in Gaza on behalf of Hamas in Israeli media. They also have been asking Knesset members and other government officials how Israel could give aid and comfort within its borders to an active enemy.

When the Nobel Peace Prize Committee recently accepted the nomination of UNRWA for the Nobel Peace Prize award, Im Tirtzu immediately launched a petition drive denouncing the very idea that this award could possibly be presented to UNRWA and that doing so would stand as an ineradicable stain on the integrity of the peace prize.

Upwards of 50,000 signatures were secured within 72 hours, representing a strong and broad-based revulsion for the hypocrisy of UNRWA.

Im Tirtzu has made banning UNRWA its signature “fighting for the home-front” initiative. Reflecting, as Im Tirtzu very often does, the sensibilities and perspectives of “Middle Israel,” meaning that the great majority of Israeli society is in sync with this initiative, which had a powerful impact on Knesset leaders.

This legislation has to be seen as yet another innovative, out-of-the-box Israeli victory in the ongoing war thrust upon us. Banning UNRWA is an act of keeping faith with our soldiers, with the hostages and their families, and with all those who have sacrificed to uproot and destroy those who sought to destroy us.

To paraphrase Neil Armstrong, banning UNRWA is a small step for Israel but a great leap forward for all those seeking justice and sanity. May Israel only go from strength to strength.

Douglas Altabef is chairman of the board of Im Tirtzu and a director of the Israel Independence Fund. He can be reached at: dougaltabef@gmail.com.