Now is the time to end UNRWA

(JNS) — In a recent bold move, Israel’s parliament voted to end the nation’s relationship with the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees. This decision, with overwhelming support from both the ruling coalition and the opposition, has now been ratified by the Israeli government.

This decision is not merely a political stance; it reflects a growing recognition that UNRWA has become a vessel for terrorism rather than a lifeline for those it purports to help.

UNRWA was formed at the end of the War of Independence in 1949, born in a sin of privileging Palestinian refugees over all others in the world, ensuring that it had uniquely problematic inbuilt obstacles to solving the conflict, like the ability to hand down the refugee status ad infinitum.

It had a bloated budget and staff, many times that of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the agency of all other refugees across the globe, and almost immediately adopted the endless, privileged and unjust narrative of the Palestinians, which reportedly in recent years became a narrative intertwined with terrorist organizations.

This narrative ensured that blatantly antisemitic and annihilationist language was found in its textbooks.

UNRWA stands alone among relief organizations, facing accusations of harboring terrorists within its ranks and storing military materials in its schools and institutions.

Moreover, its facilities have been exploited to house Hamas offices and launch deadly attacks. For many years, all of this was known because Israeli officials provided evidence to the United Nations and asked its donor countries if they should continue to allow an organization with such a troubling track record to continue receiving support from a global institution tasked with promoting peace.

Apart from a few examples, these exhortations were met with a deafening silence, until the massacre on Oct. 7, 2023, when the evidence stared the world in the face as UNRWA staff took part in the bestial bloodletting.

Even the United Nations has admitted that some of its employees were involved in the invasion of Israel, as well as the murder, rape and mutilating of innocent Israelis.

That massacre made an urgent need clear: We must dismantle UNRWA entirely and replace it with an organization led by countries truly committed to the welfare of Palestinians. This new entity should be dedicated to ensuring that international aid is not diverted to empower those who aspire to death and destruction and threaten peace and stability in the region.

For too long, the international community has failed to protect Palestinians from the grip of Hamas, allowing aid to be misappropriated and fueling the very violence it seeks to quell.

In the wake of the horrific events of Oct. 7, we must hold accountable not only those who perpetrate violence but the systems that enable it.

The United Nations, particularly Secretary-General António Guterres, must recognize their complicity and offer an apology to Israel for allowing a U.N. agency to contribute to the conditions that led to such tragedy.

Unfortunately, senior U.N. officials, including the head of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, rather than doing some serious soul-searching and embracing the possible need for reform, have merely tried to attack Israel further and given scant attention to the murderous members of its institutions.

This is not a case of a few bad apples as some have tried to excuse it but part of an endemic worldview that sees Israel as an enemy and a Palestinian vision to seek the Jewish state’s end, either through military struggle or by inundating it with the descendants of Palestinians who fled in the middle part of the last century, against all historical norms and practices.

Nevertheless, this is not merely about reassigning blame; it is about reimagining how we support the Palestinian people. They deserve assistance that empowers them, fosters genuine development and contributes to long-lasting peace.

The Palestinian people deserve an agency that finds “durable solutions” for their plight—in the words of UNHCR’s mandate—and not just an institutional obstacle that compounds their misery and institutionalizes their resentment about losing wars and conflicts they started.

By holding organizations accountable and demanding transparency, we can redirect aid to where it is truly needed—supporting the aspirations of individual Palestinians rather than enabling violence against Israel.

Hopefully, this long-overdue step by Israel will lead to a serious re-evaluation of how we approach Palestinian aid. The world can no longer stand by while systems intended to provide relief become instruments of conflict. Let us strive for a future where aid truly serves its purpose, fostering hope, security and a pathway to peace for all in the region.

This can only be achieved once UNRWA has been ended. That time is now.