Israeli government allowing UNRWA to continue operating despite law, MK charges

MK Yulia Malinovsky calls out those who are not stopping UNRWA activities, which are now against the law.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

The United Nations agency charged with providing relief to Palestinians and barred from operating in Israel over the agency’s links to terrorist groups, including Hamas, continues to function in Israel, a Knesset member from the opposition claimed.

One of the MKs who initiated the law barring the United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA) from working in Israel due to its collaboration with Hamas has charged government ministers with not upholding the law and thereby cooperating with terrorism.

MK Yulia Malinvosky was very specific in her criticism.

“Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich did not sign an order instructing the Bank of Israel to close UNRWA’s accounts in banks operating in Israel,” she wrote. “Infrastructure and Energy Minister Eli Cohen did not give instructions to disconnect UNRWA facilities from electricity and water networks.”

Both these actions could indirectly speed up the agency’s departure, but even more direct action mentioned by Malinovsky could be taken as well, she said.

“Minister of Education Yoav Kisch did not send his staff to close UNRWA schools operating in Jerusalem, contrary to the law,” she wrote, while “Health Minister Uriel Busso did not order the closure of UNRWA clinics and pharmacies in Jerusalem.”

In addition, “Minister of Housing and Construction Yitzhak Goldknopf did not give orders to empty the UNRWA compound in Ma’alot Dafna in Jerusalem.”

The parliamentarian from the Israel Beiteinu party also called out Transportation Minister Miri Regev, who, she said, did not instruct her office “to revoke the vehicle licenses registered in UNRWA’s name.”

“So who will be the next scapegoat for the incompetence of this government of dishrags?” she asked sarcastically. “The attorney general? The head of the Shabak (Israeli Security Agency, aka Shin Bet)? The Supreme Court, or perhaps the new Chief of Staff?”

The law banning UNRWA operations within Israeli territory, including Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, passed overwhelmingly in October with a 92-10 vote. It also prohibits the organization’s staff from operating in or entering Gaza.

The aim was to dismantle the agency that provides aid to Palestinians but has been documented encouraging indoctrination against peace with Israel in its schools for decades. Hundreds on its payroll are members of terror groups, some of whom participated in the October 7, 2023, invasion and allowed Hamas to build and use terror tunnels underneath  its facilities in the Gaza Strip.

The government was given three months to implement the law, but little was done except for ordering the UNRWA in late January to vacate its main headquarters in Jerusalem and cease its operations.

Malinovsky stated just a few days later that she would not rest until UNRWA was completely gone.

“I will pursue them like Elie Wiesel pursued the Nazis,because they are Nazis,” she said, standing in front of the shuttered compound. “This organization is a Nazi organization that supports terrorism, and we know the examples.”

“The Foreign Ministry is still living in La La Land that this is an organization that has diplomatic immunity,” she said. “The State of Israel will first and foremost take care of its own national interests, its sovereignty, and its national pride.”

In mid-February, Malinovsky sent a warning letter to Prime Minister Ntanyahu and other senior government officials, threatening to petition the High Court of Justice over their failure to apply the anti-UNRWA law.