Israel steps up persecution of UNRWA as Rafah invasion looms

Just as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked security forces to draw up a plan to evacuate more than half of Gaza's population – hundreds of thousands of them in tents – ahead of the US invasion. land in the Rafah area, a ship is waiting anchored in the Israeli port of Ashdod with more than 1,000 containers of humanitarian aid for the Strip that will remain unloaded. These are flour, chickpeas, rice, sugar and cooking oil, among other products, donated by Turkey to the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) to feed 1.1 for a month of the 2.3 million Gazans. This Thursday, the Israeli contractor in charge of managing the logistics and paperwork necessary to put it on trucks and transport it to the border has informed UNRWA that it has received instructions not to do so, the head of the agency, Philippe, said this Friday. Lazzarini, in a meeting with a group of journalists at the headquarters in Jerusalem. UNRWA has consequently diverted another ship carrying humanitarian aid that was scheduled to take Ashdod to Port Said, Egypt.

It happened the same day that the Minister of Finance, the far-right Bezalel Smotrich, tweeted the phrase: “The State of Israel will not give tax benefits to those who collaborate with terrorism.” It links to the news that it has given instructions to withdraw the advantages they enjoy, as a United Nations agency: the exemption from customs and import fees for products linked to their operations, as well as VAT on imports. Its workers also pay very few taxes when they fill up with gasoline. Smotrich intends to sign the orders in the coming days, according to Israeli public television information that he tweeted. An Israeli bank, Leumi, has closed UNRWA's account. Lazzarini assures that he finds out about the measures from the press.

On Wednesday, Netanyahu mentioned the agency again in an address to the nation. Last week he said that he is “totally infiltrated” by Hamas. This time, he will play no role in the post-war devastated Palestinian enclave: “We will welcome the participation of moderate Arab states in creating a different and better future for Gaza. That will also require UNRWA, which perpetuates the Palestinian refugee problem, indoctrinates Palestinian children in genocide and terrorism in its schools, and from whose ranks emerged a dozen murderous terrorists who participated in the October 7 massacre. , must be replaced by responsible aid agencies.” The organization provides education, primary healthcare, help to buy food and clothing and microcredits for 1.5 million refugees in Gaza and another 4.4 million in Jordan, the West Bank, Lebanon and Syria. The agency receives its mission from the UN General Assembly, which renews it annually.

They are the latest examples in the growing persecution of UNRWA since January 18, when the deputy director general of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Amir Weissbrod, exposed to Lazzarini the allegations – contained in a report in Hebrew that he did not provide – that 12 of the 13,000 Palestinian UNRWA workers in Gaza participated in the Hamas attack on October 7. One kidnapped a woman, another participated in a massacre in a kibbutz and a third gave ammunition to the militiamen, according to the American newspaper The New York Times. The document, prepared by the Israeli intelligence services, also indicates that 10% of local employees have some type of link with Hamas or Islamic Jihad. For Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, UNRWA lost “its legitimacy to exist” at that time.

After the meeting, Lazzarini met with the Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres. On January 26, he announced the dismissal of nine of the 12 targeted workers. Today he admits that he acted “unlike a fair trial,” which is based on the maxim that everyone is innocent until proven guilty, but clarifies that he took into consideration “the enormous risk to the reputation” of UNRWA. , the seriousness of the accusations, the certainty that the information was going to come to light anyway and, above all, the importance of “preserving the ability to continue operating and delivering crucial humanitarian aid” at a time when most needed. That is, with the risk of famine in northern Gaza, where Israel has not allowed the arrival of humanitarian aid since January 23 (the Navy bombed a convoy last week, which had to turn around). And with a humanitarian crisis in Rafah, where 19,600 people per square kilometer eat less than they need, it is cold and Israel has increased bombing.

Gulf tour

The announcement of layoffs, with few precedents, and the leak of the report caused a trickle of announcements of cessation of funding. UNRWA basically depends on voluntary contributions from States. Nothing obliges them to carry them out, or to comply with the promised amounts. Sixteen countries froze their contributions, including the two main donors: the United States and Germany. UNRWA has lost half of its budget. Some countries, such as Spain and Norway, have increased them, but they are far from compensating for the hole. Last week, Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide was “reasonably optimistic” that some donors would reverse his decision. Lazzarini, who is coming from a tour of the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, is “cautiously optimistic” that the Gulf countries will pitch in, as happened in the 2018 crisis, when the then president of the United States, Donald Trump, turned off the tap.

The controversy has reached Brussels. Last week, at a meeting of foreign ministers, Neighborhood and Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi sparked alarm and displeasure among some member states by suggesting that he was looking for alternatives to EU aid, according to several sources. They were at the meeting. One option that Varhelyi raised is to give it to Egypt or other humanitarian organizations and have them take care of the purchasing and distribution, according to the same sources. Several countries – including Spain – pointed out to the commissioner that determining this matter is not his task and expressed his disagreement, which has also caused some tension within the College of Commissioners, according to community sources.

Varhelyi, who has previously generated controversy for delaying aid to the Palestinians (such as an allocation for treatment for cancer patients in 2022), announced on social media in October, just after the Hamas attack, that he was suspending all aid from the EU to the Palestinians, when there was no planned disbursement of those that his team controls – cooperation projects, for example – and humanitarian aid goes through other channels. Several partners disavowed the commissioner and the community Executive had to publicly back down and clarify that this suspension was not on the table and that the commissioner had acted and spoken unilaterally.

At the beginning of the funding interruption announcements, the European Commission explained that it does not plan to do the same. In addition, no payments are planned until the end of the month, when the matter will be re-analyzed “in light of the investigations announced by the UN.” The EU is the largest donor of humanitarian and development assistance to Gaza, which is channeled mai
nly through UNRWA, to which it has contributed some €281 million for the period 2021-2023.

Bell

UNRWA has been in Israel's sights for years. Some deputies and organizations have made denouncing it an important focus of their activities. She is often accused of colluding with the Hamas government in Gaza, of educating hate in schools and of perpetuating the refugee problem. It was created after the Nakba, the flight or expulsion of two-thirds of the Palestinians from the territory of the State of Israel that had just been born, and their descendants inherit refugee status.

The campaign, however, has gone up several notches since the layoffs. Foreign Minister Israel Katz has asked Lazzarini to resign and is no longer welcome in the ministry. Netanyahu informed US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that he has launched a process for a post-war without UNRWA. At his press conference in Tel Aviv, Blinken was ambiguous: “We know that the work, the functions, carried out by UNRWA have to be preserved because many lives depend on it.”

Last Monday, in addition, about 200 people demonstrated in front of the UNRWA headquarters in Jerusalem with banners such as “Let's get the enemy out of Jerusalem” or “Jerusalem will not be Gaza.” “Why do we give him water? Electricity? […] “They are not from the United Nations, they are from Hamas!” declared the city's vice mayor, Aryeh King, to the newspaper at the protest. The Times of Israel.

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