Israeli Parliament Discusses Bill To Declare UNRWA Terrorist Organization

UNSPLASH ILLUSTRATION

JAKARTA - The Israeli Parliament, Knesset, approved a bill manuscript that would refer to the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) as a "terrorist organization" for further discussions before the final ratification.

The draft law (RUU) was handed over by Knesset member Yulia Malinovsky of the right-handed Israeli Party Beiteinu. The bill was approved by 42 Knesset members and rejected by only six members in its initial stage discussions.

If passed, the bill will provide a legal basis for implementing Israel's anti-terrorism laws and imposing criminal articles related to terrorist organizations against UNRWA.

Reported by ANTARA from WAFA, Thursday, May 30, the bill will also order the termination of any communication and relations between Israel and UNRWA and the closure of the organization's office in Israel.

Israel's actions are still being carried out despite an independent assessment of UNRWA's UN-recognized performance finding that there are no alternative humanitarian aid provider organizations other than UNRWA.

Moreover, Israel did not provide any evidence at all of their allegations of UNRWA's alleged neutrality and the involvement of its staff in the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023.

The report submitted by the independent assessment group for UNRWA states that the UN organization has established comprehensive mechanisms and procedures to ensure the organization's humanitarian goals and the principle of neutrality of the agency is protected.

The appraiser group consisting of three research institutes and chaired by former French foreign minister Catherine Colonona also concluded that UNRWA has a more sophisticated approach to ensuring neutrality is compared to similar organizations.