(Jerusalem Post) Eliav Breuer - The Knesset on Monday approved two bills aimed at blocking the activity in areas under Israeli control of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which services Palestinian refugees in eastern Jerusalem, Gaza, and the West Bank. Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman MK Yuli Edelstein said UNRWA's operations "eternalized" the issue of Palestinian refugees. He cited the fact that UNRWA employees had participated, and even served as commanders, in the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre. He also noted incitement against Israel in UNRWA school curriculums. Edelstein called the bills the "elimination of one of the arms of terror that acted under UN auspices. UNRWA long ago ceased to be a humanitarian aid agency, but in addition to it being an integral supporter of terror and hate, is an agency to eternalize poverty and suffering. The rationale is simple - in order to survive, UNRWA created demand for the product it provides. The circle of horror ended today, they are out!" MK Sharren Haskel, the initial initiator of the law, told the Knesset: "Israel has full and absolute right to act against UNRWA, after the failure of the international community. The organization, founded in sin and fundamentally corrupted, lies at the heart of the Israeli-Arab conflict. We will never succeed in moving forward as long as this organization and its definition exist. I call on the countries of the world to abandon their support for the organization and to work with us towards the complete closure of UNRWA."
2024-10-29 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive