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UNRWA Laws’ Implementation Monitor Team: First Report

A group of civil society organizations, among them Shurat Hadin, Im Tirtzu and My Israel, have come together to ensure the enforcement of the new laws limiting UNRWA’s activities in Israel. Israeli officials must be made aware that Israeli citizens expect the laws to be followed to the letter. Dismantling UNRWA is a prerequisite for a “day after” in Gaza that is free from Hamas control, absent incitement to antisemitism and without immunity from terrorism. The laws will come into effect on 28 January 2025.

The Monitor Team will issue periodic reports on domestic and international developments regarding UNRWA and the Teams’ activities.

First Report

  1. Only weeks before the historic laws against UNRWA come into effect, some parties are already working to hollow them out. The INSS published a paper urging the delay of the laws’ application. Such pressure to preserve UNRWA must be met by counter-pressure to duly enforce the laws against it.
  2. The UN General Assembly voted in favor of the ICJ’s Request for an advisory opinion on Israel’s obligations regarding international organizations, defined as follows:”What are the obligations of Israel, as an occupying Power and as a member of the United Nations, in relation to the presence and activities of the United Nations, including its agencies and bodies, other international organizations and third States, in and in relation to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including to ensure and facilitate the unhindered provision of urgently needed supplies essential to the survival of the Palestinian civilian population as well as of basic services and humanitarian and development assistance, for the benefit of the Palestinian civilian population, and in support of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination?”
    Written statements are to be submitted by 28 February 2025. The Monitor Team has filed a freedom of information request with the Department of Justice to clarify the State of Israel’s official position on this matter.   
  3. Switzerland, Sweden, and the Netherlands have all halted payments to UNRWA, while in the US, President Trump ordered a 90 day pause on all foreign assistance, and Senator Cruz plans to reintroduce the LIABLE ACT bill, allowing terror victims to sue terror supporting international organizations.
  4. UNRWA is being sued in several states:
    In the US, October 7 victims filed a lawsuit against UNRWA and its senior directors in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, detailing its role in financing and aiding Hamas in carrying out the massacre. While the DOJ claims UNRWA enjoys UN immunity, such a position is expected to change with the new administration. A team of experts, including a federal judge, filed an amici curiae brief arguing against such immunity.
    Another lawsuit was filed in Delaware against UNRWA USA, which fundraises for UNRWA.
    In France, Adv. Francois Zimeray filed a formal complaint against the continued financing of UNRWA, and the France-Israel organization filed a criminal complaint to the Judicial Court of Paris regarding UNRWA’s involvement in funding terrorism and crimes against humanity.
    In Canada, October 7 victims and the CIJA petitioned against the decision to reinstate Canadian funding for UNRWA.
    In Israel, the family of Yonatan Samerano, murdered on October 7, sued UNRWA, its senior officials and an individual employee involved in the abduction of his body, for 25 million shekels.
  5. The Monitor Team sent a memo to Knesset Members outlining the reasons UNRWA does not enjoy immunity as a UN organ, since its immunity stems from the 1967 Comay-Michelmore Agreement, not from automatic UN immunity. The fact that UNRWA was not granted automatic immunity as a UN organ is further evidenced by the fact that UN Resolution 302 establishing the organization explicitly requested states to grant UNRWA immunity and that Jordan, Egypt and Syria also signed separate agreements to do so. As Israeli law has now annulled the 1967 agreement, UNRWA has no claim to UN immunity.
    In an essay published on Mida, team leader Adv. Avraham Russell Shalev further expanded on UN immunity being confined to legitimate objectives and not aiding and abetting international crimes. The ICJ itself ruled that international organizations must uphold international law.
    Freedom of information requests regarding the implementation of the new legislation were sent to all relevant agencies (from the Department of Justice to the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories), but have yet to receive a response.
    The Im Tirtzu movement led the public, media and parliamentary campaign to legislate against UNRWA and continue to demand answers regarding their implementation.
    In a special hearing of The Finance Committee, the Monitor Team stressed the following: (i) the law applies to the Bank of Israel and the banks it oversees, (ii) the prohibition on UNRWA activity includes holding bank accounts in Israel, and (iii) the law requires the active cancellation of benefits, not merely withholding grants.

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