DAVID PATRIKARAKOS: This ban on Gaza aid was the right decision

On the face of it, the Israeli Parliament’s new legislation banning the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) from operating inside the country appears not just disconcerting, but dangerous. 

Israeli authorities are also now prevented from engaging with the agency and its work in Gaza and the West Bank.

Among UNRWA’s responsibilities are providing humanitarian aid and essential services to the people of Gaza. 

This is an indispensable job in normal times, let alone now when the people of Gaza are facing utter privation. The pro-Palestinian lobby is wallowing in sanctimony and outrage.

But Israel had no choice. In July, the Israel Defense Forces shared with UNRWA a list of over 100 of the group’s staff who are members of Hamas and the even more extreme Palestinian Islamic Jihad. 

On this roster – among others – was Muhammad Abu Atiwi, the Hamas terrorist who led the October 7 massacre at the Re’im Nova bomb shelter, at which 16 Israelis were murdered and 4 kidnapped. UNRWA had employed him since July 2022.

UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarin has admitted that he received the list but stressed that UNRWA does not have police or intelligence investigation capabilities – a pitiful cop-out. 

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The Israelis, meanwhile, claim that UNRWA neither suspended nor launched an independent investigation of those on the list including Atiwi who had happily received a regular salary from international taxpayers since October 7 until the IDF assassinated him on Monday morning this week in a strike on his vehicle in central Gaza. He was killed along with his brother Bilal – inside an UNRWA vehicle.

This is not surprising. UNRWA, set up in 1949 to support Palestinians displaced in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, employs around 13,000 people in its Gaza field office, all of whom, apart from a few dozen, are native Gazans. Logically, a fair few of them will be Hamas. And those who are not will have family and friends who are.

So Israel has, until now, been forced into a position where it must work with its enemies who get to rape and burn and massacre them before running back home to shelter within the reputational safety of the UN brand. It’s surreal.

Is it so surprising, then, that prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared yesterday that ‘UNRWA workers involved in terrorist activities against Israel must be held accountable’? He was, however, at pains to add that ‘sustained humanitarian aid must remain available in Gaza’.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the man who, in the aftermath of October 7 could not restrain himself from declaring that the atrocities ‘did not happen in a vacuum’, announced that he would be ‘bringing this matter to the attention of the UN General Assembly and will keep the Assembly closely informed as the situation develops.’

‘There is,’ he added, ‘no alternative to UNRWA.’

Except, of course, there is. As George Deek, Israel’s – Arab – ambassador to Azerbaijan pointed out, many UN agencies provide aid and assistance, including the World Food Programme, World Health Organisation, UNICEF and others. 

No one suspects these agencies of harbouring employees who moonlight as terrorists. So what’s stopping them from being called in?

Then there is the question of time. Unless challenged in Israel’s courts, the legislation will take effect in 90 days. 

This gives the UN three months to find alternative arrangements, if only it is willing to do so.

I want to be clear on two points. One, aid must continue to flow in Gaza; and two: there is a moral imperative on Israel to ensure that it does. Israel now controls the Strip – and is responsible for the people there.

Many, even some of Israel’s allies, are outraged about the Knesset’s decision – and Netanyahu must make sure not to alienate them. The way to do this is hold firm on the decision to ban UNWRA – but ensure that innocent Gazans do not suffer as a result.