Israel has crossed many red lines since launching a genocidal war against the Palestinian people.
Neither the provisional measures ordered by the UN’s highest judicial organ, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), to stop its “potential” genocide in Gaza, nor the same Court’s condemnatory advisory opinion ordering it to end its illegal occupation of Palestine and apartheid policies against Palestinians gave Israel pause. The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) prosecutor’s request to issue arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Yoav Galant also had no significant impact on its conduct. In fact, Israel is not rethinking its murderous apartheid and genocidal policies despite growing criticism from some of its allies.
And now, Israel is crossing another red line by defying the entire international community – the United Nations. On July 22, the Israeli legislature, the Knesset, gave preliminary approval to a bill declaring the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) a “terrorist organization.”
The latest move follows a move last January — which at least initially worked — in which Israel accused 12 UNRWA workers of taking part in an October 7 attack against it by Hamas and other Palestinian groups and alleged widespread collusion between the UN agency and Hamas.
UNRWA High Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini and UN Secretary-General António Guterres responded to the allegations by hastily and confidently dismissing all UN staff named by Israel based on accusations made without evidence. This decision prompted some Western donors to suspend their funding for the humanitarian agency, which employs around 30,000 staff and is mandated by the General Assembly to provide essential services to millions of Palestinian refugees.
However, an independent review of Israeli allegations against UNRWA, commissioned by Guterres and led by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, concluded in April 2024 that Israeli allegations of collusion between Hamas and UNRWA were unproven. To date, no evidence has been provided implicating the 12 accused UNRWA staff.
As a result donor countries such as Germany, Italy, Australia and Canada resumed their much-needed funding to the agency against the backdrop of growing and dire humanitarian needs in Gaza. On 19 July, announcing the resumption of its funding, the UK’s new Foreign Secretary David Lammy said: “Humanitarian aid is a moral imperative in the face of such a disaster […] UNRWA is absolutely central to these efforts. No other agency can provide assistance on the scale that is needed.” But such statements from staunch allies have not stopped Israel from targeting the UN agency.
Whether it becomes law or not, the Israeli Knesset’s move to declare UNRWA a terrorist organisation is an unprecedented attack on the UN itself, since the refugee agency was established by the General Assembly in 1949. If it becomes Israeli law, being declared a terrorist organisation will provide the Israeli regime with domestic legal cover (albeit in violation of international law) to attack UNRWA staff and infrastructure, as it has already done by killing nearly 200 personnel, but this time it does not have to justify itself or claim that the killings of UNRWA staff were “tragic mistakes” whenever it faces criticism from its allies.
If it officially declares UNRWA a “terrorist organization” under its domestic law, it will become not just “a right, but indeed a duty” for Israel to eliminate UNRWA’s 30,000 staff, possibly including its head Philippe Lazzarini, as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has repeatedly reiterated since October 7 that the ICJ considers the use of force to defend an illegal occupation illegal. It is against this possibility that the UN must react forcefully to this latest Israeli provocation before a mass murder of UNRWA staff begins.
In April, Lazzarini told the UN Security Council: “Today, an insidious campaign is underway to end UNRWA’s operations, which is having a grave impact on international peace and security.” This campaign is escalating, and given its sinister goals, Guterres must react firmly and brazenly. Once attacks under the acclaimed Israeli law begin against UN staff and facilities, it will be too late to stop the killings. He already knows, as he himself said, that many UNRWA humanitarian workers are already illegally detained by Israel’s forces and are reportedly being abused and tortured. Once enacted, the potential law would open the floodgates to the repression and murder of UN staff.
This law will also put Israel’s allies in a difficult situation. If they want to continue funding UNRWA, which they consider a humanitarian imperative, they will be aiding and abetting a “terrorist organization” under Israeli law. How Lamy and other governments that support Israel will navigate this difficult path and how Tel Aviv will react to it remains to be seen.
Never before has a UN member state classified a UN entity as a terrorist organisation under law. Therefore, Israeli legislation declaring UNRWA a “terrorist organisation” would put the UN in uncharted territory. By doing so, Israel would place Guterres, whose resignation it has repeatedly called for, at the helm of a “terrorist organisation”.
If Israel crosses that line, the Secretary-General, the General Assembly and the Security Council will have to come to the inescapable conclusion that Israel’s continued membership in the United Nations will not only be inconsistent with its Charter but will also be in direct conflict and contradiction with it.
Therefore, if this law is enacted, serious consideration should be given to taking action against the rogue Israeli regime in accordance with Article 6 of the UN Charter, which provides that “Any Member of the United Nations which persistently violates the principles contained in the present Charter may be expelled from the Organization by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council”.
Secretary-General Guterres must step up to explain to the Security Council and General Assembly that it would be completely outrageous and unacceptable for a member state to label him and his staff terrorists. In practical terms, he will need to demonstrate leadership by persuading the President of the United States to stop defending Israel in the Security Council and to exact consequences on the entire international community for Israel’s latest humiliation.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of Al Jazeera.
