Wednesday, October 30, 2024

The Battle of Unrwa: America Could Be Forced To Choose Between Defending Israel or Backing the United Nations.

NY Sun  Tensions over the UN’s agency for dealing with the Palestinian Arabs have become increasingly hostile.   

"Anti-Unrwa sentiments have gained steam in Israel as agency employees in Gaza actively participated in the October 7, 2003 atrocities. Unrwa installations serve a double duty as terrorist headquarters, and abet the digging of war tunnels"


"Who will the next president and Congress side with in a brewing, increasingly hostile battle between the United Nations and Israel?

"On Monday the Knesset enacted by a sweeping majority a law that in 90 days will bar the United Nations Relief and Works Agency from operating in Israel, Gaza, and West Bank. The act is raising a global backlash.

"Leading European countries are condemning the law. The Palestinian Arab observer at the UN, Riyad Mansour, is protesting that Israel is “sitting among us.” The Biden administration is urging the Jewish state to reconsider.

"In March Congress suspended all Unrwa payments for a year after Israel exposed Hamas’ control of the agency in Gaza. On Tuesday the American ambassador at the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said however that America is “deeply concerned” over the Knesset legislation. 

" 'Instead of speaking at one another, Israel and the UN must speak to one another, to address the fears that led to the Knesset legislation and to ensure that Unrwa can fulfill its critical mandate,” Ms. Thomas-Greenfield told the UN Security Council Tuesday.   

"Unrwa was founded in 1949 to aid Arab refugees from Israel’s war of independence. Israelis have long argued that instead, it has enlisted in a Palestinian battle to eventually end Israel’s character as a Jewish state. 

"In 1949 the family of a Christian Arab diplomat who currently serves as Israel’s ambassador to Azerbaijan, George Deek, was listed by Unrwa as refugees. Now he laments the agency’s efforts to perpetuate Palestinian status as stateless refugees in Arab countries. " . . .

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