{"id":604576,"date":"2026-09-03T12:36:22","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T12:36:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/604576\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T12:36:22","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T12:36:22","slug":"why-are-we-determined-to-remove-unrwa-from-jerusalem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/604576\/","title":{"rendered":"Why are we determined to remove UNRWA from Jerusalem?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">We could\u2019ve predicted the reactions to the enforcement mission at the former UNRWA compound in Jerusalem.<\/p>\n<p>UN Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres issued a statement expressing his outrage over <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/israel-news\/article-905790\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Israel\u2019s actions<\/a>. The UN spokesperson condemned the operation by Israeli security forces during his press briefing. A number of foreign ministers, most of them from Europe, voiced their disapproval.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">It was never a question of if this would happen, but when. Recently, Israeli authorities completed their mission.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">This move was not a matter of choice. It was a matter of necessity.<\/p>\n<p>Exposing UNRWA<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">Over the past few years, we have exposed UNRWA for what it truly is. It has become increasingly clear that the UN agency established to assist Palestinian refugees functioned, in practice, as an active arm of the Hamas terrorist organization.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Israeli Police raise a flag over the Jerusalem headquarters of UNRWA on Dec. 8, 2025 after the UN agency failed to pay taxes for several years.\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"822\" height=\"829\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/images.jpost.com\/image\/upload\/f_auto,fl_lossy\/c_fill,g_faces:center,h_537,w_822\/696931\"\/>Israeli Police raise a flag over the Jerusalem headquarters of UNRWA on Dec. 8, 2025 after the UN agency failed to pay taxes for several years. (credit: Yoav Dudkevitch\/TPS-IL)<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">UNRWA employees participated directly in the October 7 massacre, including acts of murder and kidnapping. Throughout the war, Hamas terrorists operated from UNRWA schools, using the agency\u2019s facilities to store weapons and conduct military activities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">Even deep into the conflict, UNRWA continued employing thousands of individuals who simultaneously held positions within Hamas\u2019s military wings. They taught in classrooms that incited hatred against Israel by day and planned terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians by night.<\/p>\n<p>Even before October 7, UNRWA had become the problem rather than the solution. Instead of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/israel-news\/article-906527\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">helping resolve<\/a> the Palestinian refugee issue, it perpetuated it and fueled the conflict. Numerous reports documented the incitement and hatred promoted in UNRWA schools, shaping another generation of Palestinians through anti-Israel indoctrination. But after October 7, the agency\u2019s conduct crossed every possible line.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">And, yes, Guterres did not condemn the terrorist acts carried out under the auspices of the organization he leads. Nor did we hear any unequivocal statements from the UN spokesperson during the daily press briefing about it.<\/p>\n<p>A controversy for Israel<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">When it comes to Israeli actions, there is no shortage of outrage and headlines. But when legitimate criticism is directed at the United Nations, the response is silence.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">The Knesset was right when, by an overwhelming, cross-party majority in 2024, it passed legislation prohibiting UNRWA from operating within Israel. Israeli authorities were equally justified in acting decisively in every UNRWA facility in Jerusalem, Israel\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">The action in east Jerusalem was the most recent enforcement action.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">Secretary-General Guterres, let me make one point absolutely clear: this property is not owned by the United Nations. Furthermore, following the termination of the Comay-Michelmore Agreement in January 2025, UNRWA has no legal authority to operate in Jerusalem.<\/p>\n<p>The United Nations itself has acknowledged the grave failures within UNRWA. Recently, it quietly dismissed \u00a070 UNRWA employees because of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/middle-east\/article-906799\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">their involvement<\/a> in terrorist activities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">However, unlike UNRWA, we are not trapped in the past. We are focused on the future.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">The Jerusalem Municipality is now turning this building into a new school for east Jerusalem. Instead of a facility associated with incitement and extremism, Israel is investing in an institution that will offer hundreds of children in the neighborhood the opportunity for a better future.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">Soon, children in east Jerusalem will attend a quality educational institution that is part of Israel\u2019s education system. They will be taught respect, tolerance, science, and history.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">UNRWA belongs in the past. Our focus is on building a better future.<\/p>\n<p>The writer is Israel\u2019s ambassador to the United Nations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We could\u2019ve predicted the reactions to the enforcement mission at the former UNRWA compound in Jerusalem. UN Secretary-General&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":604577,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[6603,3796,85,46,43,4497,4498],"class_list":["post-604576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-antonio-guterres","tag-east-jerusalem","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news","tag-united-nations","tag-unrwa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=604576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604576\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/604577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=604576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=604576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=604576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}