Biden administration ramps up pressure on Israel to scrap ‘UNRWA ban’ legislation

The Biden administration has been exerting massive pressure on Israeli lawmakers in recent days, demanding they stop the ‘UNRWA ban’ legislation planned for next week.

On Monday, Israel Hayom reported that U.S. officials, such as Ambassador Jack Lew, urged Israeli coalition and opposition party heads not to provide their support for the bills.

In parallel, the report stated that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his closest advisors have faced mounting pressure from the U.S. State Department, including threats, should the legislation be passed in a Knesset vote.

The newspaper described it as a “dramatic intervention” in the Israeli parliament on behalf of the United States and several European countries, that is expected to grow even further with the arrival of Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday. 

According to The Jewish Insider, ambassadors from the United Kingdom, the European Union, Canada, Germany and Norway have all communicated similar messages to Netanyahu and leaders of parties whose members sponsored the bills.

The two bills targeting the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) are likely to receive Knesset approval after the second and third readings next week. They are being pushed by lawmakers from various parties, including Likud, New Hope and Yisrael Beytenu.

One proposal would block UNRWA’s operations, activities and institutions in Jerusalem. The second proposal states that no Israeli government agencies or officials may contact UNWRA and its representatives. It would also strip UNRWA personnel of the special rights and benefits they currently enjoy in Israel, such as immunity from indictment and some tax cuts.

Knesset Member Yulia Malinovsky of Yisrael Beytenu, who stands behind the second bill, published a column on Monday stressing that the attempt by the U.S. administration to block her legislation has “crossed a red line.” 

“With all due respect to the United States, which is truly our greatest friend, interfering with the legislation of the Knesset is something that should not happen,” Malinovsky wrote. “The American administration, along with the Europeans, ignores the fact that the State of Israel is a sovereign country and not another American state, thus trying to damage our national interest.”

“It is important to mention that the Trump administration at the time understood UNRWA's connection to terrorism and stopped Uncle Sam's funding of the organization,” she added.

Malinovsky and other lawmakers have also expressed concerns, both publicly or in private conversations, that Prime Minister Netanyahu will eventually bow to U.S. pressure and push for the vote to be postponed until after the U.S. elections in November.

Since the outbreak of the Oct. 7 war, Netanyahu has been calling for UNRWA to be replaced.

In February, he said, “We exposed to the world that UNRWA is collaborating with Hamas, that some of its people even participated in the atrocities and abductions of October 7.”

“This only strengthens what we have known for a long time – UNRWA is not part of the solution, it is part of the problem. The time has come to begin the process of replacing UNRWA with other bodies that are not tainted by support for terrorism,” Netanyahu said.

The IDF has revealed on multiple occasions that UNRWA employees kidnapped Israeli hostages, transported munitions and collaborated with Hamas. The Israeli military also published a photo of the passport of a UNRWA teacher that was found with the body of Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar. 

Dr. Einat Wilf, a former member of Knesset and an expert on UNRWA, who co-authored the book, “The War of Return,” wrote on 𝕏: “Western donor nations to UNRWA either don't know what UNRWA does and what it's for (perpetuating the conflict until there is no Jewish state), and then they are blind (at best), or they do know and they support this goal, and then the implications are deeply troubling.”