Gaza and Charities at War: Israeli Parliament To Declare UNRWA a Terrorist Organization

Israel is continuing its misguided and misdirected efforts to prevent civil society humanitarian efforts from benefiting Hamas.  It intends to declare a United Nations charity a terrorist organization.  That is misguided and misdirected because (1) cutting off humanitarian aid to civilians caught in the crossfire will stoke hatred and encourage the next generation of terrorists, and (2) it has never happened in the history of human warfare that a belligerent gains a net tactical or strategic advantage by increasing  noncombatant suffering.  Whatever short-term advantages are gained by attacking civil society is always more than outweighed by the long-term disadvantages.  From media coverage:

Israel’s parliament has overwhelmingly approved the first reading of three bills to sever all relations with UNRWA, the UN agency responsible for providing vital services for Palestinian refugees across the Middle East. The bills seek to ban UNRWA from operating in Israel, strip its employees of the diplomatic privileges and immunity accorded to UN staff, and to label the agency a terrorist organisation. Juliette Touma, UNRWA’s director of communications, said the proposals were “another attempt in a wider campaign to dismantle the agency” and that “ongoing similar attempts continue on different levels. Nothing similar has ever happened in the history of the UN,” she told The National. 

The organisation has long been under attack in Israel, facing accusations that it tolerates anti-Semitic content in the curriculum of the schools that it operates; that it is closely linked to Hamas

After the deadly October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, the steady stream of criticism from most sections of the Israeli political spectrum has turned into tsunami of hostility that has also been directed at other UN agencies, NGOs and humanitarian agencies working with Palestinians, particularly in Gaza.

Dumb. Kill the terrorists.  Let civil society rescue the people around them. 

darryll k. jones