A UNRWA building after it was shelled by the Israeli army in Gaza on January 15, 2009. Photo by ISM Palestine. Source: Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Israel has become the first country to legislate a ban against a United Nations institution, targeting the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and declaring it a “terror group” with a near-unanimous vote of 92–10.

This unprecedented move raises profound questions: What does it mean when a global agency — recognized and funded by the majority of the world’s nations — becomes labeled as a “terrorist organization?” This designation not only undermines UNRWA’s humanitarian mission but also casts a shadow over other international agencies working to uphold human rights and peace.

A deliberate escalation

UNRWA, established in 1949, provides essential services to Palestinian refugees, including education, healthcare, and social support in the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan. Although Israel has long criticized UNRWA, the recent legislation escalates grievances to a legislative level, prohibiting the agency's operation in Israel and controversially extending this prohibition to all areas under its occupation according to international law.

Since October 2023, Israel has been systematically destroying UNRWA buildings in Gaza, including schools sheltering displaced people, and, in May 2024, the UNRWA headquarters in East Jerusalem was forced to close temporarily due to an attack by “Israeli extremists.”

Israeli soldiers rejoicing as a UN run school in Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza blown is turned to rubble by Israel.

The UN uses their buildings to offer shelter to displaced Palestinians.

133 UN staff have been murdered by Israel.

pic.twitter.com/6VIOk3LpSw

— Howard Beckett (@BeckettUnite) December 12, 2023

According to Adalah Legal Centre, the laws violate the provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and may breach the Genocide Convention and the ICC’s Rome Statute. This legislation threatens a vital lifeline for over 2.5 million Palestinian refugees in occupied Palestinian territory, and “represents a deliberate attempt to fundamentally undermine UNRWA and its essential mission of supporting the relief, education, and human development of Palestinian refugees.” Specifically, it aims to strip Palestinians displaced during the 1948 Nakba and the 1967 war of their refugee status and right of return. Adalah has called on the international community to hold Israel accountable.

The governments of Ireland, Norway, Slovenia, and Spain, issued a joint statement criticizing the new law, calling it a “serious precedent for the work of the United Nations and for all organizations within the multilateral system.”

Worsening relations with the UN

The Knesset’s recent law highlights a rapidly deteriorating relationship between Israel and the United Nations, marking a crisis in the post-WWII order intended to safeguard peace and human rights. This legislation questions the authority of international law and the relevance of institutions meant to protect human rights, and may embolden other countries to follow suit.

In an August 2024 interview with i24News, former Israeli envoy to the UN Gilad Erdan said, “The UN building in Jerusalem needs to be closed and erased from the face of the earth.” Previously, in May 2024, Erdan gained notoriety by shredding the UN charter during his speech at the General Assembly.

Israeli ambassador to the UN pathetically brought a paper shredder to the UN General Assembly to shred the UN Charter in protest over majority resolution to expand Palestine’s “rights and privileges” at the UN. pic.twitter.com/NsOxHgMxph

— Marwa Fatafta مروة فطافطة (@marwasf) May 10, 2024

Back in July, the Knesset further reinforced its defiance with a resolution that also passed almost unanimously (68–9) rejecting the establishment of a Palestinian state, contradicting the principles of the two-state solution outlined in the Oslo Accords and all relevant UN resolutions which Israel has historically ignored.

A pattern of UN defiance

Israel’s ban on UNRWA is not an isolated incident but part of a broader trajectory of antagonism toward the United Nations and its institutions. Recently, Israel declared UN Secretary-General António Guterres persona non grata, barring his entry.

This step follows numerous instances of denying entry visas to UN representatives and investigators examining human rights abuses in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. Israel consistently rejects UN calls for investigations into alleged abuses, disregarding resolutions related to settlement expansion, military actions in Gaza, West Bank, or Lebanon.

Israel’s antagonism towards the UN extends beyond Palestinian territories. UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) troops, mandated to oversee peace along the Lebanon-Israel border, have faced direct attacks, sparking condemnation. On October 12, following repeated Israeli attacks on UN peacekeeping forces in South Lebanon, 44 countries, including three UN Security Council permanent members, issued a joint statement condemning the assaults.

In May 2024, the UN Security Council passed a resolution denouncing attacks on UN staff and aid workers in conflict zones. Israel’s actions in Gaza alone have killed at least 237 UN personnel.

International responses and accountability

The international community’s response has been mixed, with some countries voicing concern over the ban’s dangerous implications for UN staff worldwide, though few have proposed significant sanctions against Israel. European nations, while condemning Israel’s treatment of UNRWA, have largely refrained from imposing economic or political sanctions. This lack of consequences raises questions about international law’s credibility, risking a shift from substance to symbolism without enforceable mechanisms.

These developments arise amid an escalation of violence, particularly in Gaza and Lebanon, which risk engulfing the whole region in a larger scale war. Israeli military operations in Jabalia and northern Gaza have led to high civilian casualties and international condemnation, as the country faces genocide accusations found to be plausible by the ICJ.

Public hearings in the case South Africa v. Israel. 16-17 May. Source: International Court of Justice. Copyrights exempt.

University of London research agency Forensic Architecture has recently launched an 827 page report and interactive platform titled “A Cartography of Genocide,” meticulously documenting the impact of the war on Gaza.

NEW: ‘A Cartography of Genocide’. Since October 2023, we have collected and analysed data related to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. Our findings indicate that Israel has systematically targeted all aspects of civilian life. https://t.co/UUxYqpTF72 pic.twitter.com/lpqv78S5c4

— Forensic Architecture (@ForensicArchi) October 29, 2024

UN human rights experts have warned that Israel risks becoming an international “pariah.” On the first anniversary of the October 7 war, UN experts said that “the world has seen a brutal escalation of violence, resulting in genocidal attacks, ethnic cleansing and collective punishment of Palestinians, which risks breaking down the international multilateral system.”

Israel’s hostility toward UN bodies hampers the UN’s ability to respond effectively to the humanitarian crisis unfolding across the region. With UNRWA barred from its work in areas under Israeli control, millions will further lack essential aid and services.

A dangerous precedent

Israel’s legislative ban on UNRWA can be seen as a reflection of a systemic disregard for international law. By enabling Israel’s continuous antagonism toward the UN, the global community risks weakening the institutions meant to preserve order and justice, reducing their power to act — even symbolically — in future conflicts.

This situation underscores a need for renewed commitment to international cooperation and real accountability. Without a united stance against the growing pattern of defiance, the UN and its agencies risk losing power in the missions they were created to uphold at a dangerous juncture in the planet’s history. Failing to hold Israel accountable might allow this precedent to erode the system at large and further damage the UN’s credibility after more than a year of failing to stop documented crimes that continue to be committed during its devastating war on Gaza.