Israel’s UNRWA Ban Deepens Obstruction of Aid to Gaza | Palestine Policy Roundup 11.01.24
Welcome to the Palestine Policy Roundup, a weekly publication of the IMEU Policy Project.
👀 ICYMI: MEMBERS OF CONGRESS SPEAK OUT
Rep. Rashida Tlaib: “Intentionally blocking aid, targeting humanitarian workers, and now banning UNRWA. All of Gaza is on the brink of famine. The Israeli government is using starvation as a weapon of war. How much more evidence does the Biden-Harris administration need to stop these war crimes?”
Rep. Ayanna Pressley: “The Israeli government is starving Palestinians in Gaza, blocking aid, and now banning an essential humanitarian agency like UNRWA. Unconscionable. This is a blatant violation of international law and we must do everything we can to stop it.”
Rep. Cori Bush: “The Israeli government has bombed Gaza for over a year, massacring and starving Palestinians. Now, they have banned UNRWA, the United Nations agency that aids Palestinian refugees. Every dollar the U.S. gives to the Israeli government funds these war crimes.”
Rep. Pramila Jayapal: “It has been 53 days since Aysenur Ezgi Eygi was killed in the West Bank, and we have seen no movement toward an independent investigation by the U.S. government. The U.S. is the largest backer of military assistance to Israel…To ensure the trust of our own U.S. citizens, we must initiate our own investigation into Eygi’s killing, use our leverage to demand changes to the IDF’s rules of engagement, and apply our domestic laws to this situation for full accountability.”
DC DEVELOPMENTS
❌ BIDEN ADMINISTRATION FAILS TO COMPLY WITH POLICIES ON WEAPONS TRANSFERS AND CIVILIAN HARM
The Biden administration has received nearly 500 reports on Israel’s use of US-supplied weapons in possible civilian harm incidents in Gaza during its genocide there, according to a report published by the Washington Post.
The State Department’s Civilian Harm Incident Response Guidance (CHIRG) team, which is collecting the reports, has so far failed to advance any case it has received to the “action” stage of the guidance, and inquiries are still under investigation–in violation of the guidance’s recommendation that action be taken within two months after an inquiry is launched.
CHIRG, announced in an August 2023 State Department cable, is a Biden administration policy that was part of an effort to minimize civilian harm caused by US military operations and US-supplied weapons. However, very little is publicly known about CHIRG, and its process, activities, and funding remain obscure.
According to the report, two-thirds of all incidents reported to the State Department remain unresolved, and many of them contain photo documentation of fragments of US weapons found at sites of civilian harm. The cases also include incidents that may have violated US and international law. Additionally, senior State Department officials have dismissed the credibility of Palestinian sources, NGO accounts and accounts from the UN and the Palestinian Authority of civilian harm in Gaza, and have focused instead on casting Israel “in a less negative light.”
🔑 KEY TAKEAWAY: John Ramming Chappell, a legal and policy adviser, focused on U.S. security assistance and arms sales, at the Center for Civilians in Conflict stated: “They’re ignoring evidence of widespread civilian harm and atrocities to maintain a policy of virtually unconditional weapons transfers to the Netanyahu government…When it comes to the Biden administration’s arms policies, everything looks good on paper but has turned out meaningless in practice when it comes to Israel.”
This report is another piece in the mountain of evidence that the Biden administration is failing to hold Israel to US laws and its own policies governing weapons transfers. Former State Department officials have publicly revealed that senior department officials hold Israel to different rules and exceptional policies in order to circumvent accountability under the Leahy Law, and that senior officials falsified the National Security Memorandum 20 report to continue weapons shipments to Israel despite its violations of Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act. Secretary Antony Blinken also reportedly rejected determinations made by government bodies that Israel is obstructing aid to Gaza, according to a recent report.
The Biden administration must not continue to flout US law and its own policies. President Biden must immediately shift course and end all weapons to Israel in order to put a stop to further US complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza and to comply with US laws and policies. Members of Congress must continue to put pressure on the Biden administration to comply with laws and policies, and must exercise its oversight authority over weapons transfers to Israel.
IN THE NEWS
⚖️ TEXAS JUDGE RULES IN FAVOR OF CAMPUS SPEECH IN SUPPORT OF PALESTINIAN RIGHTS
A federal judge in Texas has ruled that Texas universities’ usage of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) controversial definition of antisemitism violates the First Amendment, and that incorporation of the definition into speech policies is viewpoint discrimination. The IHRA definition of antisemitism falsely conflates criticisms of Israel and its actions with antisemitism and has been broadly criticized for infringing on free speech and silencing Palestinian voices.
The suit, brought against Texas universities by student groups that advocated for Palestinian rights during the wave of campus activism in the spring, stems from an Executive Order issued by Governor Greg Abbott, which directed public institutions of higher education to include the IHRA definition of antisemitism in their free speech policies, effectively banning criticism of Israel from Texas campuses.
This policy not only has a chilling effect on free speech about Palestinian rights, but may also impede education about antisemitism, according to a report by PEN America. Additionally, the Texas judge also noted that the breadth and vagueness of the executive order would also prohibit classroom discourse that meets the IHRA definition of antisemitism.
This is a critical ruling on the unconstitutionality of the adoption of the IHRA definition of antisemitism as Republicans in Congress threaten to incorporate it into their attacks against higher education. Earlier this year, the House passed the Antisemitism Awareness Act, a bill which would codify into law that the Department of Education “shall take into consideration” the inaccurate IHRA definition of antisemitism when determining if a violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act has occurred.
📖 LEARN MORE: Check out the IMEU Policy Project’s policy memo on the dangers posed by the Antisemitism Awareness Act, the IMEU Policy Project’s policy paper on how higher education policy is being used to repress pro-peace speech on Palestine, and analysis from IMEU, our sister organization, on how the IHRA definition of antisemitism stifles speech.
🖊️ JOURNALISTS KILLED BY ISRAELI STRIKE IN LEBANON AS BAALBEK RESIDENTS ORDERED TO EVACUATE
An Israeli airstrike killed three journalists who were staying in a guest house in Hasbaya, Lebanon last Friday. The guesthouse was a part of a larger compound hosting 18 journalists from seven media organizations.
Other journalists who were staying in the same compound reported that both Israel and Hezbollah had been told that journalists were staying in this area, and that the courtyard of the compound contained vehicles which were clearly labeled as press. Journalists had moved to the area from another area further south because of Israeli airstrikes on the previous area. In response to this attack, the Committee to Protect Journalists has called for an independent investigation of the strike and noted that the deliberate targeting of journalists is a war crime.
Israeli strikes have also killed at least 60 Lebanese in an intense bombing campaign in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley. In addition, Israeli forces issued an evacuation order for the entire city of Baalbek, displacing thousands from the city. Displaced Lebanese were reportedly sheltering in the ancient Roman temples in the hope that their protected status would protect them from Israeli attacks. At least 19 people were killed by an Israeli strike in Baalbek on Wednesday.
Israeli forces also issued evacuation orders for parts of the ancient city of Tyre in southern Lebanon, and killed at least 7 Lebanese there. Overnight on Thursday, Israeli forces also continued their attacks on the southern suburbs of Beirut, bombing the area at least 10 times. Israeli strikes have displaced 1.2 million Lebanese, and as more areas all over Lebanon continue to face bombing, even more are becoming displaced and running out of places to go.
PALESTINE/ISRAEL DEVELOPMENTS
🍎 ISRAELI KNESSET VOTES TO BAN UNRWA IN LATEST OBSTRUCTION OF AID TO PALESTINIANS
The Israeli Knesset has passed two bills that would ban UNRWA from operating within Israel and in the territories that it occupies, threatening to completely derail its operations in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza. The bills passed by the Knesset not only ban UNRWA from providing its services but also declare the agency a terrorist group and ban Israeli officials from any contact with it. In effect, this will block UNRWA from being issued entrance permits into the occupied territories and prevent coordination with Israeli forces. The bills are set to take effect in 90 days and would close UNRWA premises within occupied Palestinian territory.
This ban would have severe effects on Palestinian refugees, especially in Gaza. UNRWA not only distributes aid, but also provides services like education and healthcare for 6 million Palestinian refugees in the occupied territories and in Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria. Half of these refugees live within the West Bank and Gaza. More than 500,000 Palestinian children were enrolled in UNRWA schools and 1.7 million Palestinians received humanitarian assistance from the agency in 2021.
This legislation also poses a unique threat to Palestinians in Gaza as Israel continues its genocide there. 1.9 million Palestinians–90% of its population–have been displaced, and 84% of the total area of Gaza is under Israeli-issued displacement orders. Palestinians are routinely sheltering in UNRWA schools, and UNRWA is the only agency capable of distributing desperately needed aid at the necessary scale in Gaza.
This ban is also another part of Israel’s broader obstruction of aid to Gaza. During the first three weeks of October, only 704 truckloads of aid entered the occupied territory–the lowest amount in 2024 so far. Before Israel’s genocidal campaign, 500 truckloads of aid entered Gaza every day, and the need for aid has only grown over the course of Israel’s total destruction of critical infrastructure. This amount of aid is also far below the amount outlined in the recent letter sent by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to Israel earlier this month.
The implementation of the UNRWA ban and Israel’s broader obstruction of aid into Gaza are clear violations of Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act. The Biden administration must immediately end all weapons shipments to Israel in response to its deliberate starvation of Gaza.
💣 NEARLY 100 PALESTINIANS KILLED BY ISRAEL IN A SINGLE STRIKE IN NORTHERN GAZA
An Israeli strike on a 5-story residential building in Beit Lahiya killed 93 Palestinians on Tuesday, as Israel continues its siege and destruction of northern Gaza. 25 children were reportedly killed in the strike, which caused the building to collapse and bury Palestinians under the rubble. The building was also reportedly being used as a shelter for displaced Palestinians.
🔑 KEY TAKEAWAY: Umm Malik Abu Nasr described the strike to the BBC: “At around 00:30 or 01:00, the Awda family house next to us was bombed. We rushed to help and host them but their daughter [died] in our home. At 04:00 the multi-storey house of the Abu Nasr family collapsed on top of us. They [Israel forces] bombed the house, which was housing about 300 displaced people who had fled their homes. These people sought to take refuge in our houses. We hosted them because they were just civilians and had nothing to do with resistance [Palestinian armed groups]. My husband and other young men are still under the rubble and have not been pulled out yet. My husband’s cousin and her five children are still under the rubble.”
Several residential buildings in Beit Lahiya were also struck by Israeli forces on Saturday, killing at least 35 Palestinians. Those strikes targeted the homes of multiple families and occurred without warning. These strikes are part of Israel’s brutal siege, invasion, and bombing campaign in northern Gaza. More than 700 Palestinians have been killed since the invasion began three weeks ago, nearly 300 of whom were killed between October 20th and October 29th.
While Israel has focused on its campaign in the northern part of the occupied territory, it also continues to kill Palestinians across Gaza. Israeli forces killed at least 25 Palestinians, including 5 children, in strikes on the Nuseirat refugee camp on Thursday. 38 Palestinians, including 13 children from the same family, were killed in an Israeli strike on Khan Younis last Friday.
🩺 ISRAELI FORCES RAID KAMAL ADWAN HOSPITAL IN NORTHERN GAZA, DETAIN MEDICAL WORKERS
Israeli forces raided Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of the last functioning hospitals in northern Gaza, this week and detained dozens of medical personnel and patients, reportedly leaving only one medic in the hospital in the aftermath of the raid. As of earlier this week, at least 30 medical personnel remained detained by Israeli forces. Among those detained was Doctors Without Borders surgeon Mohammed Obeid. Two children who were in intensive care were killed during the raid when Israeli forces destroyed the hospital’s generators and oxygen station. Days later, an Israeli strike on the hospital caused a fire which destroyed medical supplies delivered earlier this week by the World Health Organization.
This is just the latest attack on medical workers by Israeli forces. According to a report released by Human Rights Watch earlier this year, Israel has arbitrarily detained medical workers in Gaza, and tortured and abused them while detained in Israeli facilities. At the time of the report, more than 300 medical workers had been detained by Israeli forces, severely undercutting efforts to address the health crisis caused by Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Earlier this year, Al Shifa Hospital was also raided by Israeli forces and mass graves were found in the aftermath. Kamal Adwan Hospital was reportedly threatened with “the same fate as al-Shifa hospital, with destruction, killing and arrest” by Israeli forces during the beginning of Israel’s invasion and siege of northern Gaza.
Image: RomanDeckert, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons