EDITORIAL: Israel refusing to keep international aid for Palestinians on its soil

Despite pressure from various interests at the United Nations, Israel last week refused to back off its decision to expel the main international aid agency for Palestinians from its soil. The Trump administration, to its credit, stood by America’s strong Middle East ally.

In October, the Israeli Parliament passed legislation that closes offices for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East — otherwise known as UNRWA — by the end of January. The agency funnels aid to Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Critics of Israel’s move claim it will trigger a humanitarian crisis and potentially undermine the ceasefire. Once again, however, they are pointing their fingers in the wrong direction. Blame Hamas terrorists for any misery and suffering that has occurred among Palestinians in the wake of their decision to carry out the brutal Oct. 7 attacks as a means of triggering a regional conflict.

The U.S. representative at the Security Council, The New York Times reported, “dismissed the agency’s claims as exaggerated, and called warnings that aid will come to a halt ‘irresponsible and dangerous.’ She said the United States supported ‘Israel’s sovereign decision’ to close the aid agency’s offices on its soil.”

This is in stark contrast to the Biden administration’s constant efforts to appease the Hamas sympathizers in the Democratic Party.

Israel has plenty of justification for its decision. Concerns have long percolated about the influence that terror groups such as Hamas exert on UNRWA. The agency fired nine workers after Israel raised allegations that some militants involved in the Oct. 7 massacre were also affiliated with the aid organization. Even the Biden White House moved to freeze American support for the agency after that revelation.

In addition, Ed Morrissey of hotair.com notes that “Hamas had corrupted UNRWA’s supposed educational efforts to indoctrinate Gaza children with Jew-hatred propaganda that essentially formed children to become suicide bombers for Hamas” while the aid agency stood by as U.N. financial assistance helped the terror group construct the large tunnel system it uses as part of its effort to eliminate the Jewish state.

It also didn’t help UNRWA’s argument that the mother of a civilian hostage recently released by Hamas as part of the ceasefire deal said her daughter was held in facilities belonging to the U.N. agency, according to The Guardian.

UNRWA officials say they are sensitive to accusations that they employ militant terrorists and vow to investigate claims that the agency’s buildings were used to stash captives that Hamas seized on Oct. 7. But it’s too little, too late. Until the aid agency can demonstrate that its hands are clean, Israel and the United States should continue the hard-line stance.