[Salon] 'Outrageous': Israel parliament approves bill to ban UNRWA

[Chas Freeman <cwfresidence@gmail.com>]

FM: John Whitbeck

Transmitted below is a link to a news report on the passage today by a 92-10 vote in the Israeli Knesset (the 10 presumably being Arab members) of two bills banning UNRWA, the UN agency which provides the people of the occupied State of Palestine, and particularly the people of Gaza, with virtually all their basic needs (education, health care and food and other humanitarian assistance), from operating on Israeli territory and in areas under Israeli control and also banning Israeli officials from having any interaction with UNRWA officials or employees, which would be essential for UNRWA to continue to provide its essential life-sustaining assistance to Palestinian refugees.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/10/28/israel-parliament-approves-bill-to-ban-unrwa

I also strongly recommend watching the six-minute interview of my distinguished recipent Chris Gunness, a former UNRWA spokesman, at the link transmitted immediately below, on the intended and probable consequences of these bills:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rsS5litiak

This latest Israeli demonstration of contempt not simply for the Palestinian people and for international law but for the United Nations itself should make unavoidable and urgent consideration by UN member states of the question posed in the article by Mehdi Hasan which I recently circulated (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/oct/15/israel-united-nations): "How is Israel still allowed to remain a member of the UN?"