The government of Israel accused the United Nations (UN) on Wednesday of putting Palestinian civilians in danger by allowing terrorists to use UN facilities in Gaza to launch attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers.
Israeli spokesman Eylon Levy delivered a lengthy statement at the start of a press briefing in which he rebuked Paula Gaviria Betancur, the UN special rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, who had claimed the day before that Israel was trying to expel Palestinians from Gaza.
As the Times of Israel noted Tuesday, Betancur claimed that Israel was trying to expel Palestinians. She cited no evidence, but claimed that it was “the only logical conclusion.”
Levy countered by noting that Israel had designated a special humanitarian zone at Al-Mawasi in southwest Gaza for Palestinian civilian evacuation.
He also said that UN agencies had been complicit in allowing Hamas terrorists to operate from institutions such as schools run by the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the unique institution specifically devoted to Palestinian “refugees” from previous conflicts that were started by Arab states.
Israel has repeatedly found rockets and other military objects among boxes and materials in Gaza marked with the UNRWA label. Graduates of UNRWA schools were among the October 7 terrorists, and some UNRWA personnel celebrated the attacks. There have also been allegations that a UNRWA employee participated in holding Israeli hostages.
Levy noted that the UN had failed to object to, or prevent, the hijacking of schools and hospitals for military purposes. “We hold these agencies culpable for the loss of life as the result of this negligence,” he added.
In addition, Levy said, the UN had allowed Hamas to control humanitarian aid supplies entering Gaza. There should be “zero tolerance” for terrorists hijacking aid, he said.
Instead, he said, “the UN aid mechanism in Gaza has been woefully unsuccessful because it goes through UNRWA.
Levy noted that Israel had instructed its ambassador at the UN to object to further funding for UNRWA. The U.S. cut finding to UNRWA under President Donald Trump, but restored it under President Joe Biden.
On Tuesday, Levy announced that Israel would stop granting visas to UN officials automatically, and that they would have to apply for entry to the country on a case-by-case basis.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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