Australia/Israel Review

The reality that an Israeli ban on the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) applies only to its activities in Israel and east Jerusalem but not in Gaza nor the Palestinian Authority-controlled cities of the West Bank, seemed to get lost in a lot of Australian reporting.

On ABC RN “Breakfast” (Jan. 30), host Sally Sara seemed surprised when UNRWA spokesperson Juliette Touma said, “Our local staff are not going anywhere, you see. They are the doctors, the nurses, the teachers, the drivers, the backbone of our operation across the occupied Palestinian territory. Now what might happen in the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, is that our international staff that depend on visas from Israel, they might have to leave.”

Touma explained, “In Gaza we have international staff who are on the ground and, so far, they’ve not been asked to leave so the plan is to continue to deliver as much as we can. In Gaza the backbone of our operation are also Palestinian staff.”

On ABC NewsRadio (Jan. 30), Global Affairs Editor John Lyons falsely said, “It’s essentially been closed down… and there’s nothing to replace it. So, in terms of meds and schools, vaccinations, et cetera, no one really knows who’s going to deliver them.”

Lyons did, begrudgingly, concede that “Israel’s ban… doesn’t necessarily affect local people in Gaza or the West Bank. They’re losing their international workers and officers and managers, etc, but… the UNRWA people inside Gaza will still, to a limited extent, be able to try to deliver… aid.”

On ABC TV “The World” (Feb. 3), former UNRWA staffer Lex Takkenberg agreed with Israel’s claim that other organisations are filling the gap, explaining, they “have been using the UNRWA infrastructure, the warehouses, the distribution centre, the vehicles, the logistical routines and personnel also to deliver.”

Overstating UNRWA’s importance was another common theme. On ABC TV “News” (Jan. 30), Medical Aid for Palestinians’ Liz Allcock said, “I do think that UNRWA… since 1949 has… provided essential services for so many people where no one else has been able to do so… people are, of course, worried about how they’re going to survive day to day.”

SBS’s website correctly explained (Jan. 29), “The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was established a year after the UNRWA started operations to address refugee issues on a global scale but the UNRWA retained sole responsibility for Palestinian refugees due to pressure from Arab states. As a result, it is the only refugee agency… dedicated to a specific population.” 

Yet, SBS TV “World News” was a repeat offender in obscuring the fact that UNRWA will still operate in the West Bank and Gaza. 

On Jan. 29, the program did say that the ban relates to “UNRWA working in Israel,” but the visuals showed Gaza, which may have led viewers to miss this point. The report did include US Deputy Ambassador to the UN Dorothy Shea accusing UNRWA of “exaggerating the effects of the [Israeli] laws – suggesting that they will force the entire humanitarian response to halt is irresponsible and dangerous.”

On SBS TV “World News” (Jan. 30), Tanya Dendrinos said, “The existence of millions of Palestinians, meanwhile, is at immediate risk, according to humanitarian organisations, who’ve denounced Israel’s ban… in areas under sovereign Israeli control.”

The next night, SBS TV “World News” (Feb 1) reporter Claudia Farhart said, “A surge in aid has been coming in… 60% of it brought in by the UN agency UNRWA, now banned by Israel… Britain, France and Germany [have been] reiterating their… grave concern and asking Israel to let UNRWA’s work continue.”

Measured voices included Michael Easson and Jamal Rifi in the Australian Financial Review (Jan. 22), who noted that the “Swedish, Dutch and Swiss governments have decided to avoid UNRWA. Australia should do the same.”

In the Courier Mail (Feb. 5), AIJAC’s Tzvi Fleischer wrote, “Humanitarian aid should be the responsibility of the various agencies, such as the World Food Program and World Health Organisation, which perform these tasks for the 99.9 per cent of the world’s population that is not Palestinian.”

In the Daily Telegraph (Feb. 6), AIJAC’s Jamie Hyams dispelled the myth that UNRWA is simply an aid agency, pointing out that its “ultimate aim” is to maintain the Palestinians on its rolls as “refugees until they can ‘return’ to Israel. This is just a recipe for continued conflict, since such a ‘return’ would mean the end of Israel as a Jewish state.”