Fresh Air

In Senate Estimates on November 7, Foreign Minister Penny Wong doubled down on her Government’s commitment to support the UN’s dedicated Palestinian agency UNRWA as the conduit for humanitarian aid for Gaza. In doing so, she  parrotted the UN Security Council’s recent statement that UNRWA is the “backbone of the humanitarian response in Gaza”.

When asked by Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi’s about the “likely impact of the Israeli Knesset’s decision to ban UNRWA”, Wong reassured her that UNRWA “is the only organisation with the mandate and infrastructure needed to deliver aid on the scale needed right now in Gaza”

But is UNRWA actually irreplaceable in the current aid effort in Gaza, as Wong and the UN claim? And if not, does it make sense for Australia to continue funding it, especially after the NGO UN Watch, which has studied UNRWA as part of its effort to hold UN bodies accountable for wrongdoing, has shown that thousands of UNRWA employees are either supporters or members of terror groups, many took part in the atrocities of October 7, and the head of UNRWA’s teachers union even headed Hamas in Lebanon?

On November 4, Israel’s outgoing Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a press conference:

“Do not be misled by those claiming there is no alternative to UNRWA. Currently, the majority of humanitarian aid is distributed through other organisations, with only 13% channelled through UNRWA. Israel remains committed to international law and will continue to facilitate humanitarian aid into Gaza in a manner that safeguards Israeli citizens’ security.”

Katz’s figures, which apparently come from a review by the IDF’s humanitarian affairs division COGAT, have not been challenged, as the Associated Press reported. Even UNRWA didn’t appear to dispute this figure, in the answer it offered to Katz’s claim. The AP reported:

Israel says that UNRWA is responsible for only 13% of aid entering Gaza and it says other UN agencies and aid groups can fill the gap. But aid organizations say UNRWA is essential, and the agency says the Israeli figures do not account for the key role it plays in coordinating aid deliveries.

“Without UNRWA coordination, without UNRWA logistics platforms … no U.N. agency could operate at the scale required,” said Jonathan Fowler, a spokesman for the agency.

Fowler’s statement is self-serving and not very credible. The reluctance of various other aid organisations’ to deal UNRWA out of the aid distribution is not about ability or logistics, because every aid organisation is by definition organically designed to deploy wherever they operate in the world.

Let’s be honest. This is about turf. The Palestinians have been UNRWA’s turf for purely political reasons, and no one wants to step on that turf for fear it might set a bad precedent. The UN says UNRWA is in charge of Palestinians, and no one should be allowed to get away with challenging the UN, no matter how dysfunctional, corrupt or counter-productive a UN agency has become. That is why Wong referred to UNRWA’s “mandate”.

The end of the turf war: UNRWA’s days appear numbered

Earlier in the year, in the face of evidence of UNRWA’s links to terrorism, the US Congress barred all US funding of UNRWA until March 25, 2025 at the earliest.

Following the US election on November 5, which saw Donald Trump returned to the White House and the Republicans take control of the Senate, while appearing on course to retain control of the House of Representatives, the chance of the US resuming funding to UNRWA after that date are slim to none.

A president who froze funding to UNRWA back in 2018, years before October 7, 2023, as Trump did, can’t be expected to resume funding now, given the exposure of UNRWA’s widespread links to terrorism in the aftermath of October 7.

The US had long been UNRWA’s largest donor, and while Europe bailed out UNRWA during Trump’s first freeze, a lot has changed since then, including Israel’s new legislation stopping the Israeli government cooperating with UNRWA or facilitating it. Without US funds, and without any cooperation with Israel, the UNRWA system, which bestows refugee status and aid entitlements to generation after generation of Palestinians in ever expanding numbers with money mainly from Western governments, looks completely unsustainable. Australia’s contributions of A$20 million per year plus additional special grants ,insignificant in the context UNRWA’s total budget of around US$1.6 billion, can’t possibly keep that Titanic afloat, and Europe and the rest of the world are unlikely to do so as well.

Given this reality, it is time for Australia to grow a spine, and redirect our taxpayer-funded foreign aid to a new “backbone” for humanitarian aid distribution to war-affected Palestinian civilians. That “backbone” needs to be effective, professional and apolitical – that is, completely unlike UNRWA, which is an irredeemably politicised and terrorism-implicated organisation which severely impedes the negotiated two-state peace that Australia says it supports.