Several months after conclusive evidence was found linking the UNRWA agency to Hamas, Israel's political leadership has still not directed the IDF and its intelligence agencies to release the "damaging materials" on the UN refugee agency. This was confirmed to Israel Hayom by a well-placed source.
According to this source, this is why the State of Israel has not yet launched an official public relations campaign against UNRWA. It also explains why even the United States opposes legislation intended to sever ties between Israel and the agency.
Yesterday, an UNRWA staff ID was found on the body of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar after his elimination. This is just one more piece of evidence in a long series proving the close connection and collaboration between Hamas and UNRWA. During the war in Gaza, a direct link was uncovered between UNRWA's headquarters in the Rimal neighborhood and Hamas computer labs located directly underneath it. Additionally, a principal of an UNRWA school in Lebanon was found to be the commander of Hamas' Lebanon branch and a member of the organization's external political bureau.
For years, Israel has known that UNRWA plays a central role in perpetuating the conflict between the Arabs of Israel and the State of Israel. Despite the intelligence community's possession of this information, the Prime Minister and the government have yet to instruct the IDF or other relevant agencies to distribute these damaging materials to various public relations and policy-making bodies.
Without such directives, the IDF has kept the information to itself. It has not been shared domestically or internationally, neither with policymakers nor with local or international media outlets. As a result, the international community remains largely unaware of the reasons behind the pending legislation in the Knesset to sever ties between Israel and UNRWA. This may explain Hungary and the Czech Republic's decision yesterday to block the European Union from issuing a unified statement against the UN agency.
It should be noted that Prime Minister Netanyahu has not yet taken a firm public stance in favor of shutting down UNRWA. Instead, he has stated that alternatives should be found to replace it in Gaza. However, to date, Netanyahu has not taken steps to delay the legislation that is expected to pass in the Knesset immediately after the holidays.
According to diplomatic sources, a statement was prepared by the European External Action Service and circulated among member states for approval. Two of Israel's closest allies in the European Union refused to support it. Since EU decisions require consensus, this blocked the condemnation of Israel.
One diplomatic source commented, "The Czech Republic indeed holds views similar to those of the current Israeli government. Nevertheless, it's surprising that the Czech Republic would oppose a statement aimed at ensuring the continued functioning of the UN refugee agency as part of upholding international humanitarian law."
Since the beginning of the conflict, there have been numerous shifts in positions on the issue of UNRWA funding among EU member states, even within the European Commission itself. "We are talking about the only institution that provides assistance to Gaza on such a scale," the diplomatic source added.
The Czech Foreign Ministry confirmed that it had indeed opposed the statement, mainly because "we cannot predict the final wording of the proposed law." This is the second time in recent days that the Czech Republic has vetoed an EU statement. A few days ago, Prague opposed a European declaration criticizing Israel's military actions in Lebanon. As a result, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who is soon to step down, had to issue a statement in his own name rather than on behalf of all EU member states.
So far, there has been no response from the Israeli Prime Minister's Office.
