'Starvation as a weapon of war': President Higgins condemns Israeli ban on UN aid agency

LAST UPDATE | 7 hrs ago

PRESIDENT MICHAEL D Higgins has joined the Taoiseach and Tánaiste in condemning the Israeli parliament’s decision to ban the UN’s main aid agency from operating in Palestine. 

“Given the circumstances of people starving to death, the placing under attack of the United Nations agency that is responsible for keeping them alive constitutes an appalling failure of diplomacy and the use of starvation as a weapon of war,” the President said in a statment this afternoon. 

The Israeli parliament voted overwhelmingly yesterday to ban the agency from operating in Palestine, which is under Israeli occupation and includes the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.

Ireland, Norway, Spain and Slovenia immediately came out against the Knesset’s decision last night, issuing a joint statement saying it “sets a very serious precedent for the work of the United Nations and for all organisations of the multilateral system”.

“Ireland, along with a number of other European states, has strongly condemned the attacks on the lead United Nations agency, UNRWA, without whom there will be no one to assist. Ireland has been consistent in its demand for the release of hostages,” Higgins said.

“It is of the utmost importance that other member states of the United Nations and the European Union do not remain silent in such circumstances.”

Taoiseach Simon Harris has also condemned the move, calling Israel’s decision “despicable, disgraceful and shameful”. 

Speaking to reporters this afternoon, Simon Harris strongly condemned the decision.

“More people will die. More children will starve,” he said.

“There is no alternative to UNRWA. They’re not just my words. They’re the words of the United Nations Secretary General, the words of the President of the United States through his State Department.

UNRWA is needed. It is absolutely essential, and the actions that we have seen in the Knesset really are absolutely shameful.

Harris is holding a meeting with the incoming European Council President António Costa at Farmleigh House this afternoon.

He said: “I’ll be talking to António Costa about how Europe now needs to find the moral courage, in my view, to act in relation to this.

“Ireland, Spain, Belgium, Slovenia, and others have been calling for more actions at an EU level. I think that would be a very effective way, and I’ll be continuing to make that case.”

UNRWA spokesperson Juliette Touma called the decision “outrageous” and said it would deprive people in Gaza of medical services, education and food. She pointed to the supply of polio vaccines as one recent example of the work UNRWA does.

“We are the largest provider of humanitarian assistance. Without UNRWA, a polio vaccination campaign that covered nearly 600,000 kids would not have happened,” she said.

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‘Collective punishment’ of Palestinians

Speaking to RTÉ’s Morning Ireland today, Tánaiste and Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin reiterated concerns for the implications the decision will have on multilateralism in general. 

“What this represents, really, is the further collective punishment of an entire population that’s already suffering the most extreme humanitarian crisis,” Martin said.

Martin agreed with the head of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, in his description of Israel’s actions as “unprecedented” in the history of the United Nations.

Israel has been waging a public campaign against the UN in general throughout the war in Gaza, shredding the UN charter at a meeting of the General Assembly, barring the Secretary General Antonio Gutteres from entering Israel and killing more than 230 UNRWA staff in the Gaza Strip since October last year.

Its military has also fired on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon in recent months.

“This is an attack on Palestinians,” Martin said, adding that UN agency heads told him the ongoing Israeli campaign against the northern Gaza Strip will “haunt the world for a long time to come”.

He said it was “beyond any comprehension” that Israel would move to remove “the one agency that can provide the essentials of life itself”.   

Martin said he had discussed what steps can be taken at the UN level with his counterparts in Norway, Slovenia and Spain, but did not offer specifics. 

He also said that the current political situation in the United States, with an election a week away, was leaving a “vacuum” which was facilitating Israel’s actions at the moment. 

UNRWA was founded in 1949 following the Nakba (Catastrophe), when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forced from their homes during the Arab-Israeli war that led to the founding of the state of Israel. 

Many of those people make up the population of the Gaza Strip, living in refugee camps supported by the aid agency. There are also Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank and neighbouring countries.

UNRWA employs around 30,00 people and its remit involves providing education, healthcare, social services, camp infrastructure and improvement, microfinance and emergency assistance. 

It is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions from UN member states but also receives some funding through the UN budget and from private donors. 

The biggest donor by far has been the United States, followed by Germany and the European Union. 

A number of countries withheld funding for the agency after Israel accused some of its members of taking part in the Hamas-led attacks on Israel in October last year. 

Nine members were dismissed as part of an investigation into the claims. 

Ireland was among the countries that did not follow the United States’ lead in suspending funding, which has since been restored. 

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International concern

Responding to the Israeli decision today, ActionAid Ireland CEO Karol Balfe described it as “a reckless attack on humanitarian aid that will cost the lives of countless Palestinians”. 

“We strongly condemn the legislation, and stand in solidarity with UNRWA, whose essential role in supporting millions of Palestinian refugees cannot be overstated. 

“This outrageous move by the Israeli Government will dismantle the backbone of the humanitarian response in Gaza, cutting off a vital lifeline for millions of Palestinians for whom life has become a living hell.”

Jordan said Israel’s decision was a violation of international law and part of its bid to dismantle the organisation.

In a statement, the kingdom’s foreign ministry said the vote was “part of the systematic targeting” of UNRWA and a “continuation of Israel’s frantic efforts to assassinate the UN agency politically, in addition to its aggressive war on the Palestinian people”.

Qatar, who has acted as a mediator during the current conflict in Gaza, also condemned the move. 

“We emphasise that stopping support for UNRWA will have disastrous consequences,” foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari told reporters.

“The international community cannot stand silent in the face of this disregard for its international institutions,” he added

The US State Department said it was “deeply concerned” and reiterated the “critical” role the agency plays in distributing humanitarian aid in Gaza.

“We continue to urge the government of Israel to pause the implementation of this legislation. We urge them not to pass it at all, and we will consider the next steps based on what happens in the days ahead,” spokesperson Matthew Miller said.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he is “gravely concerned” about the passing on the bill. 

“This legislation risks making UNRWA’s essential work for Palestinians impossible, jeopardising the entire international humanitarian response in Gaza and delivery of essential health and education services in the West Bank,” Starmer said in a statement.

France’s foreign ministry said it “very strongly regrets” Israel’s decision.

“Implementation of these laws would have very serious consequences for the humanitarian situation in Gaza, which is already catastrophic, but also all of the Palestinian territories,” the statement read.

With reporting from Jane Moore

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