The United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution demanding that Israel cooperate with UNRWA by a majority of 139 countries on Friday.
Twelve countries voted against the resolution, and 19 others abstained. The resolution also stated that Israel should cooperate with other UN organizations. One of the countries that voted against the resolution was Bolivia, which recently resumed diplomatic relations with Israel.
The vote on Friday came after Reuters revealed this past week that the Trump administration wanted to impose sanctions on UNRWA due to its “connections to terrorism.”
“We will not forget the crimes committed by UNRWA employees on October 7,” Israeli ambassador to the UN Danny Danon wrote in a post on X/Twitter in response. “We will not forget that UNRWA employees kidnapped the late Yonatan Samerano to Gaza. UNRWA should hand over the keys and go home.”
Yonatan Samerano killed, body taken on Oct. 7 by UNRWA employees
Yonatan Samerano was an Israeli who was murdered on October 7 before his remains were taken to Gaza and held hostage until they were returned to Israel in June of this year. One of the terrorists involved in Samerano’s death and kidnapping was later confirmed to be a UNRWA employee by a Washington Post investigation.
His mother, Ayelet, said in February 2024 that “an UNRWA worker kidnapped my son’s body. How can a social worker for an organization that claims to promote good in this world do something so cruel and inhumane?”
She confronted the UN organization’s Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini during a speech in August of that year, shouting: “UNRWA kidnapped my son’s body. Where is he, Mr. Lazzarini? I want my son back!”
An N12 News report from September of last year found an official document filed in a US court in which the UN, with support from the US Department of Justice, argued that UNRWA employees who were involved in the October 7 massacre should be immune from legal action.
A New York Times report from December of last year uncovered that 24 UNRWA schools had employees identified as Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad members.