The foreign ministers of France, Germany and the United Kingdom, in a joint statement on Friday, expressed renewed “grave concern” over Israel’s decision to outlaw the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
The statement, issued a day after the legislation that bans UNRWA came into effect, reiterated support for the organization and claimed that “no other entity or U.N. Agency currently has the capacity or infrastructure to replace UNRWA’s mandate and experience.”
On Oct. 28, the Knesset passed, by large majorities, two laws banning UNRWA following the exposure of agency staffers’ complicity in the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and despite pressure from the United States and other countries against the move. The laws came into effect Thursday.
Berlin, London and Paris stressed on Friday that they condemned “in the strongest possible terms the brutal and unjustified terror attacks by Hamas on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
“All alleged involvement of UNRWA staff in appalling acts in support of 7 October and subsequent events must be thoroughly investigated,” the E3 stated, calling on UNRWA to “continue on its path of reform.”
Reiterating their “full endorsement and support” for the ceasefire deal with the Hamas terrorist organization in Gaza, the three countries said they hoped to “play our full part in the coming days and weeks” to leverage the truce in the Strip to restart talks on a two-state solution.
Two surveys in 2023 found that some two-thirds of Palestinians in Judea and Samaria support the Oct. 7 attacks, in which around 6,000 Gazan terrorists stormed the border, murdered some 1,200 people, wounded thousands more and took more than 250 hostages.
In July, Israeli lawmakers voted overwhelmingly in favor of a resolution fully rejecting the establishment of a Palestinian state. The motion, put forward by opposition Knesset member Ze’ev Elkin of the New Hope Party with support from the opposition Yisrael Beiteinu Party, passed 68-9.