Hundreds of Jerusalem residents participated on Monday evening in a demonstration outside the UNRWA headquarters in the Ma'alot Dafna neighborhood of Jerusalem, calling for the closure of the organization's headquarters. The demonstration was held with the participation of Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Arieh King, bereaved families and relatives of hostages and dozens of organizations.
The demonstration took place in light of the suspension of funding for UNRWA by a number of countries and the harsh criticism directed at the organization in Israel and abroad for the active participation of its employees in the October 7th massacre. During the event, the participants called on the Israeli government to act immediately to prohibit the operations of the Agency at its enormous compound, which they say poses a serious security threat to the thousands of residents of Ma'alot Dafna, and to the residents of the neighborhoods of Shmuel HaNavi and Ramat Eshkol, which are located only tens of meters from the Agency.
Deputy Mayor Arieh King stated at the beginning of the event in his speech: "For years I have been begging the various governments of Israel to throw this organization out of Jerusalem, long before the massacre in the south and the war. I begged because I read their books in which 'Jerusalem', 'Tel Aviv' and 'Ashkelon', did not exist, only Arab cities, and that's because they don't want to see even a single Jew here. UNRWA took over property that wasn't theirs - land owned by KKL - in Kafr 'Aqab in East Jerusalem, which Jews from Canada donated. In this land UNRWA built a mosque, a country club, a school and a monument to the shaheeds. UNRWA is a lawbreaker, so why do we give it water and electricity? There are illegal buildings here, a gas station 30 meters away from residents' homes in complete violation of the law, but the Israeli government continues to sleep."
"Have we lost our minds?" King asked. "Instead of a headquarters of this massive anti-Israel organization that exists here, a neighborhood should be built for veterans who fought in Gaza, for wounded or kidnapped soldiers, a cluster of public gardens and magnificent schools. I call on the Israeli government and my friend, Mayor Moshe Lion, to wake up and immediately evict Hamas UNRWA from Jerusalem, so that we do not see this antisemitic organization anymore."
International advocacy activist, international law expert, lawyer Deborah Srour-Politis, also participated in the demonstration and said, "For 75 years with a budget of billions of dollars, this agency has not been able to resettle a single Arab. The UN has another agency for refugees, which deals with 100 million refugees in 137 countries around the world, which does the same work with a budget three times smaller. There is no reason for UNRWA's presence in Jerusalem other than promoting the murderous ideology of Hamas and teaching the younger generation from infancy to hate and murder Jews. Israel must remove this cancer from the center of our city and the entire country."
The chairman of the Otzma Yehudit Knesset faction, MK Yitzhak Kroizer, who also spoke at the event, added: "We say in a clear voice - enemies must be expelled. Terrorists who participated in massacres, rape, murder and arson came out of UNRWA bases, so they must be evicted. There is no place for enemies in the heart of the Jewish people's capital, Jerusalem. From here I call on the ministers of the government and the friends of the mayor Moshe Lion to join the just and important fight of Arieh King."
Sima Hasson, chairwoman of the Mothers' March and mother of two soldiers serving in Gaza, stated, "The enemy is Hamas and many hide under it under the guise of concern for the weak, when in the moment of truth, they turned out to be no less enemies than the Hamas terrorists. We came here tonight to tear the mask off the mechanism of lies and hypocrisy preached to us by this false morality, which these days coordinates the daily delivery of hundreds of trucks directly into the hands of Hamas. This alone prolongs the war and hurts our children, fighters and hostages. I call on the government of Israel: Enough is enough. Stop living this lie! Immediately cut off the connection with the Hamas aides and immediately close all the taps to this organization whose hands are full of Jewish blood."
Yedidia Zahavi, a reservist who fought in Gaza, noted, "In the months of November and December, I fought with my team in the northern area of the Gaza Strip and, among other places, in the town of Beit Hanoun. There, we encountered Hamas terrorists entrenched inside an UNRWA school. During the battle, my comrade in arms was killed and five of our soldiers were wounded. I was struck by the fact that attacks against our forces would come from a school, an educational institution on the roof of which UNRWA flags are flying. Who would have imagined that from a building of the United Nations they would shoot at us!? When I stand here dozens of meters from the UNRWA headquarters, I shudder at the mere thought that UNRWA personnel may be hiding weapons here in the heart of Israel's eternal capital."
MK Limor Son Har Melech, who also participated, noted, "I came to the demonstration today to say in a clear voice that UNRWA has nothing to look for here! Remove your dirty hands from the Israeli reality and see how an agency that is supposed to take care of the poor has turned into an agency that produces terror."