Three bills in the Knesset aim to ban the UNRWA as an accomplice of Hamas
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) may be declared a terrorist organization, its staff stripped of immunity and its activities inside Israel outlawed, under a series of bills that have been proposed in the Knesset.
The UNRWA was established in 1949 to deal with Palestinian refugees and has a mandate to operate in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the West Bank and Gaza. Israel has accused it of aiding and abetting Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups.
“We are on the UN’s blacklist in any case. All the excessive morality ended on October 7,” MK Yulia Malinovsky of Yisrael Beitenu, who proposed to designate the UNRWA as a terrorist organization, said on Monday. She called the agency “a fifth column” within Israel.
The Knesset voted 50-10 in favor of her bill, in the first reading. Israeli lawmakers also advanced the bills that would ban the UNRWA from any activity on the territory of Israel, and strip the agency personnel of legal immunity and privileges normally due to UN staff.
The three bills were sent to the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee for further deliberation. They will have to pass two more votes to go into effect.
Israel failed to prove UN agency was complicit in terrorism – reportREAD MORE Israel failed to prove UN agency was complicit in terrorism – report
UNRWA employs more than 30,000 people and has provided food aid, healthcare, education, and social services to Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, as well as those seeking asylum in neighboring countries. According to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, over two million people depend on it for their survival....more here
https://www.rt.com/news/601561-israel-knesset-unrwa-terrorist/
US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is preparing to leave the Trump administration after what a new report has described as months of tension with Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, potentially triggering another change at the army’s top echelons.
According to the Friday report by The Wall Street Journal, Driscoll is expected to step down before the end of the year and could leave his post earlier. The newspaper cited people familiar with discussions over his departure.
The Journal reported that Driscoll and his family vacated the official residence assigned to the army secretary at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall this summer, a move that could indicate he was preparing to leave the position.
The reported departure would come at a time of continuing uncertainty at the top echelons of the army.
Hegseth abruptly removed Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George in April, while Trump has not yet nominated a permanent successo....more below
...
The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) warns the enemies that any act of aggression against the Islamic Republic will not go unanswered.
In a statement on Thursday, the IRGC issued a “stern warning” to the enemies after US forces launched strikes against the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas.
Following the US military attack on a point on the outskirts of Bandar Abbas Airport with aerial projectiles, the IRGC carried out new strikes targeting the US air base from which the attack originated in the wee hours of Thursday, it added.
“This response is a serious warning to the enemy that they should know the act of aggression will not go unanswered,” the IRGC emphasized.
The elite military force warned of a “more decisive” response if the enemy repeated any act of aggression.
It also said the responsibility for the consequences of any IRGC response lies with the aggressor.
The statement comes after the IRGC Navy on Thursday forced an American tanker to turn back. The tanker ...