RSS
The US Should Penalize UNRWA — Not Israel

Security personnel work at the UNRWA headquarters, in Jerusalem, May 10, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad
This week, Israel diminished a longstanding source of terrorist support – and the US should be glad.
On October 28, Israel’s legislature enacted two bills that effectively blocked the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) from providing relief services to Palestinians in a zone that includes Gaza. The US opposed the measures.
In addition, by a letter on October 13, the Biden administration warned that if Israel did not immediately “surge” the pace and quantity of relief supplies to Gaza, the US might be legally compelled by Section 6201 of the US Foreign Assistance Act to curtail its sale of weapons to Israel.
In reality, Section 301(c) of the same law should compel President Biden to harden his policy against UNRWA, instead of opposing Israel’s action; no boycott of weapons to Israel is justified under Section 6201.
UNRWA was founded in 1949 to build tent cities with temporary emergency provisions such as food and water for Arab refugees after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Unfortunately, that quick-fix organization gradually swelled into a perpetual, billion-dollar-a-year welfare bureaucracy dedicated officially to helping Palestinians and unofficially to exterminating Israel.
UNRWA’s anti-Israeli animus became even more apparent during Hamas’ October 7, 2023 terrorist invasion of Israel.
After the Hamas murder spree, Israeli intelligence uncovered a web of UNRWA connections to terrorist organizations. According to Israel’s well-supported findings, over 25 Gaza-based UNRWA employees participated in the October 7th atrocities; another 30 facilitated those crimes with logistics and weapons procurement; and approximately 190 doubled as operatives of Hamas or Islamic Palestinian Jihad.
Moreover, a group of 3,000 UNRWA teachers celebrated the slaughter in postings to the Telegram messaging platform, and about 10 percent of UNRWA’s 12,000-strong Gaza workforce exhibited ties to terror groups. In addition, Hamas built a data center under UNRWA’s Gaza headquarters and stored munitions in UNRWA schools, maneuvers that followed Hamas’ longstanding practice of turning civilians into human shields.
UNRWA has historically fostered Islamist extremism. UNRWA teachers radicalize students to wage holy war against Jews and martyr themselves to “liberate” Israel. The educators also falsely instruct that an imagined six million Palestinian “refugees” have a “right of return” through “armed resistance” to Israel, where they will convert the world’s only Jewish-majority state into the 58th Muslim-majority state.
In order to prevent the eviction of UNRWA from worsening the dire condition of some two million Gazans, the Israeli government has called for UN support services in Gaza, eastern Jerusalem, and the West Bank to be transferred to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the relief provider that serves people who legally qualify as refugees. The proposed transfer must be swift and smooth, so no aid recipients fall through the cracks. Until the UNHCR takes charge, other NGOs in Gaza should — and must — fill the gap.
The Knesset action complements President Biden’s own legal response to UNRWA’s malfeasance. In March 2024, he suspended America’s $300 million annual funding to UNRWA because the entity had violated the above-referenced Section 301(c). That law required UNRWA to take “all possible measures” to prevent its US donations from reaching anyone engaged in terrorism. Yet UNRWA did the opposite. It employed and harbored terrorists. Such inbred criminality should persuade the president to reenforce Section 301(c) by blessing UNRWA’s demise.
The above-noted Section 6201, which requires the US to halt military sales where countries restrict the flow of humanitarian products to needy populations, should not be enforced against Israel for two reasons. First, Israel has obeyed the US demand to surge humanitarian aid into Gaza, even though Hamas attacks the Israeli aid facilitators and steals an estimated 50% of the needed goods. Second, 6201 authorizes the president to continue the given military transfers if necessary for national security reasons. In this case, the reasons are abundant. Israel is a close US ally under withering, unprovoked terrorist attack on seven fronts. Some of the terrorist factions hold hostages from both Israel and the US.
Arming Israel actually furthers the humanitarian goal of Section 6201. Israeli troops must defeat Hamas, so the militants will stop their criminal acts of stealing the life-saving cargo, exploiting Gazans as human shields, and holding hostages. Conversely, withholding military tools from Israel may prolong the human suffering.
Under the Hamas-UNRWA regime, human rights are crudely abused. Gazans should be treated like human beings, not human shields. And a UN agency should promote peace, not war.
Joel M. Margolis is the Legal Commentator, American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists, U.S. Affiliate of the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists. His 2001 book, The Israeli-Palestinian Legal War, analyzed the major legal issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Previously he worked as a telecommunications lawyer in both the public and private sectors.
The post The US Should Penalize UNRWA — Not Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Hamas Says No Interim Hostage Deal Possible Without Work Toward Permanent Ceasefire

Explosions send smoke into the air in Gaza, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, July 17, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
The spokesperson for Hamas’s armed wing said on Friday that while the Palestinian terrorist group favors reaching an interim truce in the Gaza war, if such an agreement is not reached in current negotiations it could revert to insisting on a full package deal to end the conflict.
Hamas has previously offered to release all the hostages held in Gaza and conclude a permanent ceasefire agreement, and Israel has refused, Abu Ubaida added in a televised speech.
Arab mediators Qatar and Egypt, backed by the United States, have hosted more than 10 days of talks on a US-backed proposal for a 60-day truce in the war.
Israeli officials were not immediately available for comment on the eve of the Jewish Sabbath.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement on a call he had with Pope Leo on Friday that Israel‘s efforts to secure a hostage release deal and 60-day ceasefire “have so far not been reciprocated by Hamas.”
As part of the potential deal, 10 hostages held in Gaza would be returned along with the bodies of 18 others, spread out over 60 days. In exchange, Israel would release a number of detained Palestinians.
“If the enemy remains obstinate and evades this round as it has done every time before, we cannot guarantee a return to partial deals or the proposal of the 10 captives,” said Abu Ubaida.
Disputes remain over maps of Israeli army withdrawals, aid delivery mechanisms into Gaza, and guarantees that any eventual truce would lead to ending the war, said two Hamas officials who spoke to Reuters on Friday.
The officials said the talks have not reached a breakthrough on the issues under discussion.
Hamas says any agreement must lead to ending the war, while Netanyahu says the war will only end once Hamas is disarmed and its leaders expelled from Gaza.
Almost 1,650 Israelis and foreign nationals have been killed as a result of the conflict, including 1,200 killed in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel, according to Israeli tallies. Over 250 hostages were kidnapped during Hamas’s Oct. 7 onslaught.
Israel responded with an ongoing military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in neighboring Gaza.
The post Hamas Says No Interim Hostage Deal Possible Without Work Toward Permanent Ceasefire first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Iran Marks 31st Anniversary of AMIA Bombing by Slamming Argentina’s ‘Baseless’ Accusations, Blaming Israel

People hold images of the victims of the 1994 bombing attack on the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA) community center, marking the 30th anniversary of the attack, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, July 18, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Irina Dambrauskas
Iran on Friday marked the 31st anniversary of the 1994 bombing of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) Jewish community center in Buenos Aires by slamming Argentina for what it called “baseless” accusations over Tehran’s alleged role in the terrorist attack and accusing Israel of politicizing the atrocity to influence the investigation and judicial process.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on the anniversary of Argentina’s deadliest terrorist attack, which killed 85 people and wounded more than 300.
“While completely rejecting the accusations against Iranian citizens, the Islamic Republic of Iran condemns attempts by certain Argentine factions to pressure the judiciary into issuing baseless charges and politically motivated rulings,” the statement read.
“Reaffirming that the charges against its citizens are unfounded, the Islamic Republic of Iran insists on restoring their reputation and calls for an end to this staged legal proceeding,” it continued.
Last month, a federal judge in Argentina ordered the trial in absentia of 10 Iranian and Lebanese nationals suspected of orchestrating the attack in Buenos Aires.
The ten suspects set to stand trial include former Iranian and Lebanese ministers and diplomats, all of whom are subject to international arrest warrants issued by Argentina for their alleged roles in the terrorist attack.
In its statement on Friday, Iran also accused Israel of influencing the investigation to advance a political campaign against the Islamist regime in Tehran, claiming the case has been used to serve Israeli interests and hinder efforts to uncover the truth.
“From the outset, elements and entities linked to the Zionist regime [Israel] exploited this suspicious explosion, pushing the investigation down a false and misleading path, among whose consequences was to disrupt the long‑standing relations between the people of Iran and Argentina,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry said.
“Clear, undeniable evidence now shows the Zionist regime and its affiliates exerting influence on the Argentine judiciary to frame Iranian nationals,” the statement continued.
In April, lead prosecutor Sebastián Basso — who took over the case after the 2015 murder of his predecessor, Alberto Nisman — requested that federal Judge Daniel Rafecas issue national and international arrest warrants for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei over his alleged involvement in the attack.
Since 2006, Argentine authorities have sought the arrest of eight Iranians — including former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who died in 2017 — yet more than three decades after the deadly bombing, all suspects remain still at large.
In a post on X, the Delegation of Argentine Israelite Associations (DAIA), the country’s Jewish umbrella organization, released a statement commemorating the 31st anniversary of the bombing.
“It was a brutal attack on Argentina, its democracy, and its rule of law,” the group said. “At DAIA, we continue to demand truth and justice — because impunity is painful, and memory is a commitment to both the present and the future.”
31 años del atentado a la AMIA – DAIA. 31 años sin justicia.
El 18 de julio de 1994, un atentado terrorista dejó 85 personas muertas y más de 300 heridas. Fue un ataque brutal contra la Argentina, su democracia y su Estado de derecho.
Desde la DAIA, seguimos exigiendo verdad y… pic.twitter.com/kV2ReGNTIk
— DAIA (@DAIAArgentina) July 18, 2025
Despite Argentina’s longstanding belief that Lebanon’s Shiite Hezbollah terrorist group carried out the devastating attack at Iran’s request, the 1994 bombing has never been claimed or officially solved.
Meanwhile, Tehran has consistently denied any involvement and refused to arrest or extradite any suspects.
To this day, the decades-long investigation into the terrorist attack has been plagued by allegations of witness tampering, evidence manipulation, cover-ups, and annulled trials.
In 2006, former prosecutor Nisman formally charged Iran for orchestrating the attack and Hezbollah for carrying it out.
Nine years later, he accused former Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner — currently under house arrest on corruption charges — of attempting to cover up the crime and block efforts to extradite the suspects behind the AMIA atrocity in return for Iranian oil.
Nisman was killed later that year, and to this day, both his case and murder remain unresolved and under ongoing investigation.
The alleged cover-up was reportedly formalized through the memorandum of understanding signed in 2013 between Kirchner’s government and Iranian authorities, with the stated goal of cooperating to investigate the AMIA bombing.
The post Iran Marks 31st Anniversary of AMIA Bombing by Slamming Argentina’s ‘Baseless’ Accusations, Blaming Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Jordan Reveals Muslim Brotherhood Operating Vast Illegal Funding Network Tied to Gaza Donations, Political Campaigns

Murad Adailah, the head of Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood, attends an interview with Reuters in Amman, Jordan, Sept. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Jehad Shelbak
The Muslim Brotherhood, one of the Arab world’s oldest and most influential Islamist movements, has been implicated in a wide-ranging network of illegal financial activities in Jordan and abroad, according to a new investigative report.
Investigations conducted by Jordanian authorities — along with evidence gathered from seized materials — revealed that the Muslim Brotherhood raised tens of millions of Jordanian dinars through various illegal activities, the Jordan news agency (Petra) reported this week.
With operations intensifying over the past eight years, the report showed that the group’s complex financial network was funded through various sources, including illegal donations, profits from investments in Jordan and abroad, and monthly fees paid by members inside and outside the country.
The report also indicated that the Muslim Brotherhood has taken advantage of the war in Gaza to raise donations illegally.
Out of all donations meant for Gaza, the group provided no information on where the funds came from, how much was collected, or how they were distributed, and failed to work with any international or relief organizations to manage the transfers properly.
Rather, the investigations revealed that the Islamist network used illicit financial mechanisms to transfer funds abroad.
According to Jordanian authorities, the group gathered more than JD 30 million (around $42 million) over recent years.
With funds transferred to several Arab, regional, and foreign countries, part of the money was allegedly used to finance domestic political campaigns in 2024, as well as illegal activities and cells.
In April, Jordan outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood, the country’s most vocal opposition group, and confiscated its assets after members of the Islamist movement were found to be linked to a sabotage plot.
The movement’s political arm in Jordan, the Islamic Action Front, became the largest political grouping in parliament after elections last September, although most seats are still held by supporters of the government.
Opponents of the group, which is banned in most Arab countries, label it a terrorist organization. However, the movement claims it renounced violence decades ago and now promotes its Islamist agenda through peaceful means.
The post Jordan Reveals Muslim Brotherhood Operating Vast Illegal Funding Network Tied to Gaza Donations, Political Campaigns first appeared on Algemeiner.com.