Ambassador Danny Danon, Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations, looks on as he speaks to members of the press about the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza, at the UN headquarters in New York City, US, Sept. 4, 2024. Photo: Reuters

Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon reaffirmed on Tuesday that the controversial UN agency responsible for Palestinian refugees and their descendants will face an imminent ban from Israel over its ties to the Hamas terrorist group.

“Within 48 hours, the State of Israel will cease its cooperation with UNRWA,” Danon told the UN Security Council, referring to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. “UNRWA must cease its activities and evacuate all its facilities in Jerusalem.”

The public announcement came after Israel passed legislation in October banning UNRWA from operating within Israeli territory and prohibiting any Israeli authority from engaging with the agency.

Israel followed up on the legislation this past week, issuing a directive to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres demanding that UNRWA cease all activities in East Jerusalem by Jan. 30.

“This decision was driven by UNRWA’s constant refusal to address the widespread infiltration of its ranks by Hamas and other terrorist organizations,” Danon added in his remarks on Tuesday.

The Israeli government and research organizations have publicized findings showing numerous UNRWA-employed staff, including teachers and school principals, are active Hamas members, some of whom were directly involved in the Palestinian terrorist group’s Oct. 7, 2023 massacre across southern Israel, while many others openly celebrated it.

On Tuesday, Danon said that UNRWA will be banned from “maintaining any representative, office, service or activity within” Israel and the Jewish state will “terminate all collaboration, communication, or contact with UNRWA or anyone operating on its behalf.”

The ambassador asserted that the decision was “necessary” due to UNRWA’s decision to pursue “political agendas, neglect, and cover-ups over humanitarian principles.” Moreover, Danon contended that UNRWA has “failed to benefit the people who were supposed to benefit from their services.”

Israel has maintained that the agency still employs some 450 terrorist operatives in Gaza, even after firing several over their alleged involvement in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks on southern Israel. Many countries, including the US, paused funding to UNRWA amid allegations that the agency aided Hamas terrorists. UNRWA employs 14,000 staff members in Gaza. 

UNRWA officials have denied the agency’s complicity in the Oct. 7 massacre and argued their aid work in Gaza is crucial to alleviating the humanitarian crisis in the war-torn enclave.

“In two days, our operations in the occupied Palestinian territory will be crippled,” UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini told the 15-member UN Security Council on Tuesday. “Full implementation of the Knesset [Israeli parliament] legislation will be disastrous.”

However, US officials said that the UN is “exaggerating” the impact of Israel’s decision.

“UNRWA exaggerating the effects of the laws and suggesting that they will force the entire humanitarian response to halt is irresponsible and dangerous,” US Ambassador to the UN Dorothy Shea told the Security Council on Tuesday.

“What is needed is a nuanced discussion about how we can ensure that there is no interruption in the delivery of humanitarian aid and essential services,” she said. “UNRWA is not and never has been the only option for providing humanitarian assistance in Gaza.”

Experts have told The Algemeiner that UNRWA fosters new generations of terrorists, in part through school curricula that promotes hatred of both Jews and Israelis.

Danon argued that the Jewish state should not be forced to collaborate with an organization that compromises its national security and that it will continue to pursue partnerships with humanitarian groups that are not tied to terrorists.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian attend a ceremony to sign an agreement of comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries, at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Jan. 17, 2025. Photo: Sputnik/Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Pool via REUTERS

Israel is deeply concerned about a recently signed “comprehensive strategic partnership treaty” between Iran and Russia, according to the Jewish state’s ambassador to Moscow.

“Iran is a country that has openly and publicly stated many times its intention to destroy Israel,” Simona Halperin told the Russian state news agency TASS in an interview published on Monday when asked about the pact.

“Any cooperation aimed at developing Iran’s ability to realize those intentions, or any agreement intended to strengthen Iran’s economic, strategic, or military capabilities, is dangerous for the entire world and particularly for Israel,” she added.

Earlier this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Iranian counterpart, Masoud Pezeshkian, strengthened military ties between their countries by signing a 20-year strategic partnership.

Under the agreement, Russia and Iran will deepen bilateral cooperation across numerous sectors, including defense, energy, finance, transport, and agriculture. They will also enhance security ties through joint military drills, warship port visits, and officer training.

While the signatories pledged not to assist aggressors in the event of an attack on either country, the agreement does not include provisions for mutual military assistance in the case of an armed attack.

Following the signing of the agreement, Putin emphasized the strengthened bilateral cooperation, particularly in trade and economic relations.

“We need less bureaucracy and more concrete action. Whatever difficulties are created by others, we will be able to overcome them and move forward,” he said, referring to Western sanctions on both countries.

Pezeshkian also pointed to the potential of the agreement, saying it serves as another stimulus for “the creation of a multi-polar world” — a phrase referring to an international system in which the US is not the dominant country.

Meanwhil, Iranian and Russian officials have been working on an international alliance with Russia against US sanctions called the “International Union Against US Sanctions.” An Iranian lawmaker spearheading the effort said last month that it will soon be completed and ready to be put into practice.

The new agreement already seems to be fostering further defense ties.

On Monday, Iran confirmed the purchase of Russian Sukhoi-35 fighter jets, amid increasing tensions with Israel and the United States, potentially bolstering its ailing air force.

According to the semi-official Iranian Students News Agency, Ali Shadmani, a senior official in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, revealed the purchase but did not specify the number of jets or their delivery status.

After purchasing the new Russian fighter jets, Iran threatened Israel with potential consequences for any aggressive actions.

“If the enemy acts foolishly, it will taste the bitter taste of being hit by our missiles, and none of its interests in the occupied territories will remain safe,” Shadmani said.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin has refused to comment on these reports, neither confirming nor denying Russia’s role in supplying Su-35 fighter jets to Iran.

Iran’s current fighter fleet mainly consists of American planes acquired before the 1979 Islamic revolution, when the US and Iran had diplomatic ties, as well as Soviet planes from the 1970s and 1980s.

Last year, Tehran received two Su-35SE fighter jets from Russia as part of a program to replace its fleet of outdated US-made F-14 Tomcat fighter aircraft, according to the German newspaper Flugrevue.

This bilateral cooperation comes at a time when Iran’s influence in the Middle East is in retreat, with the fall of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad in Syria and Israel’s military successes against two of Iran’s terrorist proxies: Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The post Israel Slams Newly Signed Iran-Russia Treaty as ‘Dangerous for the Entire World’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi looks on before a meeting with Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, in Tehran, Iran, Aug. 26, 2024. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a new interview that an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities would be “crazy,” warning Tehran would have “an immediate and decisive response” as questions continued to swirl over whether US President Donald Trump would support such an Israeli strike.

“We have made it clear that any attack to our nuclear facilities would be faced with an immediate and decisive response,” Araghchi told Sky News in Iran in his first interview since Trump’s inauguration. “But I don’t think they will do that crazy thing. This is really crazy. And this would turn the whole region into a very bad disaster.”

Last week, while speaking to reporters, Trump appeared to hint that he could support a preemptive strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, which US, Israeli, and other officials believe are ultimately geared toward building nuclear weapons. Iran has long claimed its nuclear program is meant for peaceful, civilian purposes.

Though Trump did not confirm that he would back an Israeli attack, he suggested that such actions might be necessary if Tehran does not scale back its nuclear ambitions. 

“I’m not going to answer that,” Trump said when asked by reporters if he supports Israeli strikes against Iran’s nuclear program. “Hopefully that can be worked out without having to worry about it. It would really be nice if that could be worked out without having to go that further step.”

The Trump administration has indicated that it aims to broker a deal with Tehran to mitigate its nuclear program, hoping to avoid possible military action.

During his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump vocally criticized the Biden administration for outright opposing an Israeli strike against Iran’s nuclear sites as a response to Iran’s ballistic missile attack against Israel in October. Thus, some observers have assumed that Trump would support direct attacks against Tehran. 

In his initial term in the Oval Office from 2017-2021, Trump pulled out of a 2015 agreement negotiated between Iran, the Obama administration, and several world powers which placed temporary restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for lifting sanctions.

Iran has claimed that its nuclear program is for civilian purposes rather than building weapons. However, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN’s nuclear watchdog, reported last month that Iran had greatly accelerated uranium enrichment to close to weapons grade at its Fordow site dug into a mountain.

The UK, France, and Germany said in a recent statement that there is no “credible civilian justification” for Iran’s recent nuclear activity, arguing it “gives Iran the capability to rapidly produce sufficient fissile material for multiple nuclear weapons.”

In his latest interview, which aired on Tuesday, Araghchi suggested Iran would be open to restarting discussions with the Trump administration regarding its nuclear program. However, he claimed that Washington would need to “buy [Tehran’s] confidence” to secure a successfully renegotiated nuclear deal.

“The situation is different and much more difficult than the previous time,” he said. “Lots of things should be done by the other side to buy our confidence … We haven’t heard anything but the ‘nice’ word, and this is obviously not enough.”

Araghchi also brushed off Trump’s recent suggestion that he would support a “clean out” of civilians from Gaza, instead proposing a forced relocation of Israeli civilians to Greenland. 

“My suggestion is something else. Instead of Palestinians, try to expel Israelis, take them to Greenland so they can kill two birds with one stone,” Araghchi said. 

Trump recently floated a potential temporary relocation of Gaza civilians to neighboring Arab countries, citing a need to permanently end the conflict with Israel.

The post Iran Says US, Israel Would Be ‘Crazy’ to Attack Its Nuclear Sites, Warns of ‘Decisive Response’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.