Israel has taken several measures targeting UN-affiliated officials and agencies to protest what the country’s officials say are unmistakable signs of bias against their country. But international law experts say the measures risk widening the rift between Israel and the UN which has been the backbone of the international law since 1945.

Since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, several UN officials and bodies have publicly called on Israel to avoid civilian casualties, ease the humanitarian crisis in the enclave and to disengage from further military escalations elsewhere in the Middle East such as Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Iran. The calls were interpreted in Israel as one-sided and drew angry reactions from Israeli officials who accuse the UN and its agencies of abetting violence against innocent Israeli citizens.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred to the UN as a 'swamp of antisemitic bile’ and a 'house of darkness' while Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon has repeatedly said the UN habitually ignores Israeli security concerns.  

This month, Netanyahu went as far as drawing links between street attacks on a crowd of Israeli football fans in the Netherlands and what he said was 'the reprehensible legal assault against the State of Israel at the International Court in The Hague'. 

Israel's hard-line reaction towards the organisation has posed a legal challenge for international experts with some saying Israel, as a UN member state, should respect its obligations under the Charter of the United Nations and the General Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations. Others warn the country may face disqualification from UN membership if it continues to accuse UN agencies of complicity in terrorism. 

'The UN General Assembly can vote to suspend or expel a Member State. Expulsion can take place with the agreement of the Secretary-General. Malaysia is preparing a Resolution to this effect,’ says Professor Mark Seddon, Director of the Centre for UN Studies at the University of Buckingham. ‘The General Assembly has already passed resolutions calling for sanctions against Israel.’ The precedent is the suspension, in 1974, of South Africa from participation in UN activity due to apartheid.

Tor Wennesland, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, said the Israeli UNRWA legislation constituted 'a new level’ in a 'war against the UN’ and that it was designed to destroy UNRWA’s ability to serve Palestinian refugees.

International rule of law advocates say that the Israeli ban goes beyond its impact on refugees to represent an overarching threat to the rules-based order of the international system and undermine the UN apparatus as well as the authority of its World Court.

The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) says in a statement that the Israeli law defies the principles of multilateralism and 'threatens to unravel the delicate fabric of global governance.’

'Such a manoeuvre blatantly contravenes international law and the provisional measures that the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to take to prevent the commission of genocide, as well as international pressure to maintain UNRWA as the principal body distributing aid in Gaza,’ the statement says.

Israel has long called out UNRWA almost since its establishment in 1949 by the General Assembly, but international organisations fear preventing access to UNRWA this time will lead to its eventual dismantling altogether, ending the provision of life-saving aid to millions of Palestinians. 'The IBAHRI is profoundly alarmed that Gaza’s already dire humanitarian situation stands on the brink of an even deeper catastrophe,’ the statement says.

Several other incidents of Israel clashing with the UN had preceded the controversial UNRWA ban. In September, The General Assembly adopted a resolution demanding that Israel ‘bring to an end without delay its unlawful presence’ in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and called on nations to freeze treaty and trade relations with Israel where Palestinian territories were involved. Earlier, the General Assembly backed Palestine’s membership of the UN.

The UN Human Rights Office had further infuriated the Israelis by issuing a statement that said Israeli troops may have committed 'a war crime' by firing on civilians trying to flee northern Gaza. 

Israel moved to take the rare diplomatic measure of banning the top UN official, Secretary General António Guterres himself for what Israelis officials said was his lukewarm condemnation of Iran's attack on Israel. The diplomatic measure reflected Israel's frustration with the organisation especially after Guterres posted on social media, calling for a ceasefire and criticising 'escalation after escalation’ in the Middle East.

'Israel will continue to defend its citizens and uphold its national dignity with or without António Guterres,' said Israel Katz, who was then Israel's Foreign Minister, as he declared the UN chief persona non grata. 

Israel has also expressed disappointment with the UN troops in Southern Lebanon, who hail from more than 50 countries. Israel said the troops lost their neutrality and were acting as a human-shields for Hezbollah fighters, who are active on its northern borders and whose terrorist operations displaced thousands of non-combatant civilian Israelis. Israel has requested that Unifil troops evacuate their posts. 

The UN says Israeli antagonism is fuelled by the UN efforts to stop rights abuses under the Israeli occupation. Navi Pillay, Chairperson of the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, along with a team of experts, issued an investigative report to the General Assembly that found that Israel has carried out a calculated policy to destroy Gaza’s healthcare system, that it committed war crimes and intentionally targeted medical personnel and facilities. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights issued another report in November saying that close to 70 percent of those killed in Gaza are children and women.

Anne Ramberg, IBAHRI Co-Chair, says that Israeli officials risk relations with the UN if they continue to defy international law. ‘I do not have any hopes of political solution for the moment,’ she says. ‘Israel does not respect international law or UN values. Formally Israel can be excluded from UN by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council. For the moment, the future relations between Israel and UN look discouraging.’

Israel is not completely alone in its spat with the UN. In the US, Israel's main ally, more than 100 members wrote a letter to Guterres to dissuade him from punitive UN measures against Israel. 

'Congress has taken note of the numerous UN actions aimed to de-legitimize Israel’s right to self-defence, raising serious questions over the future of US funding to the UN,' the US lawmakers said in their letter. 'We have concluded that the UN is not a neutral party, but one that has definitively taken sides against Israel. We remind you that the US is the largest donor to the UN. Our contributions account for one-third of the body’s collective budget. We will not accept the UN’s ongoing hostility to our ally Israel.'

Emad Mekay is a freelance journalist and can be contacted at emad.mekay@int-bar.org

Joaquin Corbalan/Adobe Stock.