The US takes a big step towards delegitimizing (and maybe criminalizing) UNRWA

The U.S. Department of Justice sent a letter to Judge Analisa Torres concerning a lawsuit against UNRWA by the families of victims of October 7. This letter is hugely important in its changing the US position towards UNRWA.

Previously, the government treated UNRWA as if it was a subsidiary of the UN General Assembly. The US has signed a treaty saying the General Assembly is immune to lawsuits and litigation. 

This new guidance says - with compelling logic - that UNRWA is not a subsidiary of the General Assembly but acts like a specialized UN agency. The US never ratified the treaty for specialized agencies, and UNRWA was never designated under the US law (IOIA) that gives those types of agencies similar immunities.

In short, the US now agrees that UNRWA can be sued can be sued, including for charges related to terrorism.

This position has other ramifications. 

It means that Executive Order 14199, which blocks US aid to UNRWA, now has more legal weight. It means that banks and insurers are less likely to do business with UNRWA, whose risk profile has just increased. It means individual UNRWA employees can also be sued. It may also mean that any US tax exemptions that UNRWA enjoyed are no longer in force.

Beyond that, it may endanger the tax exempt status of UNRWA's USA fundraising arm, UNRWA-USA. If the DOJ says that UNRWA may have supported terrorism or been complicit in atrocities, UNRWA-USA may be forced to publicly distance itself from UNRWA's misconduct, and anything found out about UNRWA during the current lawsuit can end up stripping UNRWA-USA of its charitable organization status.

This is a big deal. And overdue.

(h/t Irene)

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