On Friday 26th January, following a request by South Africa, the International Court of Justice delivered a ruling that came as a bombshell for Israel. Indeed, she considered the evidence of a possible genocide sufficient to order her to take provisional measures (paragraph 3 of the conclusions, voted for even by the Israeli ad hoc judge appointed by the Jewish state). Netanyahu, looking glum, was then giving a televised address to confirm that Israel (which owes its existence to the UN) would take no account of the injunctions of a major UN body.
The next day, probably a coincidence of timing that only the most gullible could believe, Israel was severely questioning UNRWA accusing her of colluding with Hamas and providing talking points to its numerous trolls on X (some identifiable by their #HamaSS, which is interesting to analyse from a psychiatric standpoint) alleging that all UNRWA members took part in the 7 October attacks—morally, physically, in thought, in their subconscious, in their sleep, completely against their will. All of this with joy and happiness, of course.
Even before the findings of a truly necessary independent investigation, UNRWA was taking swift action dismissing nine implicated individuals (out of 27,000 employees in the Near East). Clearly, in vain. That UNRWA members feel sympathy or compassion for the Palestinian population is obvious and almost natural. Does one commit humanely to this extent, does one take such risks without empathy? Is it necessary to remind people that 101 of its members have lost their lives since the beginning of the Israeli offensive?
Certain Western powers, acting as one man, have decided to cut funding. They only serve to strengthen the chances that the ICJ, in its final decision, will indeed uphold the qualification of genocide. These powers would therefore be guilty of failing to assist a people undergoing a genocide. The European Union is taking a wait-and-see approach. As usual, it will end up doing whatever the United States dictates to it.
Actually, what Israel wants is quite simply a complete dismantling of UNRWA. The Israeli Foreign Minister has stated that there is no place for UNRWA «in the aftermath». He is boasting, today on X, about having cancelled his meeting with Philippe Lazzarini, head of UNRWA. Three weeks ago already, Norga Arbelle, an Israeli official, declared that ’it would not be possible to win the war without destroying UNRWA and that this destruction must be immediate«. UNRWA is the only UN organisation coming to the aid of the 2 million inhabitants of the Gaza Strip, a theoretically autonomous territory (before 7 October and since 2005) but in which Netanyahu cuts international aid, water, electricity and gas whenever he pleases. Today, Israel has decided to freeze 100 million dollars belonging to... the Palestinian Authority!
In a context of possible genocide, destroying UNRWA clearly amounts to condemning the survivors of daily massacres to die of hunger and thirst. This dismantling also risks having a very serious impact on three states in the region: Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.
As this conflict increasingly takes on a North/South dimension, with the North letting Israel act as it pleases and the South calling for respect for international law—which is a power equaliser and the instrument of the right of peoples to self-determination—one might have expected France to play a mediating role in its Gaullist-Chirac tradition of defending peoples, respecting international law, and independence. No way! France having diplomatically become an American state (but not as powerful as California), boasts in a press release from the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (dated 28 January) that it has not planned any new funding for UNRWA in the first half of 2024. Like other states, she will have to bear the legal responsibility when the time comes, and the moral responsibility from now on, for this decision.
It will not be until 2027, foreign policy being a reserved domain, that France will be able to very laboriously and very patiently hope to try and surface again after the shipwreck of its diplomacy Hollande-Macronist ultra-atlantist, neoconservative leaning.
Erwan DAVOUX is a graduate of the Paris Institute of Political Studies and INALCO.
Former project manager at the Presidency of the Republic, he has advised numerous right-wing political figures internationally.
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