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UNRWA to be Shut Down?

 

The newspaper Israel Hayom reported, citing Arab and Western diplomatic sources, that a plan for the gradual closure of UNRWA and the transfer of its powers and activities to the Peace Council will be presented.

According to the sources, the plan is led by the Acting UNRWA Commissioner, Christian Saunders, and involves the gradual transfer of the organization's tasks to other entities, such as the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and the Peace Council in the Gaza Strip.

During a meeting of UNRWA's Advisory Commission, Saunders presented the plan, linking it to the organization's difficult financial situation and the possibility of transferring a large part of its activities to relevant entities.

UNRWA's deficit for this year has reached between $70 million and $100 million, which is approximately equivalent to one-tenth of its annual operational budget.

The first steps to implement the plan have been approved, but this is drawing fierce opposition from the Palestinian leadership, which fears losing a key political tool in its conflict with Israel—namely, the "refugees" institution, according to the newspaper.

The Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) recently held a meeting in Ramallah and also invited representatives of the UNRWA Workers' Union to attend.

During the meeting, it was decided that the PLO and the Palestinian Authority would work to thwart the plan, as closing UNRWA requires the approval of the United Nations General Assembly, and criticisms were directed at Saunders on the grounds that he was acting with political motives.

At a meeting of the organization's international committee held a few days ago in Amman, the capital of Jordan, a number of Western country representatives opposed the plan, including Switzerland and Ireland. Egypt also joined the opposition, while other Gulf states did not.

The Irish representative announced that he would work to find alternative funding sources for the organization in order to cancel the closure and prevent the initial steps, which include the layoff of thousands of Palestinian workers.

The newspaper learned that talks between UNRWA and the Peace Council have laid the groundwork for mechanisms to transfer authority and activity in two main areas: education and health, two fields for which the Peace Council had been preparing for over a year as part of Trump's plan for the reconstruction of Gaza.

Why Trump Lost the Mid-Terms

 Ari Fleischer, White House Press Secretary during the Bush administration, in reply to a post published by U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance, in which he noted that the war in Iran and relations with Israel were at the heart of the Republicans' loss in the midterm elections. This post, which garnered 3.7 million views within ten hours:

a) "Mr. Vice President, Allow me to present a different perspective.

The problem was not the war in Iran. The problem was the ceasefire.

If you start a war, you must win it and bring it to a conclusion. Otherwise, don't start it in the first place.

This war should have ended six months ago, when the Strait of Hormuz was completely open and oil was flowing freely. The second- and third-tier leadership in Iran should have been eliminated, and support given to the pro-Western forces who could have seized power. We stood on the threshold of a new and more peaceful Middle East, but at the decisive moment, we hesitated. We had a chance not only to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, but also to get rid of the world's largest state sponsor of terror.

Instead, we reached a ceasefire, followed by months of uncertainty over whether we would finish the job or not. Every day, a different message was conveyed, and that's still the case today. Has the war ended? Is it about to start again? No one knows. Confusion and inconsistency prevail.

In June 2025, the United States was not involved. It was a confrontation between Israel and Iran.

No one forced the United States to strike Iran then, nor in February 2026. That was a decision made by President Trump. In my opinion, it was the right decision.

Once the decision was made, we should not have stopped until the regime was overthrown. But instead, you negotiated a ceasefire that did not hold, did not achieve its goal, and left us in a limbo, with no resolution, higher costs, and our forces still deployed in the field.

Our soldiers could already have returned home, the navy could have gone back to its bases, a peace-seeking regime could have risen in Iran, new alliances could have been forged, and the price of gasoline could have dropped below three dollars per gallon.

No, Mr. Vice President. The problem is not the war. The problem is what is called 'the ceasefire.'"

 

b) The Lebanese Shiite journalist, Nadim Koteish (CEO of Sky News), also writes in a similar vein – you lost the elections because you refused to defeat Iran.

“The Republican Party did not lose the midterm elections because it fought Iran. It lost because it refused to win the war.

J.D. Vance presented the memorandum of understanding signed in June as a victory: the Strait of Hormuz is open, fuel prices are dropping, and the nuclear program has been dismantled. But within weeks, everything collapsed. The war continued, prices remained high, and voters punished the Republicans for the tangible cost of the partial move.

A basic rule in poker: when you have a strong hand and you don’t go all in, even a weaker hand might win the pot.

That’s exactly what happened. The choice not to go all the way, and not the war itself, is what cost the Republicans control of the Senate and the House of Representatives.”