LONDON: The British government has been pressed by lobby group Labour Friends of Israel to restore the UK’s funding of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, it was revealed on Tuesday.
In a briefing to MPs, the group said: “In the short term, the humanitarian situation in Gaza means the UK government should restore funding to UNRWA.”
It added that restored funding should be dependent on stricter vetting of the organization’s staff and an overhaul of its educational materials.
Several countries dropped funding for the organization after Israeli authorities alleged a dozen UNRWA staff members had been involved in a Hamas attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, in which about 1,200 people were killed, with an internal UN investigation still ongoing.
The UK and the US are the only countries not to have restored funding.
A group of Labour Party MPs also announced on Tuesday that it will table an amendment to the upcoming King’s Speech — which precedes the state opening of UK Parliament and outlines its policy goals for the year ahead — in addition to the call for UNRWA funding to be restored, The Guardian reported.
Labour MP Zarah Sultana tabled the amendment. Within it, the government would be pressed to end arms sales to Israel. The new Labour government would also face pressure to drop a legal challenge brought at the International Criminal Court by the previous Conservative administration challenging an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese has previously said she was “deeply concerned” by reports that the legal challenge would not be dropped by the new Labour government, and further accused the UK of “derailing and delaying” justice for Palestinians by not doing so.
