DOJ Says UNRWA Can Be Sued in American Court

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Lawfare may now be about to have its finest hour. For UNRWA could face a potential loss of one billion dollars in a lawsuit brought against it by relatives of people murdered by Hamas, the terror group with which some UNRWA staff, we know now, had such close ties, while the organization itself permitted its facilities in Gaza to be used as command-and-control centers, and as places to hide both combatants and weapons. Several hundred staff members of UNRWA were discovered by the IDF, from documents it seized in Gaza, to be full-fledged Hamas members; dozens of UNRWA staff accompanied the 6,000 Hamas operatives who smashed into Israel on October 7, 2023, and they participated in the atrocities committed that day, of rape, torture, mutilation, and murder. UNRWA allowed Hamas to build its tunnels right under its buildings, including its main Gaza headquarters; it knew about the Hamas tunnel network, but revealed nothing to the IDF.

Now that lawsuit may proceed, because the US DOJ has rejected UNRWA’s claim to be immune from lawsuits in the U.S. The immunity from such a suit extends to the UN and its “subsidiary organs,” but according to the DOJ, does not extend to UNRWA, which is classified as a mere “affiliate or instrumentality” of the UN. Having had UNRWA’s claim to immunity from suit in American courts dismissed, the plaintiffs can now proceed with their lawsuit. More on this threshold victory, one with such potentially damaging consequences for UNRWA, can be found here: “DOJ strips UNRWA of immunity, clears way for lawsuit over Oct. 7 attack,” Jerusalem Post, April 25, 2025:

The US Department of Justice submitted a letter on Thursday [April 24] arguing that the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is not entitled to immunity from lawsuits in the United States.

This filing is part of an ongoing case in which the families of over 100 victims of the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack are seeking $1 billion in damages, alleging that UNRWA supported Hamas by allowing its facilities to be used for weapons storage, the construction of tunnels and command centers, and the transfer of funds to the group through employee payments in US dollars.

The lawsuit, filed last June in the Southern District of New York, accuses UNRWA, which coordinates much of the aid to Gaza, of enabling Hamas’s operations. The plaintiffs argue that the agency’s activities played a direct role in facilitating the October 7 attacks.

Previously, in September, the Department of Justice under the Biden administration had contended that UNRWA was immune from prosecution in US courts, citing that the UN itself had not waived immunity. This stance blocked the lawsuit from advancing….

Quite something, isn’t it, that the Biden administration took the side of Hamas’ loyal helpmeet in Gaza, UNRWA, arguing that it was immune from being sued in an American court. Why were the Bidenites so determined to block the lawsuit by relatives of those whom Hamas had murdered? What can conceivably explain such sympathy for the devil? Was the anti-Israel animus of Biden’s appointees that profound?

Dozens of UNRWA staff members took part in Hamas’ atrocities committed inside Israel on October 7, 2023. Hundreds of UNRWA staff have been discovered to be members of Hamas. UNRWA collaborated with Hamas in providing the use of its buildings, especially its schools, as places to hide both men and weapons and from which to launch rockets at Israel. UNRWA did nothing to prevent Hamas from building tunnels under its buildings, including a massive tunnel dug right under UNRWA’s Gaza headquarters, with UNRWA’s full knowledge. At no time did UNRWA cooperate with the IDF in pointing out buildings that Hamas was using; nor did it help the IDF locate tunnels. UNRWA was fully committed to protecting Hamas from the IDF.

Now that UNRWA’s claim to enjoy immunity to lawsuit in American courts has been denied, the case can now proceed. May it end in UNRWA losing and left penniless. That most public loss should raise in the minds of many a question: why, alone among the hundreds of millions of refugees created since World War II, are the “Palestinian refugees” uniquely allowed to pass on their status as an inherited trait, to their children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and so on ad nauseam? Isn’t it time to end this privileged treatment of the “Palestinians,” and make them subject to the same rules as very other group of refugees? And no matter what the final verdict, the trial itself will be a public relations nightmare for the organization, as its many ties to Hamas are laid bare and held up for public inspection. UNRWA is about to enter a well-deserved world of woe.