Israeli Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, sharply criticized the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague after it demanded that Israel support UN humanitarian aid efforts in the Gaza Strip, including assistance through UNRWA (the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East).
Danon called the ICJ’s opinion “shameful,” accusing UN agencies of having “become a haven for terrorists.”
“They blame Israel for not cooperating with UN bodies, but they should blame themselves. UNRWA has supported Hamas for years,” he stated.
The ICJ panel, consisting of 11 judges, had ordered Israel to facilitate humanitarian efforts in Gaza and not obstruct the work of international agencies.
In a related development, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Yariv Levin announced the deportation of 32 foreign activists who had assisted Palestinians during the olive harvest in the West Bank.
Levin explained that the decision followed a complaint from Yossi Dagan, President of the Northern Settlements Council, who described the activists as “anarchists who provoked tensions in the Samaria region.”
This year, incidents of violence during the olive harvest have reportedly increased, with dozens of attacks and vandalism cases by Israeli settlers against Palestinian farmers.
One of the deported individuals, 30-year-old Briton Rudy Schulkind, told AFP that he had been detained for 72 hours by Israeli forces before being expelled on October 19. He added that 32 people had been arrested in an olive grove near Nablus.
