Report: Israel to Shutdown UNRWA Schools in Jerusalem, Often Used as Terror Base

JERUSALEM, Israel - Israel's National Security Council will begin revoking permits for UNRWA schools in eastern Jerusalem next year, according to a report by Israel's Hadashot TV News.

The report says the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the body responsible for aiding Palestinian refugees, will no longer be allowed to operate schools in the city. Instead, they will be replaced by schools facilitated by the Jerusalem municipality.

Israel's security council reportedly made that decision after President Donald Trump announced last August that the US was ending funding for the agency.

UNWRA's schools are notorious for providing bases used by Hamas terrorists to commit acts of violence against Israeli citizens.

Former Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat agreed with President Trump's decision.

"The US decision to stop funding UNRWA creates a rare opportunity to deal immediately and decisively with the PA's intention to perpetuate the 'refugee problem' and encourage incitement," Barkat said last October.

Israel's announcement seemed to come as a surprise to UNRWA.

AFP reported Sunday the agency was not aware of  Israel's decision to begin revoking permits.

"We deliver services and maintain facilities in east Jerusalem since 1950 under our General Assembly mandate," the agency said in a statement.
In 2014, during Operation Protective Edge, Israel discovered Hamas rockets hidden inside a UNRWA school in Gaza. Terror tunnels and deadly booby traps have also been discovered inside the schools.

CBN News reported last September that UNRWA schools are teaching children to celebrate terrorists.

For example, one elementary school textbook features Dalal Mughrabi, a Palestinian terrorist who murdered 38 people in 1978.

NRWA spokesman Christopher Gunness told CBN News it reviews and approves all the textbooks.

"UNRWA teaches in accordance with UN values and principles. By convention we teach the curriculum of host countries, i.e., the PA curriculum in the occupied territory [sic] . We review every book we use. We check for gender bias, age appropriateness and political neutrality.  On average we have found less than 3 percent of the pages we have reviewed to be problematic. We have frameworks and procedures for supporting our teachers in dealing with these passages in books," Gunness wrote.