UN Leader Threatens Israel In Last-Ditch Effort To Distract From Iran, Its Own Employees Being Terrorists

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Israel that he could drag the country before the International Court of Justice unless it reverses laws targeting the U.N.’s Palestinian refugee agency and returns seized property.

In a letter dated Jan. 8 to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Guterres warned that Israel should roll back measures said to run afoul of international legal standards, singling out restrictions imposed on the U.N.’s Palestinian refugee body, according to Reuters. Israel’s legislature approved legislation in October 2024 blocking the agency’s activities and limiting government engagement, then expanded those restrictions weeks later by authorizing the suspension of utilities to its sites.

Israeli authorities also seized United Nations’ Relief and Works Agency for Palestine (UNRWA) offices in East Jerusalem in December, a move the U.N. condemns while Israel maintains Jerusalem is its undivided capital. Israel’s U.N. ambassador Danny Danon rejected Guterres’ threat outright, saying the secretary-general chose intimidation over accountability.

“We are not fazed by the Secretary-General’s threats,” Danon said. “Instead of dealing with the undeniable involvement of UNRWA personnel in terrorism, ‍the Secretary-General chooses to threaten Israel. This is not defending international law. This is defending an organization marred by terrorism.”

The United Nations created the UNRWA in December 1949 to deliver food, healthcare and education to Palestinians uprooted by the 1948 Arab–Israeli war and the establishment of Israel. It began operations in 1950, serving roughly 750,000 displaced people and was designed as a temporary relief body, but its mandate has been renewed repeatedly as refugee needs persisted.

Israel has long