In a reversal from the Biden administration’s policy, the Trump administration’s Department of Justice has stripped the United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA) — which has been accused of working with Hamas during the October 7, 2023, massacre of more than 1200 people in Israel — of immunity from prosecution. That decision will enable the billion-dollar lawsuit filed by the October 7 victims’ families to move forward.
In a letter from the United States Attorney, Southern District of New York, to U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres regarding the case Estate of Tamar Kedem Siman Tov et al. v. UNRWA, the text stated:
The complaint in this case recounts atrocious crimes committed by Hamas on October 7. And its factual allegations, taken as true, detail how the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine (“UNRWA”) played a significant role in those heinous offenses. Previously, the Government expressed the view that certain immunities shielded UNRWA from having to answer those allegations in American courts. The Government has since reevaluated that position, and now concludes UNRWA is not immune from this litigation. Nor are the bulk of other defendants.
The lawsuit states:
The atrocities committed by Hamas in the October 7 Attack were not only acts of terror, genocide, and crimes against humanity, they were torts in violation of the law of nations. Because, as detailed below, the Defendants’ actions aiding and abetting those torts in violation of the law of nations, including but not limited to their funding of Hamas, occurred in significant part in the State of New York and in this federal judicial district, this Court has subject matter jurisdiction and venue over Plaintiffs’ claims against these Defendants. Many of the Plaintiffs separately have claims against Defendants for aiding and abetting Hamas’ violations of the Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991 (“TVPA”), which requires no such New York nexus.
“The US administration’s determination that UNRWA lacks diplomatic immunity could substantially facilitate Israel’s efforts to end the agency’s operations within Israeli territory,” Israel Hayom pointed out. “The lawsuit presents evidence alleging UNRWA orchestrated a $1 billion money laundering operation that funded Hamas, while simultaneously reducing humanitarian aid to Gaza residents and playing a critical role in the October 7 attack.”
Documents shared with The New York Times last December impelled the media outlet to admit that senior staff at UNRWA schools doubled as members of Hamas’ military wing.
As shown by the detailed records kept by the Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing, which were seized by Israel, at least 24 people employed by the anti-Israel UNRWA in their schools were members of Hamas or Islamic Jihad. “A majority were top administrators at the schools — principals or deputy principals — and the rest were school counselors and teachers, the documents say,” The Times reported. “Almost all of the Hamas-linked educators, according to the records, were fighters in the Qassam Brigades.”
“The Constitution does not grant immunity to foreign sovereigns or organizations. Instead, such immunity ‘is a matter of grace and comity on the part of the United States,’” the letter continued. “The interactions among two treaties, one statute, and one proposed convention govern whether UNRWA is entitled to such grace here. First, the International Organizations Immunities Act of 1945 (‘IOIA’) creates the ‘default rules’ for the immunity enjoyed by international organizations in the United States. Although apparently aimed at many of the same entities that now comprise the United Nations (‘UN’) system, id., the JOIA applies to any ‘public organization in which the United States participates pursuant to any treaty or under the authority of any Act of Congress … and which shall have been designated by the President through appropriate Executive order as being entitled to enjoy the privileges, exemptions, and immunities provided in this subchapter.’”
“In other words, Congress controls in the first instance whether the United States participates in such ‘public organizations’ and it empowered the President to decide whether to extend immunity to these organizations including ‘at any time to revoke the designation’ entitling the organizations to immunity,” the letter explains.
The Trump DOJ has reversed the Biden admin’s position and made it clear that UNRWA and its employees are not entitled to immunity for their atrocious terroristic conduct.
File this under the category of “things that should not have to be said but thank God someone said them.” pic.twitter.com/iRVSFZdV4v
— Mark Goldfeder (@MarkGoldfeder) April 25, 2025
[#item_full_content]
[[{“value”:”
In a reversal from the Biden administration’s policy, the Trump administration’s Department of Justice has stripped the United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA) — which has been accused of working with Hamas during the October 7, 2023, massacre of more than 1200 people in Israel — of immunity from prosecution. That decision will enable the billion-dollar lawsuit filed by the October 7 victims’ families to move forward.
In a letter from the United States Attorney, Southern District of New York, to U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres regarding the case Estate of Tamar Kedem Siman Tov et al. v. UNRWA, the text stated:
The complaint in this case recounts atrocious crimes committed by Hamas on October 7. And its factual allegations, taken as true, detail how the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine (“UNRWA”) played a significant role in those heinous offenses. Previously, the Government expressed the view that certain immunities shielded UNRWA from having to answer those allegations in American courts. The Government has since reevaluated that position, and now concludes UNRWA is not immune from this litigation. Nor are the bulk of other defendants.
The lawsuit states:
The atrocities committed by Hamas in the October 7 Attack were not only acts of terror, genocide, and crimes against humanity, they were torts in violation of the law of nations. Because, as detailed below, the Defendants’ actions aiding and abetting those torts in violation of the law of nations, including but not limited to their funding of Hamas, occurred in significant part in the State of New York and in this federal judicial district, this Court has subject matter jurisdiction and venue over Plaintiffs’ claims against these Defendants. Many of the Plaintiffs separately have claims against Defendants for aiding and abetting Hamas’ violations of the Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991 (“TVPA”), which requires no such New York nexus.
“The US administration’s determination that UNRWA lacks diplomatic immunity could substantially facilitate Israel’s efforts to end the agency’s operations within Israeli territory,” Israel Hayom pointed out. “The lawsuit presents evidence alleging UNRWA orchestrated a $1 billion money laundering operation that funded Hamas, while simultaneously reducing humanitarian aid to Gaza residents and playing a critical role in the October 7 attack.”
Documents shared with The New York Times last December impelled the media outlet to admit that senior staff at UNRWA schools doubled as members of Hamas’ military wing.
As shown by the detailed records kept by the Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing, which were seized by Israel, at least 24 people employed by the anti-Israel UNRWA in their schools were members of Hamas or Islamic Jihad. “A majority were top administrators at the schools — principals or deputy principals — and the rest were school counselors and teachers, the documents say,” The Times reported. “Almost all of the Hamas-linked educators, according to the records, were fighters in the Qassam Brigades.”
“The Constitution does not grant immunity to foreign sovereigns or organizations. Instead, such immunity ‘is a matter of grace and comity on the part of the United States,’” the letter continued. “The interactions among two treaties, one statute, and one proposed convention govern whether UNRWA is entitled to such grace here. First, the International Organizations Immunities Act of 1945 (‘IOIA’) creates the ‘default rules’ for the immunity enjoyed by international organizations in the United States. Although apparently aimed at many of the same entities that now comprise the United Nations (‘UN’) system, id., the JOIA applies to any ‘public organization in which the United States participates pursuant to any treaty or under the authority of any Act of Congress … and which shall have been designated by the President through appropriate Executive order as being entitled to enjoy the privileges, exemptions, and immunities provided in this subchapter.’”
“In other words, Congress controls in the first instance whether the United States participates in such ‘public organizations’ and it empowered the President to decide whether to extend immunity to these organizations including ‘at any time to revoke the designation’ entitling the organizations to immunity,” the letter explains.
The Trump DOJ has reversed the Biden admin’s position and made it clear that UNRWA and its employees are not entitled to immunity for their atrocious terroristic conduct.
File this under the category of “things that should not have to be said but thank God someone said them.” pic.twitter.com/iRVSFZdV4v
— Mark Goldfeder (@MarkGoldfeder) April 25, 2025
“}]]
