RIDICULOUS: The Knesset voted to shut down UNRWA. Israel's Attorney General is refusing.

The Attorney General's office is preventing the implementation of recently passed legislation to end UNRWA operations in Israel, according to sources present at a closed-door Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee session.

During Monday's committee meeting, representatives from Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara's office indicated they would not provide legal authorization for key government bodies to execute the law, which passed in the Knesset with 92 votes in favor.

The legislation, sponsored by MKs Yulia Malinovsky (Yisrael Beiteinu) and Boaz Bismuth (Likud), requires several concrete steps: closure of UNRWA's bank accounts in Israel, shuttering of UNRWA-operated schools, and securing access to UNRWA compounds in Jerusalem's Ma'alot Dafna neighborhood and Qalandiya.

Four representatives from the Attorney General's office, including Deputy AG Yaara Lamberger, attended the committee session. They maintained that additional cabinet-level deliberations on the law's implications are necessary before implementation can proceed. Committee members countered that such discussions had already taken place, including during the law's drafting phase.

The Prime Minister's Office issued a statement saying, "On January 13, the political echelon instructed to implement the UNRWA laws as written, while the Attorney General is creating difficulties on the matter."

Committee Chair Yoav Kisch has set a one-week deadline for the Justice Ministry and other relevant bodies to submit progress reports on the law's implementation.

The legislation passed with broad parliamentary support, with opposition coming only from ten Knesset members representing Arab parties. The Justice Ministry had not responded to requests for comment at the time of publication.