Knesset Member Yulia Malinovsky of the Yisrael Beiteinu party on Monday set up a makeshift “parliamentary office” near the compound of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) at Ammunition Hill in Jerusalem.
Malinovsky, one of the sponsors of the law to shut down UNRWA’s operations in Israel, took a jab at the coalition: “Happy Jerusalem Day! Government of Israel, we’re here—you’re welcome to come and see how sovereignty is applied.”
Entering the compound and declaring that “we haven’t been here since 1967,” Malinovsky said: “Today we mark the day Jerusalem was liberated 58 years ago, and I’m proud to liberate what used to be UNRWA’s central headquarters in the heart of the city.”
Inside the compound she unfurled a banner in both Hebrew and English that read: “Here will rise the ‘Valor Heights’ neighborhood, in memory of the heroes who fell on October 7.”
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“This will be a new Jewish neighborhood,” Malinovsky declared at the site. “A settlement will rise here, where this terror organization has sat since 1967. We’ll set up a parliamentary office here, and until the government steps in, we’re not moving. Let them come and take control—cowards.”
Shortly afterward, police officers arrived and asked Malinovsky and her team to leave the area. In a video she posted, the lawmaker urged other Knesset members to join her: “The Israeli police are now evicting us from here. They’re leaving the UNRWA infiltrators in place and kicking out Israeli citizens. I call on all members of Knesset from across the political spectrum—come here and take over this place. Not the terrorists, not UNRWA. They need to be kicked out. Come here and help.”
Malinovsky ultimately left the area voluntarily.
Just over a year after the October 7 massacre, the Knesset on October 28, 2024, passed the law terminating UNRWA’s activities in Israel. The bill passed with 92 in favor and 10 opposed. According to the legislation spearheaded by Malinovsky and fellow lawmakers Boaz Bismuth, Sharren Haskel, Eli Dallal, and others, UNRWA is prohibited from operating any offices, providing any services, or conducting any activities, directly or indirectly, within the sovereign territory of the State of Israel. Some of the agency’s staff were suspected of involvement in the October 7 attacks.