Israel Begins Demolition of UNRWA’s Sheikh Jarrah HQ After 2024 Ban

This moment echoes Egypt’s May 1967 expulsion of the UN Emergency Force—another instance where a host power physically removed a UN presence ahead of a wider conflict. Israel’s action fits a longer arc: since the 1980 Jerusalem annexation, successive governments have sought to normalise Israeli law in East Jerusalem while delegitimising external mediators; the 2024–26 legislation systematises that campaign. Globally it reflects a century-long erosion of post-1945 multilateralism, as mid-tier states increasingly treat UN agencies as negotiable, not sacrosanct. Whether the demolition shifts facts on the ground or merely codifies them, it matters because UNRWA is one of the few remnants of the 1949 refugee system; crippling it could, over decades, force a re-definition of Palestinian refugee status and test the durability of the UN’s privilege-and-immunity regime—cornerstones of the current international order.