WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has decided that the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees is not immune from being sued, reversing the U.S. government's position that the organization was protected from civil liability.
The Justice Department revealed its new stance in a letter it filed in federal court in New York on Thursday as part of a lawsuit that aims to hold the agency, known as UNRWA, accountable for the Oct. 7, 2023, deadly attack on Israel by Hamas. The change in position underscores the hardened perspective toward the agency under the Trump administration following allegations by Israel that some of the agency staff was involved in the Hamas rampage.
The lawsuit, filed by families of some of the victims of the massacre, alleges that UNRWA had aided Hamas by, among other things, permitting weapons storage and deployment centers in its schools and medical clinics and by employing Hamas members. Lawyers for UNRWA have called the lawsuit ''absurd'' and have said in court filings that the agency was immune from liability as a ''subsidiary organ'' of the United Nations.
The Biden administration stance protected the agency
The position undoes the stance taken by the Biden administration, which said in a filing last July that UNRWA enjoyed ''absolute immunity from suit'' and that the case should therefore be dismissed.
In a statement Friday, UNRWA spokesperson Juliette Touma said the Justice Department filing reversed the ''longstanding recognition that UNRWA is a subsidiary body of the General Assembly and an integral part of the United Nations, entitled to immunity from legal process.'' She said the agency would continue to make its case before the court and ''will consider whether any other action is appropriate with respect to the letter.''
The Justice Department acknowledged in its 10-page letter that though its position had been that UNRWA was shielded from litigation, ''the Government has since reevaluated that position, and now concludes UNRWA is not immune from this litigation.''
''The complaint in this case alleges atrocious conduct on the part of UNRWA and its officers. Of course, such allegations are only the first step on a long road, where plaintiffs will be required to prove what they have alleged. But UNRWA is not above that process — nor are the bulk of the remaining defendants,'' the letter states. ''The Government believes they must answer these allegations in American courts. The prior Administration's view that they do not was wrong.''
