JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Min­ister Benjamin Netanyahu called for the closure of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, days after US President Donald Trump threatened to cut Palestinian aid.

Israel has long viewed the UN agency, known as UNRWA, as biased against it, an allegation the agency strongly denies, saying it is only providing necessary services to Palestinians.

Israeli officials also criticise the agency’s method of classifying refugees, with descendants also eligible to register.
“UNRWA is an organisation that perpetuates the Palestinian refugee problem,” Netanyahu said while also lauding Trump at the beginning of his weekly cabinet meeting.

He said that while millions of other refugees around the world were cared for by the office of the UN High Commis­sioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the Palestinians have their own body which also treats “great-grandchildren of refugees — who aren’t refugees”. “This absurd situation must be ended,” Netanyahu said. UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness said that its mandate came from the UN General Assembly “whose members give wide and strong support to the agency’s humanitarian and human development mission”.

“What perpetuates the refugee crisis is the failure of the parties to deal with the issue,” he wrote in a statement.