In his last interview as UNRWA’s commissioner general, Philippe Lazzarini stated that he asked for a UN investigation into Israel’s killing of almost 400 aid workers since the start of the genocide in October 2023. 

Speaking to the press in Geneva, Lazzarini said that “a high level panel of experts” were required to investigate the killings of aid workers and other UN staff members, as well as Israel’s destruction of UN and UNRWA premises in Gaza. 

“For two years we have witnessed atrocities such that one gets the feeling this war had no rules, that every possible red line has been crossed, and that there has never been the slightest consequence – diplomatic, political, economic, legal, nothing at all,” Lazzarini declared.

He also said that he raised the need for an investigation with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. Once again, however, imploring compromised institutions for justice defeats the purpose of justice. 

Lazzarini is correct in stating that every possible red line has been crossed, although he lessens the impact by stating “one gets the feeling” – typical rhetoric when it comes to criticising Israel or taking a stance against genocide. Within the context of the UN’s complicity with Israel’s genocide, a clear statement that does not compromise truth to hypothesis would have illustrated how and why the red lines have been crossed. The truth is that while Israel does the killing, the UN has proved incapable of protecting even those working under its mandate. 

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Indeed it is not just Israel that crossed every red line. The UN is equally complicit. It is by allowing Israel to commit genocide that UNRWA aid workers were killed by Israel. The same goes for the destruction of UN premises and infrastructure. Justice is not profitable for colonialism, and it is not profitable for the UN. The need for human rights violations to strengthen the institution’s standing will override any quest for justice. 

If a panel of experts is appointed, it will likely find Israel guilty of killing UNRWA aid workers. But the recommendations issue at the end of the report will be as futile as the UN General Assembly’s non-binding resolutions. The UN is not impartial, although it advocates and forces neutrality on its agencies and staff. UNRWA is one example. It is forced to operate on the premise of neutrality, and receives funds based on neutrality clauses imposed by Israel’s allies. 

At the UN, justice is also losing its symbolic veneer. Nothing about the UN’s encouragement of genocide through support for Israel’s security narrative indicates that the international institution can even conceptualise justice any more.

At the UN, justice is also losing its symbolic veneer. Nothing about the UN’s encouragement of genocide through support for Israel’s security narrative indicates that the international institution can even conceptualise justice any more.

There is a contradiction in asking Guterres for an independent investigation when throughout his appointment he has been adamant that there is no other solution than colonisation for Palestinians. UNRWA aid workers are as much victims of genocide as they are of the UN’s refusal to even consider decolonisation as a viable option. Appealing to a system that favours the coloniser only consolidates the link between the aggressor and its enabler. 

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