Alon Roth: Why Israel is stopping some aid organisations from working in Gaza

Israel has announced it will stop dozens of humanitarian organisations from working in Gaza from January 1st. 

It says these organisations - including Doctors Without Borders - have failed to meet new requirements to hand over details of international staff in the territory. 

But the Israeli Embassy says the combined contribution of these organisations make up less than 1% of total aid entering Gaza. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
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Speaker 2 (00:16):
Now, Israel has announced it will stop dozens of humanitarian
organizations from working in Gaza from January the first today.
It says these organizations have failed to meet new requirements
to hand over details of international staff in the territory
of Gaza. So I'm joined now by Alan Roth, who
is the Israeli ambassador to New Zealand. Good morning and
happy New year.

Speaker 3 (00:37):
Ellen, Good morning and a happy new year.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
So what is the Israeli government's issue with these groups
and why hasn't it been sorted already?

Speaker 3 (00:49):
I want to clear the context first. I think that
we all remember how we saw in the last two
years how humanitarian aid was exploited by hamas that was
operating in the past under the cover of international aid organizations,
sometimes knowingly, sometimes unknowingly, and it was proven many times,

(01:12):
and we saw diversion of aid and the use of
local employees of this organization organizations for terrorist activities. And
this is why we wanted to have registration requirements for
these organizations in order to enable the big amounts of

(01:33):
aid that are anything right now Gaza, which amount to
more than four thousand trucks every week to reach the
citizens of Gaza and not terrorist organizations. And permit me
to say that today the United Nations, donor governments, private
sector actors and more than twenty approved international organizations did

(01:58):
complete the registration process and are working and bringing to Gaza.
As I said, thousands of trucks every week, which is
around now eighty nine percent of the aid that is
going to Gaza. So the number of those organizations that
did not register is very minute and it is around
one percent of the whole aid. Humanitarian aid's Garta every week.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
But the list of groups hit by the band include
some of the world's best known humanitarian organizations with a
long history, Action AID, International Risking Committee and most notably
MED San sand Frontier. The Doctors without Borders. Surely Doctors
without Borders is reputable even if they didn't fill out
all the paperwork.

Speaker 3 (02:43):
Yeah, but it's not paperwork. It's set you diligence to
make sure as I said, that humanitarian aid is not
going to terrorism. And by the way, the registration requirement
is very easy to comply with. The registration is open
and these organizations that you've just mentioned may still apply

(03:03):
and may still send their applications. They will be reviewed
and processed and if there is nothing wrong with them,
there is no reason for them to work. And permit
me again to emphasize that ninety nine percent of the
humanitarian aid, which amounts to thousands of crugs, is entering
Gaza every day and every week.

Speaker 2 (03:24):
Okay, now ten countries that have come out against it,
including the UK, we're talking Japan and all the Scandinavian
countries seem to have come out against it, and they
say it's just a bad look that at this time,
at the first day of twenty twenty six, you've won
the war in essence, and they feel it's a bad
look that it shows you being cruel.

Speaker 3 (03:46):
Well, again we look on what is happening. Does humanitarian
aid reach the citizens of Gaza and not terrorist organizations
or being diverted towards terroist I would say actions, whether
deliberately or undeliberately, And we think, as I said, that

(04:06):
every organization that will for feel this due diligent requirement
will be able to work there. And as I said before,
ninety nine percent of the aid is flowing in by
very prestigious organizations like the United Nations and others. So
as long as these organizations are able to prove that

(04:29):
their aid is not diverse to terrorist organizations and methods,
then everything will be wrong.

Speaker 2 (04:35):
Now, what has it been like for the Jewish community
in New Zealand in the aftermath of Bondai and are
we at risk of a similar incident here?

Speaker 3 (04:43):
In your opinion, I think that Bondai showed us that
incitement leads in the end to murder and massacres. And
I am afraid that we see even in this country
in which I reside and love, have much appreciation and love,

(05:04):
we see how people justify murder of jew who's calling
to harm Israeli tourists, and the incitement, unfortunately is going
on everywhere. I saw how the Kiwi police really doing
very good job in the last few days and weeks,

(05:27):
and I do hope that we will see active measures
that will be taken against disincitement, so we will make sure.
You will make sure that in this country we are
not reaching I would say horrible things like we saw
in Bonda any other places in the world, incitement should

(05:49):
be stopped and very much right now.

Speaker 2 (05:53):
Well, Ellen, Happy new Year. I hope the twenty twenty
six is better than twenty twenty five for you. I
realized that New Year January the first is a secular
day in Israel, and then in fact Jewish New Year
comes in our spring, and so I wish you had
New Year for them, and also for today, and thank
you for your time today.

Speaker 3 (06:12):
Thank you, and happy New Year to you and to
older listeners.

Speaker 1 (06:16):
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