NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Israel's Knesset on Monday passed a bill barring the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) from activity within Israel, a move that was welcomed just a few hours later -- at Manhattan's Park East Synagogue at an October 7 commemoration ceremony -- by Ayelet Samerano, whose son Jonathan, 21, was murdered on Oct. 7 and his body taken by an UNRWA employee from Israel to Gaza in an UNRWA vehicle.
"It was my goal [to ban UNRWA] since the day I heard about [Jonathan being murdered by an UNRWA employee], and we made history, we really made history," Samerano, told 1010 WINS, at the "From Darkness to Light We Stay United" ceremony, attended by 600 people and organized by the Consulate General of Israel in New York, as well as the Israeli American Council and the La'Aretz Foundation. "A lot of organizations tried to do it for a lot of years. And I think at least after all the suffering we had this year, at least we have something that we succeeded in."
Samerano didn't mince words about the United Nations, which has come under fire for being anti-Israel and anti-Jewish, because of Security Council motions but especially when it came to light earlier this year that employees of UNRWA participated in the Oct. 7 massacre, during which more than 1,200 people were murdered and more than 250 people were kidnapped. The murdered and kidnapped included non-Israeli citizens, such as those from the U.S., Canada, Ireland, Thailand and elsewhere.
"There is no way that an organization that calls themselves humanitarian [should be] doing terror," she told 1010 WINS.
So what's the message Samerano hopes the Knesset's bill sends to the New York-headquartered United Nations?
"To start doing their job and not just talking, talking," she said. "They should start doing their real job to investigate the people that's coming to work with them, to check and verify that those people that are working under the umbrella of United Nations are really humanitarian, and are really working to implement the aim and the goals of the United Nations."
Samerano continued, "First of all, I say, for me, I say the United Nations kidnapped my son ... I'm a big manager in my company and if something is going wrong with one of my employees, it's my responsibility. So I think the United Nations should take the responsibility and make all the efforts they can to fix what their employees make do. And one of these is to help and make, to bring all the hosages back. It's one of their missions ... So I don't want the United Nations just to talk. I want them to implement their rules."
And in describing Jonathan, she said he was "the most liveliest person in the world .... the most happy child, charming and full of joy."
Another parent who suffered a loss at the ceremony was Avi Harush, whose 20-year-old son, Sgt. Rif Harush, was killed in combat last April fighting Hamas in Khan Yunis in Gaza.
“In these difficult days that we, as a people and as a nation are going through, I think it would be good for us to see the virtues of each and every one of our friends, rather than their shortcomings, and to let no hatred arise between us," Harush told the audience. "The people of Israel, especially now must be united.”
Also at the commemoration ceremony was French-Israeli artist Mia Schem, now 22, who spent 55 days in Gaza after being shot in the hand by a Hamas terrorist and kidnapped from the Nova music festival along with her friends.
“A year has passed. My body is here, but my innocence remains in the fields of blood, and my heart remains captive in Gaza with those five young women still held there – abused and exploited, without air, in the depths of hell," a somber Schem told the audience, as her mother Keren stood next to her on the podium. "Today, I stand before you. I am no longer a girl. I am a strong woman – who won’t rest until every single hostage is brought back from the depths of hell."
Ofir Akunis, Israel's Consul General in New York, echoed Samerano's comments on UNRWA being banned from operating in Israel, asking 1010 WINS rhetorically, "Did you hear Ayelet Samarano? Did you hear her? That's the whole story. You saw one of the UNRWA employees. He was a terrorist."
But Akunis, who assumed his role earlier this year, continued, "The whole world must know that it's impossible that UNWRA will be there anymore. This is impossible. This is against all the ideas of the free world. The people who are working for UNRWA are actually terrorists. So the Knesset decision is very important ... UNRWA is still there in Gaza or in Jerusalem or wherever, and they are working for the terror organizations. I think that the United Nations themselves should already decide about it, but they were are naïve or I don't know, maybe you'll find a better word. It's unbelievable really."