New Israeli military museum and recruitment facility planned at former UNRWA Jerusalem site

The Israeli government has approved a plan to establish a new Israel Defense Forces museum, a central recruitment office and an office for the defence minister in eastern Jerusalem, in a move officials say will strengthen the state’s presence in the capital.

The Defense Ministry announced the decision on Sunday. It was endorsed during a special Jerusalem Day government meeting on Thursday, following a joint initiative by the Defence Ministry, the Jerusalem Municipality and the Israel Land Authority.

The project includes allocating a 36-dunam, or 3.6-hectare, complex near Ammunition Hill and the former United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees compound in Ma’alot Dafna for the new facilities.

Officials said the move is expected to support Jerusalem’s development by expanding the presence of national institutions and defence-related activity in the city.

The new IDF museum is planned to tell the story of the IDF and the establishment of the State of Israel through exhibitions, educational programs, conferences and public events aimed at young people, soldiers and visitors.

Alongside the museum, the recruitment office will be relocated from its current central Jerusalem site and upgraded to provide more accessible and modern services for recruits from the capital and surrounding communities.

 

Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion called the decision “historic news” for the city, saying the new complex near Ammunition Hill would serve as a national centre for education, heritage and values and would further strengthen the connection between the IDF and Israel’s capital.

Defence Minister Israel Katz said the decision represented “sovereignty, Zionism and security”, adding that there was “nothing more symbolic or just” than establishing defence institutions “on the ruins of the UNRWA compound”, which he accused of having ties to Hamas’s October 7 attacks.

“In a place where an organisation operated that became part of the machinery of terror and incitement against Israel, institutions will now be established that strengthen Jerusalem, the IDF and the State of Israel. This is a clear message to all our enemies: we will continue to build, strengthen and deepen our hold on Jerusalem, the eternal capital of Israel, from a position of strength,” Katz said.

Israel began demolishing UNRWA’s eastern Jerusalem headquarters in January. The UN agency is banned from operating in Israel, and Israeli officials are prohibited from cooperating with it.

In December, police raided the 11-acre compound and raised an Israeli flag over it. Deputy Mayor Arieh King confirmed to The Press Service of Israel at the time that the move was in response to several years of unpaid property taxes and was also intended to collect intelligence on who was operating the facility.

UNRWA has been under fire for years, with Israeli officials demanding the agency be stripped of its authority in Gaza and defunded amid revelations that members of its staff participated in Hamas’s October 7 attacks. Despite opposition from Israel, the US and some European countries, the UN General Assembly voted in December to extend UNRWA’s mandate for another three years.

Minister of Construction and Housing Haim Katz said the relocation of defence institutions to the former UNRWA site was a “necessary and meaningful move”, emphasising the shift from what he described as a hostile organisation’s use of the area to Israeli national development.