Israeli peacekeepers should replace United Nations peacekeeping forces stationed in Cyprus, an American pro-Israel analyst has suggested.

Writing in the National Security Journal, former Pentagon official Michael Rubin advises US President Donald Trump to break “legacy zombie missions” of the United Nations – such as Unficyp in Cyprus.

“The area Turkey occupies [in Cyprus] is more than nine times the size of the Gaza Strip. A United Nations force divides Cyprus from the Turkish-occupied zone.

“The observer mission continues, but the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (Unficyp) has become the poster child for UN zombie missions rather than an effective peacekeeping mechanism,” argues Rubin.

The analyst says the UN has lost its credibility. He cites for example Unrwa – the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinians in the Middle East.

Rubin claims that Unrwa has been “co-opted” by “Hamas and other terror groups” and should have no role in post-war Gaza.

“With newer bodies supplanting Unrwa’s reconstruction and aid roles, the UN’s specialised agency for Palestinians seeks to protect its educational monopoly,” he says.

And he accuses Unrwa of “enabling indoctrination and weapons storage”.

The impetus for Rubin’s suggestions appears to be a proposal to include Turkish troops in the deployment of an ‘international stabilisation force’ in Gaza.

“Allowing Turkey to send its forces to Gaza would light a fuse that could engulf the region, maybe not in a month or a year, but certainly within a decade or two,” Rubin objects.

“Second, Turkey’s intelligence service supports Hamas, both in its religious extremism and in its calls for Israel’s eradication. To allow Turkish troops into Gaza will mean empowering Hamas with money and equipment to take on Israel, Egypt, and Jordan, all of whom the Muslim Brotherhood seeks to conquer or overthrow.”

Rubin is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a think tank based in Washington DC.

In early 2024, Israel made a series of allegations against Unrwa, including that a number of its Gaza Strip staff had participated in the October 7, 2023 attacks and that hundreds of them were members of militant groups.

The allegations led to aid cuts to the organisation, most of which were later reversed with the exception of the United States, the organisation’s largest donor.

Eventually, a UN investigation found that nine Unrwa staff members “may” have been involved in the attack on Israel and fired them. It found that evidence against nine other staff members was insufficient, and found that there was no evidence against one additional accused staff member.

In October 2024, the Israeli parliament – based on these allegations – passed bills banning Unrwa from operating within Israel.

In October 2025, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) found that “Israel has not substantiated its allegations that a significant part of Unrwa’s employees are ‘members of Hamas… or other terrorist factions’.”

Rubin’s call for Israeli peacekeepers comes as Israel itself is on trial at the ICJ, accused by South Africa and others of committing genocide in Gaza.

In September this year, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory found that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.