In addition, following are essential sources on Navi Pillay’s troubling record:

• Pillay’s Complicity With Genocide: A UN whistleblower accused Navi Pillay of being “complicit in genocide.” Emma Reilly, a human rights lawyer who worked for Navi Pillay, alleges that under her leadership the UN human rights office handed dissidents’ names to China—including Uyghurs.

• Report: Navi Pillay Turned Blind Eye to World’s Worst Abusers: In an major study published in 2011 while Navi Pillay served as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, UN Watch examined Pillay’s record in the first two years she served as UN human rights chief. UN Watch found that Pillay turned a blind eye to most of the world’s worst abusers, being completely silent on abuses in Cuba, North Korea, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Belarus, Syria, and 27 other countries rated “Not Free” by Freedom House. During the first two years of her tenure, Pillay issued 21 statements on countries in the Middle East and North Africa. However, of these, 9 were on Israel, the only democracy in the region.

• Exposing UN Pillay Commission’s Targeting of Israel: In wake of the 11-day Hamas-Israel war of May 2021, the Palestinians and Pakistan, acting on behalf of the Islamic group of states, initiated an emergency session of the U.N. Human Rights Council and succeeded in creating yet another Commission of Inquiry targeting Israel and incentivizing Hamas. Whereas all past inquiries on Israel lasted for about a year, this one is perpetual—it goes on forever. UN rules require that commissioners be impartial. Pillay is the opposite. On repeated occasions, Pillay has publicly accused Israel of being an Apartheid state. She has even signed petitions lobbying governments to “Sanction apartheid Israel.” Navi Pillay was appointed to ensure a guilty verdict against Israel, to label it an Apartheid state with the UN’s imprimatur. In July 2025, Pillay resigned as Chair of the commission to avoid potential U.S. sanctions.

• Legal Brief on Pillay’s Bias, Call to Resign: In February 2022,UN Watch submitted a 30-page legal brief to the United Nations detailing how Navi Pillay violated UN rules by failing to disclose numerous of her prior statements that directly prejudge the matters before the inquiry, and calling on her to resign or recuse herself. As the brief demonstrated, Pillay lacked the impartiality required under UN guidelines due to a long history of public statements and actions pre-judging Israel.

• Nobel Hypocrisy—Pillay Boycotted Ceremony for Liu Xiaobo: When jailed human rights hero Liu Xiaobo was given the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010, Foreign Policy reported that Pillay gave in to Chinese pressure and declined an invitation to attend the Oslo ceremony, falsely claiming that she needed to be at a low-level Geneva event — one to which she didn’t bother to show in other years.  Then she added to the dissembling by saying she was never invited.

• 40 NGOs Urge U.N. Rights Chief to Attend Oslo Nobel Ceremony and Show Support for Chinese Dissident: An international coalition of 40 human rights and non-governmental organizations appealed today to U.N. rights chief Navi Pillay to reverse her decision to skip Friday’s Nobel award ceremony for imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo. “We urge the High Commissioner to go to Oslo, attend the award ceremony, and convene a press conference that will spotlight the plight of the 1.3 billion Chinese citizens who are systematically denied the basic guarantees of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” said the statement.

• Ignored Iran: Ms. Pillay failed to issue any public statement in response to the well-documented violence against demonstrators in Iran following the June 2009 presidential elections. Her first comment appeared three months after initial reports and video evidence of government-backed paramilitary forces arbitrarily arresting, beating and killing protestors were released. Her welcome call on the Iranian government to “release those detained for peaceful protest, to investigate reports of their ill-treatment, and to ensure respect for human rights” was made only as part of her traditional opening speech at the UN Human Rights Council session in September 2009. She did not give a press conference and chose not to issue a dedicated statement on the matter.

• Endorses Arab-Islamic Assault on Israel: Contrary to the principled statements made by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon an her predecessor, Louise Arbour, Pillay has vocally supported the dictator-dominated UN Human Rights Council’s policy of maintaining a permanent agenda item against Israel — alone of all 193 member states — at every council session.

• Experts Scrutinized Pillay’s Biased Report: In 2022, as the United Nations in Geneva debated the Pillay Report — which turns a blind eye to Palestinian terrorism and embraces the Hamas narrative that Israel is the root cause of all conflict — UN Watch hosted an official UN Side Event, bringing together a panel of renowned experts to challenge the controversial new document. Speakers included Colonel Richard Kemp, Lieutenant Colonel Geoffrey Corn, Israeli Arab human rights activist Yoseph Haddad, human rights lawyer Anne Herzberg, South African attorney Olga Meshoe Washington, and former Member of Knesset Einat Wilf.

• UN Watch’s 2010 Letter to Pillay on Antisemitism and Double Standards: In an April 27, 2010 letter, UN Watch challenged Pillay’s defense of the Human Rights Council’s permanent agenda item targeting Israel and demanded the removal of antisemitic texts from the UN website. The letter documented how her office censored criticism of repressive regimes while publishing allegations that Israeli doctors stole Palestinian organs and that “Jews everywhere” were complicit in a Holocaust against Palestinians.

• Video: Why the UN’s Navi Pillay Commission Lacks Any Credibility

• Video: Hillel Neuer Confronts Pillay in UN Debate

The post Documents: Navi Pillay’s Extreme Bias & Complicity With Genocide appeared first on UN Watch.

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As world leaders used the UN podium to condemn Israel, UN Watch invited courageous Yemeni journalist Luai Ahmed to tell the truth before the UN Human Rights Council: “Our problem in the Middle East is neither Israel nor the Jews. It is the Islamist dictatorships.”

Video Transcript:

Emir Al Thani, Qatar: “What has transpired in Gaza is genocide.”

President Al-Sharaa, Syria: “We reject Israeli aggressions which undermines peace and security.”

Prime Minister Sharif, Pakistan: “Religious hatred must have no place in this world.”

President Abbas, Palestinian Authority: “We seek a democratic Palestinian state that respects the rule of law and human rights.”

President Pezeshkian, Islamic Republic of Iran: “Lasting peace in West Asia is impossible without justice for Palestine. As long as occupation, aggression and injustice persist in the world resistance will continue.”

President of UN Human Rights Council: “Now we will proceed with the list of speakers for non-governmental organizations.”

Luai Ahmed for UN Watch: “As a Muslim, I listened carefully as Muslim countries lectured on human rights and I have a few questions for them.

I ask the Islamic Republic of Iran: If you care about injustice why did you open fire on Iranian protesters massacring tens of thousands of people who called for freedom?

Qatar: If you care about genocide why did you harbor and fund the Hamas terrorists who actually attempted genocide on October 7th?

Syria: If you care about peace and security why are you slaughtering your Alawites and Druze and other minorities?

Pakistan: If you care about religious freedom why did you sentence a Christian woman to death Shagufta Kiran for allegedly sharing a WhatsApp message about the age issue in Islamic marriage?

And Mahmoud Abbas: If you seek a democratic Palestinian state why are you now in the 22nd year of your four-year term?

Mr. President, Israel did not deny Iranians their freedom. Israel did not slaughter Syria’s minorities. Israel did not cause Abbas to rule as an unelected president for life.

These governments did that to their own people.

Yet, in this hall they point their fingers at Israel and demand that we look away.

I grew up in Yemen. I know how our Arab leaders teach us to blame all of our problems on Jews and Israel.

But our problem in the Middle East is neither Israel nor the Jews.

It is the Islamist dictatorships that brutalize our people then offer us Israel as a scapegoat.”

The post “Our Problem in the Middle East is Not Israel” — Luai Ahmed Delivers Rare Moment of Truth appeared first on UN Watch.

UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer joined Newsmax’s Emma Rechenberg and Jon Glasgow to discuss Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s UN General Assembly address, the UN’s longstanding bias against Israel, and UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher’s troubling embrace of Iran’s regime.

Emma Reckenberg, Newsmax: Let’s welcome Hillel Neuer, Executive Director at UN Watch. Hillel, what did you make of Netanyahu’s speech at the UN General Assembly?

Hillel Neuer: I think it was a strong statement by Israel’s Prime Minister. Israel is being attacked militarily on seven different fronts in the past three years. You could say the eighth front is the United Nations, the international stage where Israel’s very existence is challenged repeatedly by the world’s worst dictatorships. Israel’s leader made a powerful statement, a powerful speech. He called out the dictators like Turkey, Iran, and Qatar for their funding of terrorism and their hypocrisy. He called out the UN, and he made a strong case for Israel’s right to defend itself.

So I think it was regarded by neutral observers worldwide as a strong case, and I think Israelis at home as well. And, of course, keep in mind that Israel’s Prime Minister has an election in one month, and obviously he was looking both to the global audience but also to the domestic audience. I think on both, I think it was successful for him.

Jon Glasgow, Newsmax: And you’ve been covering the UN for years here. Why do you think that the institution has become so anti-Israel?

Hillel Neuer: Well, this isn’t new. It began at least 50 years ago. Let’s recall that in 1975, the then-Soviet Union, which was the leader of the anti-democratic bloc, together with Arab states, pushed a resolution through declaring Zionism to be a form of racism. This means the very existence of the State of Israel, which was first proposed and recognized by the League of Nations in 1922, when they recognized the ancestral historical rights of the Jewish people to their homeland, and then in 1948, when Israel was admitted to the United Nations, was challenged in 1975 by the General Assembly.

Since then, going back now 50 years, every year at the UN, there’s only one resolution on Iran, one on North Korea, zero on most of the world, and at least 15 targeting Israel. No mention of Hamas, no mention of the jihad, no mention of Abbas and the torture that he commits, or the fact that Abbas, who calls himself president of Palestine, is in the 22nd year of his four-year term.

So why is it happening? Briefly, you have countries that want to go along to get along. They are persuaded by vote trading. Fifty-six Islamic nations trade their votes, vast amounts of oil in the Arab world, and, I would say, fear of terrorism. These can all combine — threats to pull investment, Qatar’s billions of dollars of sovereign wealth funds. All of these are realpolitik.

And I would just mention one other factor, which is that Israel continues to be singled out as the Jew among the nations. There’s no question that some Europeans, for example, when they used to single out the Jews for poisoning the wells, today the modern form is singling out the world’s only Jewish country as responsible for all the world’s ills.

Emma Reckenberg, Newsmax: You point out so many challenges Israel continues to face, and yet the country is defiant in its determination to stand up for its Jewish residents, but also Christian residents, Arab residents as well. Those who are practicing Islam are all welcome in Israel to do so. But you saw those delegations get up and leave. I mean, are they even going to offer a chance to listen to some of these proposals that we’ve heard from Bibi Netanyahu?

Hillel Neuer: Look, that’s an annual ritual. There’s the ritual of scapegoating Israel in 15 different resolutions, and the United Nations so-called Human Rights Council, which just met yesterday on their special agenda item targeting Israel. No other country in the world has that agenda item.

There’s a ritual scapegoating, and the walkout is performative. You know, many of the delegates were, you know, 10 or 15 members of the same tiny country. The Palestinians sent a memo saying, “Bring the largest possible entourage you can gather, so that we’ll have a walkout.”

Look, the reality is that Israel’s Prime Minister just went to Abu Dhabi to meet with the head of the United Arab Emirates. Israel has very strong relations with Bahrain, Morocco, and other Arab and Muslim nations that actually care about peace. Israel has a very strong relationship with Saudi Arabia. It’s not formal yet. We wish that would be formalized for the sake of peace.

And as you said, Christians and Muslims live with equal rights in Israel. If you walk into any shopping mall in Israel, you will see Arabs wearing hijabs, not just working there, but managing the stores there as customers. Anywhere you go in Israel, you will hear the call of the muezzin to call to prayer.

So the accusations made against Israel are completely false. It’s a Jewish country, but very much a multicultural society. There’s going to be elections next month. Arabs will vote, Muslims will vote, Christians will vote. Not only will they vote, they’ll be elected to positions of power. Nowhere else in the Middle East—not Egypt, not Syria, not Lebanon—can you actually have free and fair elections for Arabs, Muslims, or Christians. Only in Israel. That’s the truth. That’s the reality.

Jon Glasgow, Newsmax: Well said. Let me show you this photo here. That’s become quite controversial. It shows Tom Fletcher, who serves as the head of the UN’s relief agency, shaking hands with the Iranian foreign minister. Critics say that Fletcher looks like he’s bowing to the Iranian leader. You say that when this was posted, the photo, Fletcher blocked you after this was posted. What were your takeaways from the photo and maybe the backlash that followed?

Hillel Neuer: Look, that photo is published throughout Iranian state media. They are cheering this. This is a propaganda victory. I’ve seen no explanation other than that he made some kind of a deferential bow. You see the smile on the part of the regime’s so-called foreign minister. He has blood on his hands. They massacred tens of thousands of Iranians for protesting for freedom. The regime is celebrating this photo.

Tom Fletcher is someone — let’s keep in mind, when he was British ambassador to Lebanon, he welcomed the role of Hezbollah. He, for the past year or two, as UN relief chief, humanitarian coordinator, has routinely echoed Iranian regime talking points, accusing America and Israel of harming the economy worldwide. He hasn’t said a word about the Iranian regime, how they destroyed Lebanon, destroyed Iraq, destroyed Yemen, destroyed Gaza. He gives them a free pass.

So there are serious questions. We’ve called on the United Nations to remove Mr. Fletcher from his position, replace him with someone who can actually earn the respect of the world, because humanitarian needs are serious. This is someone who defers to dictators. He shouldn’t be in that position.

The post Hillel Neuer on Newsmax: “The U.N. Scapegoats Israel” appeared first on UN Watch.

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Invited by UN Watch, international lawyer Natasha Hausdorff took the floor at the United Nations to blast world leaders after they used the General Assembly as a platform to falsely attack Israel.

French President Emmanuel Macron: “Look at what’s happening in the West Bank where day in, day out we are seeing violations. And in the name of what? Hamas was never very active in the West Bank.”

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham: “Just eight weeks into becoming Prime Minister, working with my Foreign Secretary, Ed Miliband, I comprehensively reset our position… we have acted by banning trade in goods with illegal settlements…”

Spanish President Pedro Sánchez: “My country has opposed all wars of aggression… imposing an arms embargo on the Netanyahu government in Israel. We unequivocally condemn the genocide that Netanyahu is still perpetrating in Gaza.”

Australia Foreign Minister Penny Wong: “In the West Bank the situation is worsening. In the first six months of this year alone, settler violence has driven more than 15,000 children from their homes.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan: “Gaza has become the most inhumane and shameful concentration camp of our time… I shall continue from this podium here to defend the rights of the oppressed, the rights of the aggrieved and the voiceless.”

Natasha Hausdorff for UN Watch: Mr President. World leaders have spoken.

President Macron says Hamas was “never very active in the West Bank.” Tell that to the family of Netanel Shukrun, murdered in Neve Tzuf just over a week ago. Tell that to Ambassador Yechiel Leiter, whose son Neria was just mowed down near Beit Horon. Hamas has murdered Jews in Judea and Samaria for decades.

The British Prime Minister declares an unlawful ban on products from these Jewish communities. Meanwhile, Britain gave a known Hamas terorrist a passport, which he used to plot attacks across Europe. Banning award-winning wine from Judea, but not the terrorists plotting to kill Jews.

Spain accused Israel of “genocide.” That is a lie and an inversion – It was Hamas that carried out a genocidal massacre. But then it is President Sánchez that has honored the only UN official in history condemned for Holocaust inversion.

Australia’s Penny Wong lied when she claimed that more than 15,000 children were driven from their homes in the West Bank. A lie that seeks to justify the ethnic cleansing of Jews which UN bodies call for.

And if President Erdoğan, truly cared about the oppressed, he would not jail his political rivals, silence journalists, and deny the Armenian genocide.

Let the record show this institution is being abused to promote falsehoods and subvert real international law.

The post Natasha Hausdorff Puts World Leaders’ U.N. Claims on Trial appeared first on UN Watch.

Holocaust Distortion from U.N. “Expert”: Francesca Albanese claims Jews in Nazi death camps “were called Muslims.” Antisemitism targets “Semitic peoples” and “not just discrimination against Jews.”

Even in Nazi death camps: She cannot name Jew-hatred without replacing the Jews. pic.twitter.com/ipSMTOK0Vu

— UN Watch (@UNWatch) September 24, 2026

Seen over 1.2 million times, UN Watch was the first to expose Albanese’s outrageous claims that Jews in Nazi death camps “were called Muslims” and that antisemitism targets “Semitic peoples” and “not just discrimination against Jews.”

Immediately, Albanese faced widespread condemnation, including from Holocaust Remembrance Center Yad Vashem and Belgian Defense Minister Theo Francken, who said Albanese “is pro-Russian and hates Jews.”

@FranceskAlbs ventures into obvious and dangerous historical revisionism with her attempt to recast the Nazi persecution and murder of Jews as merely part of a broader hatred of the “non-white”, non European or “non-Christian.”

Her portrayal of the history of modern antisemitism…

— Yad Vashem (@yadvashem) September 28, 2026

While initially defended by her base, pressure began to mount — including from liberal Italian Senator Raffaella Paita who called her “outburst” as an “attempt to downplay the role of Jews as victims of the Shoah.”

As a result, Albanese was forced to issue a rare apology which only further amplified the story and drew more criticism. In a viral response, Hillel Neuer captured the perception: “Apology not accepted. You are not acting in good faith. You must resign.”

Apology not accepted. You repeatedly campaigned to erase the very meaning of hatred against Jews and engaged in Holocaust inversion. You have apologized before for antisemitic remarks, only to then renege. You are not acting in good faith. You must resign. In the name of God, go. https://t.co/OXI0Jv0q1r

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) September 28, 2026

British-Palestinian peace advocate John Aziz also criticized her lack of understanding. Coming from her own supporters, even Ihab Hassan — who is hostile towards Israel — condemned Albanese for attacking the Jewish state through “distorting the Holocaust” and “the history of antisemitism.”

Quickly thereafter, Albanese returned to her normal voice, making another post which effectively walked back her “sincere apology.” Even quicker, once this was called out by Hillel Neuer, Albanese deleted this new post and hasn’t commented again on the debacle in hopes the story blows over.

DELETED: After I called it out, Francesca Albanese has deleted her post from today (https://t.co/BYt96GM9or) that effectively walked back her “sincere apology” for her not knowing antisemitism targets Jews. Her post had also endorsed a supporter's praise of her “rare virtue.” 🧵 https://t.co/iZeUHPjPK2 pic.twitter.com/XBiIVl7Yto

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) September 29, 2026

Already condemned by over a dozen nations for antisemitism and Holocaust inversion, UN Watch will continuing applying pressure on Albanese until she is forced to resign.

The post Francesca Albanese Forced to Apologize After Being Exposed by UN Watch appeared first on UN Watch.

GENEVA, September 27, 2026 — UN Watch today condemned the UN Human Rights Office’s expansion of its Israel-only business blacklist, saying the report brands ordinary commercial activity as a human rights problem while giving boycott campaigners a list of companies to pressure.

The report released Friday adds 61 companies, bringing the list to 214 businesses in 11 countries. Five companies were removed. Newly listed firms include Israeli agricultural company ADAMA and real estate investment firm Alony Hetz.

“Read what the UN has actually put on this list,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch. “Banks, buses, water services, bakeries and food producers. These are the businesses that allow people to live ordinary lives. The UN is treating their services to Israelis as grounds for public denunciation.”

“The blacklist includes the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem within its geographic mandate. Absurdly, that means a family visiting the Western Wall, part of the holiest site in Judaism, could be impacted by sanctions on the transport that brings them into Jerusalem, the water supplied to nearby homes and businesses, and the banking services that keep those businesses operating.”

“This is not a list limited to companies alleged to have abused a Palestinian,” Neuer said. “A bus carrying passengers, a company supplying water or a bank providing loans can be listed because of where it operates.”

“Nothing in international law or practice justifies this blacklist. The UN has created no comparable company database for businesses operating in Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara or Turkish-occupied Northern Cyprus. Only Israel is singled out.”

“What human rights principle says that Jews living in their ancient homeland — including the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem whose holy sites have been the object of Jewish prayer for millennia — should be denied normal transport, banking or utilities?”

“If supplying transport and utilities in a disputed territory warrants a UN blacklist, where are the lists for every other territorial dispute?” Neuer asked. “The UN demands a standard for Israel that it has never imposed elsewhere. And a double standard means discrimination.”

The consequences are no longer theoretical. As noted by Reuters, companies on the list could face boycott or divestment campaigns. Earlier this month, Britain, France and Canada announced plans to prohibit imports from Israeli settlements and take targeted action against those facilitating or profiting from them. Those governments have not said they will use this database. But the UN has now provided a public roster for anyone seeking to broaden economic pressure.

“The immediate value of this document to BDS is obvious,” Neuer said. “Its purpose is to fuel global boycotts and sanctions. It supplies names, categories of alleged harm and the UN’s seal of approval. The pressure need not stop at a shop or factory beyond the Green Line: the list includes major companies whose businesses reach across Israel and around the world.”

The mechanism originated in a 2016 Human Rights Council resolution sponsored by the Arab and Islamic groups and governments including Venezuela, Sudan, Cuba and Libya.

UN Watch said the council’s decision to target Israel alone violates the principles of universality and impartiality on which it was founded.

“Volker Türk should explain why his office devotes resources to naming companies that supply Israelis with bread, water and buses while producing no equivalent blacklist for any other country,” Neuer said. “Human rights cannot mean one rule for Israel and another for the rest of the world.”

“Meanwhile, the council gives a free pass to its own member states that commit gross and systematic violations of human rights, including China, Qatar, Cuba and Pakistan.”

“The UN has turned a water pipe, a bus route, and a bank loan into grounds for blacklisting — provided the people they serve are Israelis. That is not a human rights standard. It is a political target.”

The post UN Watch Condemns Expanded UN Blacklist of Israeli Businesses as Boycott Pressure Grows appeared first on UN Watch.

UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer appeared on ILTV with Calev Ben-David to discuss the high-level opening of the UN General Assembly and the overt bias of UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

Transcript:

Calev Ben-David, ILTV: Joining us now for more is Hillel Neuer. He is the Executive Director of UN Watch. And of course, this is a busy time of the year for you, Hillel, with plenty of material there at the UN General Assembly.

Let’s start with your comments, which you put out in a tweet about Antonio Guterres. The Secretary-General predictably criticized Israel in his address. Maybe just talk about your reaction to his remarks.

Hillel Neuer: Look, it’s not the first time that he has chosen to make this kind of comparison, where he says that Israel is doing something that’s the worst he’s ever seen in his entire life or in his entire tenure. And the fact is, it’s false.

He says that what’s happening in Gaza is the worst situation he’s ever seen, the scale unprecedented from anything he’s witnessed. Well, in the time that he’s been Secretary-General, perhaps he didn’t notice, but hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in Sudan, in Syria, in Ukraine, in Yemen, in Ethiopia, and the list goes on.

So, just factually, by any measure, if you look at Hamas’s maximalist figures, the other situations that I mentioned are far greater. The other piece which is significant is that Hamas invaded Israel. Hamas launched a massacre on October 7, killing 1,200 people in one day—the equivalent of 12 9/11 attacks proportionally, if you compare Israel’s population to America.

Israel responded to destroy Hamas, with innocent people killed. Of course, every innocent death is tragic. But Hamas launched a war. They launched a massacre with genocidal intent. Guterres erases all of that and falsely says it’s the worst he’s witnessed. The only way it’s the worst is if he was willfully blind to everything else happening in the world. Very sad.

Calev Ben-David: Now, Prime Minister Netanyahu is going to be speaking on Thursday. He’s put out a statement already saying he’ll go there to tell the truth about Israel’s heroic soldiers. Presumably, he’ll also speak on Iran and perhaps on Gaza. He also said he’ll talk about New York Mayor Mamdani.

What do you think the Prime Minister—what do you think he should be saying, will say, and should be saying there to the GA?

Hillel Neuer: Well, I think that he is going to make the case for Israel, as he always does. I think he’s certainly going to identify Iran as the head of the snake, which it is in the region. It’s the cause of war and terrorism from Syria to Lebanon to Gaza to Iraq to Yemen, right now spilling over into Saudi Arabia.

So I think he’s going to certainly talk about the war in Iran. He’s going to talk about Israel’s war against Hamas. These are all important subjects. He has a very difficult challenge ahead of him. Israel’s standing in the world is at a low point, certainly Western democracies, whether it’s Britain, Canada, Australia and other countries.

We saw France taking an unfair hit at Israel. We saw Macron just the other day. I think Netanyahu will hit him back. Macron said in French, basically, that Hamas never ravaged the West Bank the way it did in Gaza, so Israel has no excuse to act in the West Bank. And then he was attacked for it because, of course, Hamas has killed many people in the West Bank, in Judea and Samaria.

His office said that he said Hamas never governed, but that’s not the typical use of the French word according to any dictionary. So I think Macron will get hit. Let’s keep in mind, Macron is whitewashing Abbas. He talks about sovereignty for the Palestinians. A year ago, he defended his decision to recognize the State of Palestine, saying that he’s being criticized for doing something on paper. It was a fiction. There is no State of Palestine.

If we talk about Abbas, even the mayor of Paris in France stripped Abbas of a major award because of his remarks denying the Holocaust, justifying Hitler. So you have the mayor of Paris recognizing that Abbas is a Holocaust denier. His PhD from the Soviet Union is on Holocaust denial. And you have the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, whitewashing this defender of Hitler. It’s rather shameful.

Calev Ben-David: What about some of your response to President Trump’s remarks? He was a bit—I want to say—restrained when it comes to President Trump. I mean, he certainly has strong statements about Iran. Notably, he did not criticize the UN itself, something he’s done in the past, including last year. I mean, what was your response? How did you feel about President Trump’s remarks?

Hillel Neuer: Well, I think President Trump, interestingly, though in some cases he has a sledgehammer on certain issues. On the UN, it’s important to note he’s never said, “Destroy the UN.” Even when he signed executive orders pulling out of certain UN bodies, he said the UN has great potential. We need to make it great again.

His ambassador, who’s very busy in New York, Ambassador Mike Waltz, and Jeff Bartos, the ambassador for UN reform, have cut a lot of money from the UN budget, but they’ve talked about making the UN great again. So I think President Trump was consistent with his narrative.

He did, at the same time, call out UN human rights officials on certain of the remarks, either dealing with migration or transgender mutilation, as he put it. And let’s keep in mind that there are UN human rights officials who are, in the words of Guterres himself, “totally out of control.”

Whether it’s Francesca Albanese, who just said two days ago that the Western world should stop arming Ukraine, basically allowing Russia to destroy innocent people in Ukraine; whether it’s the Chairman of the UN Human Rights Officials, Mr. George Katrougalos, who recently gave a speech where he mentions China 32 times, yet not once criticized China or Xi Jinping, didn’t mention 1 million Uyghurs locked up, didn’t mention 6,000 Tibetan temples destroyed, didn’t mention Hong Kong democracy extinguished, and 78-year-old pro-democracy publisher Jimmy Lai languishing in prison.

So there’s a lot to talk about on the UN human rights officials. I’m glad President Trump put a finger on that.

Calev Ben-David: Is it worth it for Prime Minister Netanyahu to speak from the podium at the UN General Assembly, given all the Israel-bashing there?

Hillel Neuer: Yes. You can’t escape the world. This is the world as it is. It’s a tremendous forum. Prime Minister Netanyahu is a very accomplished speaker. So it’s a unique opportunity to address the world. He’s obviously, of course, addressing the Israeli people. He has an election coming up. You may be looking at his domestic audience more than anything.

But for Israel, it’s a tremendous opportunity to make its case before the world. And I hope Prime Minister Netanyahu will use felicitous language and eloquent language to make Israel’s case as the only democracy in the Middle East fighting to defend itself from terrorists.

The post Hillel Neuer on ILTV: Guterres’ Double Standard on Gaza Exposed appeared first on UN Watch.

On April 24th, 2024, an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis killed six people. According to the Israeli Ambassador to Belgium, the strike targeted a senior Hamas member. However, because the strike killed Abdullah Jamal Nabhan—whose employer, the Belgian development agency “Enable,” listed him as a Business Development Officer—international media rushed to condemn Israel for the killing of a Belgian aid worker. Belgium’s Foreign Minister demanded an explanation, and outlets like Reuters and Politico published headlines decrying the death.

On September 4, 2026, investigator Gabriel Epstein exposed on X that Abdullah was, in fact, an active fighter in Hamas’ Khan Younis Brigade. The thread included a photo of Abdullah from a popular Hamas-affiliated Telegram channel known for eulogizing fallen combatants.

Abdullah Nabhan featured in military gear in an official Hamas martyr post, designated as “The Martyr Mujahid.”

The photo features Abdullah in full military gear. On the bottom, it reads “Abdullah Jamal Nabhan,” and above it, “The Martyr Mujahid.” The thread also included a screenshot where Abdullah’s surviving brother, Abdul, refers to Abdullah and their brother Ahmed (who also died in the strike) as “mujahideen.”

The term “mujahideen” shares its root with “jihad” — both derived from the Arabic for “to strive” or “to struggle” — and specifically designates an active fighter, in contrast to “shahid” (“martyr”), a far broader cultural term often applied to any deceased individual.

Social media confirmation from surviving brother Abdul Nabhan, eulogizing his brothers explicitly as “mujahideen.”

Abdullah’s family members, notably a cousin, quickly contested this exposure, claiming they were appalled by what they termed an “AI obituary” and false news. However, a UN Watch investigation has uncovered a trove of evidence linking the Nabhan family directly to senior Hamas officials, confirming the initial assessment that this was a targeted military strike. The investigation also reveals the family’s documented pattern of camouflaging as aid workers, UNRWA teachers, and journalists to delude Western audiences.

1. The Patriarch: Jamal Nabhan

Jamal Nabhan was the patriarch of the family. Married to Umm Muhammad (the Matriarch), he fathered four sons (Abdullah, Ahmed, Mohammed, and Abdul) and four daughters (Wafaa, Asmaa, Safaa, and Shimma). Jamal was killed in the April 24 strike alongside several of his children and extended family members.

Jamal Nabhan serving as Administrative Director at Gaza’s Al-Aqsa University.

Jamal served as an Administrative Director at Al-Aqsa University, a position subject directly to Hamas appointment. The rift over Gaza’s Al-Aqsa University escalated in 2015 when the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Hamas-run government clashed over the authority to appoint the institution’s president and manage its financial assets. After Hamas unilaterally installed its own acting chairman without PA approval, the PA retaliated by cutting salaries for pro-Hamas academics, freezing university funds, and officially invalidating new student degrees.

Ultimately, Hamas cemented full administrative control over the university by leveraging its de facto governing power in the Gaza Strip to override PA directives, replace senior staff with loyalists, and independently force students to pay tuition fees to sustain operations. Consequently, any appointment made through that local chain of command — such as an administrative director — was installed with Hamas’s explicit vetting and approval.

Prior to retiring in 2019, Jamal maintained deep connections with senior extremist figures. At his son Ahmed’s wedding in 2016, Jamal was photographed alongside Jamil Matou’a, a senior Hamas figure and brother-in-law to Yahya Sinwar. Jamil Matou’a’s son, Mus’ab Matou’a (Abu Jamil al-Ghazawi), joined ISIS and was later killed in combat. In another photo from the wedding, Jamal is pictured alongside Dr. Yahya Musa, a senior Hamas leader frequently seen appearing publicly with Sinwar.

Left: Jamal Nabhan pictured with senior Hamas figure Jamil Matou’a. Right: Jamil Matou’a alongside Yahya Sinwar.

Left: Jamal Nabhan with senior Hamas official Dr. Yahya Musa. Right: Dr. Yahya Musa with Yahya Sinwar.

Jamal’s ideology permeated the entire family home. On a Facebook photo showing his infant grandson wearing a Hamas headband, Jamal commented: “God willing, he will grow up and defend his religion and his country.” His wife added: “may we see him become the best Qassami,” referring directly to Hamas’s military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades.

Facebook comments from Jamal Nabhan and his wife praying for their infant grandson to become a Qassam fighter.

2. The Media Commander: Mohammed Bassem Ahmed al-Jamal

Mohammed Bassem was the son-in-law of the Nabhan family, married to Jamal’s daughter, Shimma. Severely injured in the April 24 strike, he died the following day.

According to local outlet Al-Quds, Mohammed Bassem worked for the Palestine Now News Agency and Al-Aqsa Channel (Hamas’s official, globally sanctioned propaganda network) as a photographer and editing technician. After his death, Western media outlets like The Guardian listed him as a journalist casualty, and Al-Quds claimed Israel targeted “the home of the Palestinian journalist.”

The reality is that Mohammed Bassem was a commander in the Qassam Brigades’ Military Media Department—a fact that even the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) subsequently acknowledged. In an obituary video posted by Hamas, he is armed and dressed in full military uniform while conducting tactical training exercises, touring operational tunnels, firing RPGs, and editing battlefield footage for the terror group.

Left: Mohammed Bassem presented publicly as a press photographer. Center & Right: Hamas obituary footage showing Bassem inside attack tunnels, armed, and conducting military media operations.

3. The “Aid Worker”: Abdullah Jamal Nabhan

This brings us back to Abdullah, the man whose death sparked international media condemnation. Framed as a Belgian “Business Development Officer,” Abdullah was deeply embedded in the family’s militant network.

Following his death in the April 24 strike, his wife, Amal, posted that Abdullah had “attained what [he] wished for,” achieving the “eternal bliss of Paradise”—the traditional phrasing for a fallen combatant. Amal has also actively supported family social media posts featuring children doused in Hamas militant equipment.

Top Left: Abdullah Jamal Nabhan with his wife, Amal. Top Right: Amal memorializing Abdullah’s desired “martyrdom.” Bottom: Social interactions praising military indoctrination within the family.

4. The Surviving and Past Brothers

Militancy was a prerequisite for the Nabhan brothers.

Mohammed Nabhan: Abdullah’s brother Mohammed was killed in 2004 at the age of 17 while engaging the IDF during the Second Intifada. Rather than hide this, his sister Asmaa recently posted a memorial photo of him wearing a Hamas headband and holding an assault rifle. His photo also frequently appears alongside obituary posts of other family members.

Memorial posts from Asmaa and Abdul honoring their brother Mohammed armed with an assault rifle.

Abdul Nabhan: The only living brother, Abdul, is a former UNRWA teacher who later moved to a school run by the Hamas Ministry of Education. While still employed by UNRWA in December 2022, he openly posted: “Happy New Year to Hamas!”

Abdul’s social media is a timeline of terror glorification. In January 2023, he live-celebrated a synagogue shooting in Jerusalem that killed seven people, sharing propaganda from the Al-Qassam Brigades; the Hamas poster’s rhetoric invokes Yahya Ayyash, the Hamas bomb-maker known as “the Engineer” for orchestrating a wave of suicide bombings in Israel during the 1990s. On the morning of the October 7th massacre, he posted: “Death will not harm us… if it occurs after this date: 7/10/2023.” On October 12, 2023 he posted: “God is more powerful than America and Britain, so what are you afraid of?!…He has supported Al-Aqsa, and He has supported our brothers.” Following the April 24 strike that wiped out his father and brothers, Abdul eulogized them all as “mujahedeen” and “martyrs.” He later wrote “My family has won…For whoever among us is killed is a martyr…’And never think of those who have been killed in the cause of Allah as dead. Rather, they are alive with their Lord, receiving provision.’ [Quran 3:169]…”

Documented records showing Abdul’s transition from UNRWA educator to active online Hamas propagandist, celebrating October 7, Jerusalem synagogue attacks, and eulogizing family members.

5. The Sisters: Enablers and Educators

The women of the Nabhan family play a crucial role in indoctrinating the next generation, blending their roles in the education system with open terror support.

Wafaa: An UNRWA daily teacher in 2024, Wafaa previously won “Outstanding Teacher” at a Hamas Ministry school. She has posted videos of her child draped in Yasser Arafat memorial gear. In a photo where her father appears to pose next to Yahya Sinwar’s brother-in-law, she refers to him as her “role model.”

Wafaa Nabhan receiving teaching awards from the Hamas Ministry of Education and posting political propaganda featuring her child.

Asmaa: Appointed principal of a Hamas Ministry of Education girls’ school. Her husband, Rami Jasser, also known as Prof. Dr. Rami Alghamri, a Cambridge PhD graduate, has posted photos of himself in a Hamas scarf. Alghamri is the chairman of EMAAR, the Gaza Development and Rehabilitation Association. He also served on the board of directors for the “Palestinian Independent Commission to Prosecute the Zionist Occupation’s Crimes Against the Palestinians” from 2011-2013.

Left: School promotion notices for Asmaa. Right: Her husband, Cambridge graduate Rami Jasser, wearing a Hamas scarf.

Safaa: Frequently posts photos of her children in full militant attire. In one image, a masked combatant holds an assault rifle alongside a baby dressed in Hamas gear, whom Safaa affectionately named “Al-Quassami Jimo.”

Safaa Nabhan uploading photos of infants dressed in Hamas military uniforms paired with automatic weapons.

Shimma: The widow of media commander Mohammed Bassem. Following the strike that killed her husband, father, and brothers, she wrote: “our solace is that you’ve attained martyrdom.” Shimaa also responded to a photo of her infant in Hamas gear, writing: “she’s happy with our little one who just arrived… may god protect him…”

Top: Shimaa eulogizing her husband and father. Bottom: Social media post dressing her newborn in Hamas headbands.

The post The Nabhan Network: How a Hamas Terrorist Family Camouflaged as Aid Workers, Teachers, and Journalists appeared first on UN Watch.

Ahead of the United Nations’ planned “Durban 25” commemoration on September 28, Hillel Neuer was interviewed by Ben Chertoff of HonestReporting to discuss how the notorious 2001 World Conference Against Racism became a global forum for antisemitism and the demonization of Israel.

Conversation Highlights:

Ben Chertoff: 25 years ago, the U.S. walked out of the World Conference Against Racism. Israel walked with them. What was that conference supposed to be, and what did it become?

Hillel Neuer: This was supposed to be the World Conference Against Racism, held in the new post-apartheid South Africa. And yet what happened really was a travesty. A conference that was supposed to be against racism became a conference that promoted racism. It devolved into a notorious hate fest.

There were thousands of people marching in Durban, South Africa, saying that Zionism is like Nazism. And there were pamphlets being distributed of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the czarist forgery that accuses the Jews of a plot to control the world.  This was happening on the sidelines.

At the main conference itself, Israel was the only country singled out as an alleged perpetrator of racism by listing the Palestinians as the only group under the rubric of victims of racism. The NGO forum, which happened in parallel, accused Israel of words that are familiar today, but were not then, which was genocide and apartheid, crimes against humanity.

So much of the venom and the hate that we’re seeing today can be attributed back to what we saw at an international, so-called anti-racism, so-called human rights conference 25 years ago.

Ben Chertoff: Now, what is astounding is that on September 28th, the UN General Assembly will hold a high-level meeting marking 25 years since Durban. In plain terms, what’s actually going on in that room, and what does it say that this is still being celebrated?

Hillel Neuer: The Durban conference happened in 2001, and the United Nations has a practice of holding follow-up conferences to put new attention on the same issues. In 2009 they held the first follow-up conference, Durban 2. Our organization, UN Watch, played a key role in organizing counter-events. And then Durban 3 was the 10th anniversary in 2011.  Fast-forward to 2021 for the 20th anniversary — that was Durban 4.

On September 28th, I expect that what we’re going to see possibly foreign ministers, but at least ambassadors, gather for a meeting to adopt a declaration reaffirming Durban. So we’re calling on all countries to pull out and have a petition on our website urging all countries to do so.

At the original Durban conference, the U.S. and Israel pulled out. In 2009, 10 countries pulled out. In the third time, there were 15 countries that pulled out. And the last time, five years ago, 38 countries pulled out. So we’re hoping to see the same. We hope that leading democracies who truly care about anti-racism will take a stand against antisemitism.

Ben Chertoff: Since October 7, there has been a global explosion of antisemitism. Has there been any movement in the UN structure to address that?

Hillel Neuer: Not really. On the contrary, I would say the United Nations has been a key driver of global antisemitism. Let’s keep in mind, just a couple of weeks after October 7th, the Secretary-General of the UN effectively gave legitimacy and justification for what Hamas did. That was shameful and it set a tone. You had Navi Pillay, who was head of the Commission of Inquiry targeting Israel, she echoed those terms.

You have the infamous rapporteur on Palestine, Francesca Albanese, who supports Hamas. On October 7, she was saying it’s just a response to oppression and you have to see it in context. So you have numerous UN figures, especially at the Human Rights Council, condemning Israel. Has the UN done anything to stop antisemitism? No. On the contrary, the UN has been a global purveyor of antisemitism.

When these blood libels go around the world, that Israel is committing genocide or starving the Palestinians, which various UN-tainted agencies have claimed, then immediately Jews are called baby killers. And we’ve seen endless attacks against Jews around the world — in the United States, in the UK, in continental Europe, Canada, Australia — and the UN sadly bears a lot of the blame.

The post Hillel Neuer with HonestReporting: How Durban Became an Antisemitic Hate Fest appeared first on UN Watch.

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Speaking at the 63rd Session of the UN Human Rights Council during a panel on human rights education, Neta Heiman Mina, daughter of 84-year-old former hostage Ditza Heiman, delivered a joint statement on behalf of UN Watch directly confronting the United Nations over its continued funding and defense of UNRWA. After her mother was held hostage for 48 days in the attic of an UNRWA teacher following the October 7, 2023 terrorist attack on Kibbutz Nir Oz, Mina’s testimony exposed the stark contradiction between the UN’s stated commitment to human rights education and the documented complicity of the UN’s own education personnel in terrorism and hostage-taking. Her intervention highlights the urgent necessity for international bodies and global donors to hold UNRWA accountable, urging the UN to seek uncompromised alternatives that guarantee education, healthcare, and food security for Gaza’s children without entrusting their future to individuals tied to extremist violence.

Transcript: 

My name is Neta Heiman Mina. On October 7th, my mother, Ditza, was 84 years old when she was kidnapped from her home in Kibbutz Nir Oz by Hamas terrorists.

For 48 days, an UNRWA teacher, Abed, kept her trapped in his attic in terrible conditions with very little food. I ask the United Nations: how could you place the education of Gaza’s next generation with someone involved in holding an elderly woman hostage?

My mother wasn’t the only one. We know of other UNRWA employees connected to the massacre and kidnappings of October 7th. Why did UNRWA allow Suhail al-Hindi to be in charge of 8,000 teachers in Gaza while he was a member of Hamas? If the UN truly cares about human rights and education, how can it allow an agency compromised by terrorism to shape the future of Palestinian children?

I believe the vacuum must be filled. The UN and the Board of Peace must find alternatives to provide Gaza’s children with healthcare, education, and food security. As an activist with Women Wage Peace, I believe Israel should support this effort. It is the moral and the Jewish thing to do. When the people of Gaza have a better life, our future will be better too.

The post My Mother Was Held Hostage by an UNRWA Teacher: Neta Heiman Mina Addresses UN Human Rights Council appeared first on UN Watch.