Appeared in HonestReporting, “Apartheid, Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity: Hillel Neuer on Who Wrote the Charges Against Israel,” September 16, 2026:

Key quote:

This was supposed to be the World Conference Against Racism, held in the new post-apartheid South Africa at the beginning of the 21st century, 2001. And yet, what happened really was a travesty. A conference that was supposed to be against racism became a conference that promoted racism. At the governmental conference, 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, apartheid, and 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.

Quoted in Fox News, “UN agency accused of Hamas ties sees another European nation cut funding,” September 7, 2026:

Finland’s principled decision to defund terror-infested UNRWA will not deprive Palestinians of aid, as it will be redirected through genuine humanitarian agencies such as the World Food Programme that are not systemically infiltrated by Hamas.

Op-ed featured in The Jerusalem Post, “Why Guterres won’t rein in the ‘out of control’ UN rapporteurs on his watch,” September 11, 2026:

In November 2006, then-UN secretary-general Kofi Annan called the special rapporteurs “the crown jewel of the UN human rights system.” Two decades later, a secretary-general has finally said what UN Watch has documented for years. In an interview with the Financial Times, António Guterres admitted that “many” of these so-called independent experts are “totally out of control.”

UN rapporteurs wield the UN’s authority without its accountability, leaving ideology and bias to fill the void.

Featured in News 12, “The UN paid tribute to him as an educator – Hamas paid tribute to him as a martyr,” August 31, 2026:

UN Watch, which monitors the activities of UN institutions, identified the figure: the man Hamas is eulogizing as a martyr is the same UNRWA employee that the UN chose to memorialize.

Featured in The Jerusalem Post, “UN chief Guterres slammed for ignoring Iranian regime executions in talk with President Pezeshkian,” September 2, 2026:

UN Watch director Hillel Neuer criticized Guterres over the meeting and wrote on X that,
according to the official readout, “the regime’s slaughter of tens of thousands of civilian protesters was not discussed.”

Featured in Ynet, “US envoy: UN officials knew Francesca Albanese and other rapporteurs were ‘out of control’,” September 2, 2026:

UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer noted that Albanese herself has said she has “never heard from” Guterres, arguing that she was therefore in no position to interpret his private views.

Quoted in The Jerusalem Post, “UNRWA overstated progress on institutional changes, preserved terrorism issues, watchdog says” September 16, 2026:

“UNRWA has graded its own homework and awarded itself high marks,” UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer said. “But issuing a policy is not the same as enforcing it. Drafting a plan is not the same as implementing it, and closing a recommendation does not mean that the underlying problem has been solved.”

Featured in JNS, “UN Watch report: UNRWA overstated reform implementation,” September 15, 2026:

According to a new investigation by the NGO UN Watch, the results of which were released on Monday, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) overstated its completion of reforms promised to donor governments following revelations that employees participated in the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre.

Featured in The Jerusalem Post, “Daughter of former Gaza hostage confronts UN over UNRWA funding despite Hamas ties,” September 16, 2026:

Neta Heiman Mina’s statement came on the heels of a scathing report published by UN Watch on Monday, which claimed that UNRWA has substantially overstated its progress on institutional changes, substituting administrative paperwork for actual reform while underlying issues involving terrorism and incitement remain unaddressed.

Featured in Ynet, “‘A UNRWA teacher held my mother in the attic’: Testimony at the UN – and the ‘reform’ at the agency,” September 16, 2026:

Haiman delivered a 90-second statement during a panel discussion on human rights education for children and youth, held to mark the anniversary of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Education and Training. Her remarks were delivered jointly by UN Watch and Ingénieurs du Monde. “For 48 days, a UNRWA teacher kept my mother trapped in his attic – in terrible conditions, with very little food,” she said. “I ask the UN: How could you entrust the education of the next generation in Gaza to someone who was involved in holding an elderly woman hostage?”

Featured in South African Jewish Report, “HPCSA backs down on Mofokeng misconduct finding,” September 15, 2026:

“Special rapporteurs don’t have blanket immunity. They have functional immunity, which covers their words spoken or actions taken specifically in carrying out their mandate, and those limits are very clear in the UN Convention on Privileges and Immunities.” [UN Watch Legal Adviser Dina] Rovner described allowing Mofokeng to avoid a disciplinary process on immunity grounds as “a complete abuse of her position which undermines the immunity convention”.

Featured in UA. NEWS, “In Geneva, former hostage’s daughter questions UNRWA funding,” September 16, 2026:

In Geneva, Switzerland, Neta Heiman Mina, the daughter of former hostage Ditsa Geyman, spoke at the 63rd session of the UN Human Rights Council and questioned the continued funding of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). Geyman Mina spoke on behalf of the Geneva-based organization UN Watch and the international non-governmental organization Ingénieurs du Monde.

Featured in Linfodrome, “Al-Burhan is accused of enabling the production of chemical weapons inside Sudan,” September 8, 2026:

This may be what led international human rights lawyer and UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer to speak of a major catastrophe linked to the fact that the Sudanese army had transformed “chlorinated gas supplied by UNICEF, CARE and the Red Cross for water treatment into lethal chemical weapons”, stressing that “the United Nations and international humanitarian organizations are facing pressing questions that demand answers”.

Featured in Brasil em Folhas, “Finland cuts funding to UN agency linked to Hamas,” September 9, 2026:

The organization UN Watch claims in a report that 12% of the agency’s employees in Gaza are members of terrorist groups. This data was allegedly obtained by cross-referencing employee lists with Hamas records seized by the Israel Defense Forces.

Featured in Cleveland Jewish News, “UN Watch report: UNRWA overstated reform implementation,” September 16, 2026:

According to a new investigation by the NGO UN Watch, the results of which were released on Monday, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) overstated its completion of reforms promised to donor governments following revelations that employees participated in the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre. UN Watch documented that while UNRWA publicly claimed it had completed 41 of 50 reforms recommended by the Colonna Review, many of them were implemented on paper only.

Featured in Israel 365 News, “112 UNHRC resolutions against Israel, zero against Sudan building chemical weapons while sitting on the Human Rights Council,” September 10, 2026:

In December 2022, the UN’s Economic and Social Council expelled Iran from the separate Commission on the Status of Women mid-term, over its deadly crackdown on women protesting the death of Mahsa Amini. Fifteen months later, in March 2024, that same Commission elected Saudi Arabia, a country that maintains a male guardianship system controlling women’s ability to travel, marry, and make basic legal decisions, as its chair. UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer called the appointment akin to putting Dracula in charge of the blood bank.

Featured in Emes, “An employee honoured at a ceremony appears as an armed Hamas terrorist,” August 31, 2026:

On 8 June 2026, his name was read out at the UN’s annual memorial service for staff members killed in the line of duty. Secretary-General António Guterres attended the ceremony, at which 136 staff members were commemorated, including 80 UNRWA staff from Gaza. It was only after Hamas released the video that UN Watch identified the staff member being commemorated as the same person who appears in the footage as a member of the military wing.

The post UN Watch in the News — September 2026 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.

UN Watch investigation finds the agency substituted paperwork and promises for meaningful change

GENEVA, 14 September 2026 — UNRWA’s claim to have completed 41 of the 50 reforms recommended by the landmark Colonna Review substantially overstates the changes achieved on the ground, according to a major new report released today by UN Watch.

The “Report Card on UNRWA Reform” examines UNRWA’s implementation of every recommendation issued by the Independent Review Group led by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna.

Commissioned by UN Secretary-General António Guterres following revelations that UNRWA employees participated in the October 7 massacre and amid the suspension of $450 million in donor funding, the Colonna Review was intended to determine whether the agency’s neutrality safeguards were “fit for purpose” and to restore donor confidence.

Two years later, UNRWA says that 41 recommendations are completed. Yet UN Watch’s analysis finds that UNRWA frequently measured administrative activity instead of meaningful reform. At most, the new report concludes, 13 of Colonna’s 50 recommendations have actually been completed as prescribed.

“UNRWA has graded its own homework and awarded itself high marks,” said UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer. “But issuing a policy is not the same as enforcing it. Drafting a plan is not the same as implementing it, and closing a recommendation does not mean that the underlying problem has been solved.”

“On paper, UNRWA reports sweeping progress. On the ground, its employees continue to be exposed as members and supporters of terrorist organizations, hateful educational content persists, and Hamas-dominated unions continue to obstruct neutrality and discipline.”

Key Findings

• UNRWA redefined what counts as completion. Under its “Minimum Viable Product” methodology, UNRWA allows itself to classify a recommendation as completed once it considers the recommendation’s “core functional objective” achieved—even where further measures remain necessary and the reform has not been fully institutionalized.
• UNRWA still lacks a demonstrated system for screening its workforce for Hamas membership. Its principal sanctions screening relies on the UN Security Council Consolidated Sanctions List, which does not list Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
• External investigations continue to uncover what UNRWA’s internal systems missed. In June 2026, the USAID Office of Inspector General referred 108 current or former UNRWA personnel for suspension or debarment based on evidence linking them to the October 7 attacks or Hamas’s military wing. Days later, UNRWA dismissed 70 Gaza employees following a security assessment, while insisting that the dismissals did not validate the allegations against them. See also UN Watch’s statement on the dismissals.
• UNRWA closed union reforms that were never implemented. The agency classified revisions to its Staff Union Statute as completed after merely drafting and transmitting a proposed statute, even though the unions had not adopted it. Yet within months of this supposed reform achievement, the UNRWA Gaza Staff Union—still under unchanged leadership—mobilized against the dismissal of the 70 terror-linked employees and demanded their reinstatement. UN Watch’s report Schools in the Grip of Terror documents how Hamas-linked officials continue to dominate UNRWA staff unions.
• One recommendation was closed as “unimplementable.” Recommendation 46 called for outsourcing union pay-setting functions. UNRWA determined that the measure could not be implemented, yet still counted the recommendation as closed.
• Vetting reforms remain dependent on funding. UNRWA closed recommendations concerning commercial screening and the vetting of union officials after developing pilots and costed plans, although the actual systems had not been fully deployed.
• Educational reform is measured by procedures rather than content. UNRWA cites reviews, digital platforms, teacher training and engagement with UNESCO as evidence of progress, while post-Colonna assessments by IMPACT-se continue to identify antisemitism, glorification of terrorism and incitement in the 2025–2026 Palestinian Authority curriculum used in UNRWA schools.
• Training cannot prevent deliberate military misuse of UNRWA facilities. The Colonna Review acknowledged that UNRWA lacks the policing, military and investigative capabilities required to detect weapons, tunnels and military activity at its installations. New policies and awareness programs do not remedy this fundamental incapacity. The standard inspection regime still does not operate normally in Gaza, where the most serious allegations have arisen.
• UNRWA declared a “cultural shift” completed while describing it as ongoing. The agency classified all recommendations on enhanced cooperation as complete even as its own reporting acknowledged that the required institutional transformation remained underway.

Structural Failure, Not a Paperwork Problem

The report finds that many of the Colonna recommendations proposed potentially useful administrative improvements. However, they did not adequately address the deeper institutional causes of UNRWA’s neutrality crisis: terrorist infiltration among personnel, Hamas influence over staff unions and schools, the agency’s inability to investigate clandestine affiliations, and an institutional culture deeply embedded in the Palestinian political struggle against Israel.

“The central question is not how many policies UNRWA has written, training sessions it has conducted or recommendations it has marked complete,” Neuer said. “The question is whether UNRWA can prevent its schools, staff and facilities from serving terrorism and incitement. The evidence examined in this report shows that it cannot.”

“The Colonna process was designed to reassure donors. Our report tests that reassurance against the evidence—and finds a profound gap between reform claimed and reform achieved.”

UN Watch called on donor governments not to rely on UNRWA’s self-reported completion figures when deciding whether to resume or continue funding. Governments should require independent verification of each claimed reform and assess whether it has produced measurable changes in staff conduct, educational content, union activity and the protection of UN facilities.

“Donor states were promised reform,” Neuer said. “Instead of delivering proof of results, UNRWA offers policies on paper, pilot projects awaiting funding, or recommendations closed by administrative decree.”

The report concludes that UNRWA’s failures cannot be repaired through managerial adjustments. Its mandate, workforce and role in Palestinian society are inseparable from a political project that perpetuates refugee status, the claimed “right of return” and rejection of Israel. UNRWA employs more than 28,000 people, overwhelmingly locally recruited Palestinians, while only about 120 staff are international.

“The Colonna reforms cannot make politically neutral an institution whose fundamental structure and purpose sustain the grievances and ideology exploited by Hamas,” said Neuer. “Humanitarian assistance for needy Gazans must continue, but it should be delivered through institutions capable of operating independently of terrorism and the political perpetuation of the conflict.”

The Report

The full report, Report Card on UNRWA Reform: An Evaluation of the Agency’s Claims Against the Evidence on Implementation of the Colonna Report, is available here.  Related UN Watch resources include the UNRWA Terror Network and Schools in the Grip of Terror.

About UN Watch

UN Watch is a Geneva-based independent human rights organization accredited in special consultative status to the United Nations Economic and Social Council. Founded in 1993, UN Watch monitors the performance of the United Nations according to the principles of its Charter and advocates for victims of human rights abuses worldwide.

The post New Report: UNRWA Claims Reform While Terrorism and Incitement Persist appeared first on UN Watch.

GENEVA, September 9, 2026 — China today launched an extraordinary attack against UN Watch at the United Nations Human Rights Council, accusing the Geneva-based human rights organization of “fabricating lies” and “maliciously smearing China” after UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer questioned Beijing’s $100,000 contribution to the mandate of a senior UN human rights expert.

The Chinese delegation invoked its right of reply after Neuer challenged George Katrougalos, the UN’s Independent Expert on “the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order,” over a report that repeatedly praises China while ignoring the victims of Beijing’s repression.

Katrougalos also serves as Chair of the Coordination Committee of UN Special Procedures, the body representing and overseeing the UN Human Rights Council’s independent experts, including special rapporteurs.

“Mr. Katrougalos, your report mentions China 33 times,” Neuer told the Council. He cited passages portraying China as a “central actor” defending international order, President Xi Jinping as the “new guardian of global rules for free trade,” and Chinese discourse as “closely aligned with the UN Charter” and “peaceful coexistence.”

“If your report is truly about human rights, then where are China’s victims?” Neuer asked.

He challenged Katrougalos to explain why the report omitted the mass detention, forced labour and religious persecution of Uyghurs; Beijing’s suppression of Tibetan culture, language and religion; imprisoned Hong Kong democracy activists such as Jimmy Lai; jailed lawyers, journalists and dissidents; mass censorship; the surveillance state; and China’s threats against Taiwan.

Neuer also questioned Katrougalos about China’s decision to contribute $100,000 to his UN mandate.

“Why did Beijing choose you? What exactly did its money finance? Did it support this report? Who funded your two trips to China, mentioned on page 2 of your report?” Neuer asked. “Will you acknowledge that such funding creates a conflict? Will you commit today that all China’s money will be returned?”

UN Expert Responds With Personal Attack

Katrougalos did not answer why his report excluded China’s victims, whether Beijing’s money supported the report, who financed his China trips, or whether the Chinese contribution would be returned.

Instead, he launched a lengthy attack against UN Watch, accusing the organization of conducting a “smear campaign” against UN experts and the United Nations as a whole. (UN Watch recently released a 100-page investigation finding that the UNHRC’s experts have abandoned the role of independent monitors and are advancing politicized agendas that erode the credibility of the international human rights system.)

Katrougalos claimed that UN Watch had “misinterpreted or doctored” passages from his report, although he acknowledged that it referred to China 32 times. He defended his favorable account of Chinese-backed “multipolarity” by invoking recent comments by UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

Though Neuer never mentioned the Middle East in his speech, Katrougalos’ reply accused UN Watch of denying what he called “the genocide in Gaza,” alleged that the organization had orchestrated a “campaign of lies against the United Nations,” and declared that UN Watch had become a “champion of antisemitism.”

Katrougalos insinuated that UN Watch was a “GONGO” (a government-organized NGO) and attacked its funding, without his ever addressing the Chinese government’s documented $100,000 contribution to his own mandate, as documented in the UN’s disclosure on 2025 funding.

“Mr. Katrougalos responded to questions about China’s funding and human rights abuses by attacking the organization that asked them,” said Neuer. “He spoke at length, yet said not one word to reply to our question on why his report, supposedly on human rights, managed to cite China 32 times without ever raising the Uyghurs, Tibetans, Jimmy Lai or China’s other victims.”

“He did not explain whether Beijing’s $100,000 financed his report or his travel to China. Instead, the chair of the UN’s human rights experts called a Jewish-led human rights organization a ‘champion of antisemitism.’ This was not an answer. It was a grotesque inversion, and an attempt at intimidation and diversion.”

Beijing Attacks UN Watch, Says Taiwan, Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong Are “Purely China’s Internal Affairs”

The Chinese government then exercised a right of reply to denounce UN Watch’s intervention.

“This morning, certain NGOs fabricated lies and maliciously smeared China’s economic cooperation with UN Special Procedure mandate holders, which we firmly reject,” the Chinese delegate told the Council.

China defended its cooperation with the UN human rights system, cited its payment of more than 20 percent of the UN budget and contrasted its conduct with that of a “major country” that had withheld its contributions, an apparent reference to the United States.

The Chinese delegate also rejected international scrutiny of abuses in Taiwan, Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong, declaring them “purely China’s internal affairs.”

He insisted that China’s treatment of ethnic minorities was characterized by “equality, unity, mutual assistance and harmony.”

China did not explain why it selected Katrougalos’s mandate to receive $100,000, what activities the money financed, whether it supported the report, or whether it paid for either of his two visits to China.

“The sequence was revealing,” said Neuer. “We asked a UN expert why his report glorified Beijing, erased its victims and benefited from $100,000 in Chinese funding. The expert called us ‘antisemitic.’ China accused us of ‘fabricating lies.’ Neither answered our questions. The world has a right to know. We are demanding that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres provide full disclosure and transparency on how China’s direct funding was used in connection with a supposedly independent report replete with praise of Beijing.”

“China’s intervention only underscores the need for full transparency concerning government funding of supposedly independent UN human rights mandates,” Neuer added. “When an authoritarian regime finances a mandate whose report subsequently praises that state while ignoring its political prisoners and persecuted minorities, the public is entitled to clear answers.”

UN Watch called on Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and High Commissioner for Human Rights Volcker Turk to disclose:

• Every expenditure financed by China’s $100,000 contribution to Katrougalos’ mandate;
• Whether any of the funds supported Katrougalos’s report or related research;
• Who financed Katrougalos’s two visits to China;
• All communications between Chinese officials, the mandate holder and UN staff concerning the contribution; and
• What safeguards were implemented to protect the mandate’s independence and prevent actual or perceived conflicts of interest.

Watch the complete exchange here:

3/ Katrougalos’ response:

❌ Not 1 word on the Uyghurs, Tibetans, Jimmy Lai or China’s other victims.
❌ No answer on China’s $100,000 donation or his trips there.
❌ Instead, a false harangue attacking UN Watch’s independence—and calling us a “champion of antisemitism.”

Watch: pic.twitter.com/fDukNaDj12

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) September 9, 2026

4/ Then 🇨🇳 Beijing's delegate joined in, exercising a Right of Reply:

China accused UN Watch of “fabricating lies” and “maliciously smearing China’s economic cooperation with UN Special Procedure mandate holders, which we firmly reject.”

“China has always constructively… pic.twitter.com/Y9yGpIT1Uy

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) September 9, 2026

The post China Attacks Watchdog at United Nations After Questions Over $100,000 Payment to UN Expert’s Mandate appeared first on UN Watch.

GENEVA, September 2, 2026 — Ahead of the United Nations’ planned “Durban 25” commemoration on September 28, UN Watch and NGO Monitor today published a video panel of experts examining how the notorious 2001 World Conference Against Racism became a global forum for antisemitism and the demonization of Israel.

The event brought together leading figures who witnessed and confronted the Durban conference and its aftermath: former Canadian justice minister and attorney general Prof. Irwin Cotler; former UN Watch chair David Harris, now Executive Vice Chair of ISGAP; Yad Vashem chief historian Prof. Dina Porat; NGO Monitor President Prof. Gerald Steinberg; and UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer.

The speakers warned that Durban’s legacy continues to shape the systematic targeting of Israel at the United Nations and in international civil society.

“What happened at Durban was truly Orwellian,” said Cotler. “That was a tipping point for the laundering of antisemitism at the UN. What emerged from Durban was the metastasized, newly legalized antisemitism under the cover of the UN.”

“This singling out of Israel has continued to metastasize since,” he added. “Durban is the ‘Mein Kampf’ of today.”

Harris recalled with pride the Sept. 3, 2001 decision by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell to withdraw the American delegation from the conference:

Today I have instructed our representatives at the World Conference Against Racism to return home. I have taken this decision with regret, because of the importance of the international fight against racism and the contribution that the Conference could have made to it… I know that you do not combat racism by conferences that produce declarations containing hateful language, some of which is a throwback to the days of “Zionism equals racism;” or supports the idea that we have made too much of the Holocaust; or suggests that apartheid exists in Israel; or that singles out only one country in the world—Israel—for censure and abuse.

Harris explained how the Durban campaign refined the strategy behind the UN’s infamous 1975 “Zionism is racism” resolution.

“Whereas the 1975 effort on Resolution 3379 was a Soviet-Arab concoction, 2001 and thereafter was much more sophisticated: wrapping its agenda in a mantle of political progressivism, of the language of human rights,” said Harris. “The basic strategies and tactics employed then in Durban, and honed in the months leading up to Durban, continue until today with the BDS movement.”

Porat, who attended Durban as a member of the Israeli delegation, described how a conference that was supposed to confront racism abruptly turned against Israel and the Jewish people.

She recalled asking a senior European delegate how this had happened. His answer, Porat said, was startlingly candid: former colonial powers feared demands for compensation from countries they had once ruled, and therefore found a convenient diversion.

“‘The simple solution to this problem was to pick on Israel and the Jews,’” Porat recalled him saying. “He said it so simply and so openly that he left me speechless. That was a blunt and exact explanation of what happened at the Durban Conference.”

Steinberg reviewed the 25-year history of the Durban process and its role in enabling nongovernmental organizations to promote campaigns accusing Israel of racism, apartheid and other international crimes.

Neuer traced Durban’s ideological origins to the UN General Assembly’s 1975 “Zionism is racism” resolution, which he described as the institutional launch of the campaign to portray the Jewish state as inherently illegitimate and racist.

“The UN should be apologizing for Durban—not celebrating it,” said Neuer. “Unless the September 28 meeting unequivocally repudiates the antisemitism that engulfed the 2001 conference and renounces the discriminatory elements of the Durban Declaration that single out Israel, every democracy should refuse to participate.”

The 2001 conference in Durban, South Africa, descended into scenes of open antisemitism. Jewish participants were harassed, antisemitic literature was distributed, and the parallel NGO Forum adopted a declaration branding Israel a “racist, apartheid state” and calling for its international isolation.

In 2021, following a campaign led by UN Watch, 38 democracies refused to participate in the UN’s Durban IV anniversary event.

UN Watch has launched a petition and is now calling on those governments—and other democracies—to withdraw from the September 28, 2026 commemoration.

Watch the full panel on Durban 25

About UN Watch

UN Watch is a Geneva-based non-governmental organization dedicated to holding the United Nations accountable to the principles of its Charter and promoting human rights for all.

The post Experts Condemn Durban’s 25-Year Legacy of Antisemitism, Urges Democracies to Boycott UN Anniversary appeared first on UN Watch.

As the 25th anniversary of the World Conference Against Racism is set to take center stage at the United Nations this month, former Canadian Minister of Justice Irwin Cotler outlines the historical trajectory and lasting global impact of the 2001 Durban conference.

“I can still hear the chants at Durban… the struggle against apartheid requires a dismantling of Israel.”

The post 25 Years After Durban: Irwin Cotler on the Institutionalization of Antisemitism appeared first on UN Watch.

Ahead of the UN General Assembly’s planned “Durban 25” celebration on September 28, UN Watch and NGO Monitor hosted a special event to remember the notorious hatefest that was the 2001 UN World Conference Against Racism, in Durban, South Africa.

NGO Monitor President Prof. Gerald Steinberg addressed the 25-year history since the Durban conference.

UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer discussed the UN’s 1975 “Zionism is racism” resolution and the institutional launch of Israel’s demonization as a “racist” state.

David Harris, Executive Vice Chair of ISGAP and former Chair of UN Watch, detailed U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell’s decision to withdraw the United States from the conference.

Prof. Dina Porat, chief historian at Yad Vashem, recounted the hostility faced by the Israeli delegation and the NGO Forum’s refusal to acknowledge antisemitism.

Prof. Irwin Cotler analyzed how Durban weaponized human rights language to launder institutional antisemitism under the protective cover of the UN.

Irwin Cotler: “This was going to be the first international human rights conference where anti-racism was going to be the theme. What happened at Durban was truly Orwellian. That was a tipping point for the laundering of antisemitism at the UN. What emerged from Durban was the metastasized, newly legalized antisemitism under the cover of the UN. This singling out of Israel has continued to metastasize since. Durban is the Mein Kampf of today.”

David Harris: “Whereas the 1975 effort on Resolution 3379 (“Zionism is Racism”) was a Soviet-Arab concoction, 2001 and thereafter was much more sophisticated: wrapping its agenda in a mantle of political progressivism, of the language of human right. The basic strategies and tactics employed then in Durban, and honed in the months leading up to Durban, continuing until today with the BDS movement.”

Dina Porat: “I was a member of the Israeli delegation to Durban. Instead of dealing with the burning problem of genuinely confronting racism, which was increasing in Europe after the waves of immigration, Israel and the Jewish people were put on the table. So I went up to the Belgian representative, who was chairing the sessions, and said: ‘Could you tell me what is going on? How did it, with a snap of a finger, turn against us?’

He took me aside, as though explaining something so obvious. He said: ‘Listen, most of the countries that have delegations representing them — from South America, Africa and the Far East, mainly those that were under colonial rule — see racism very differently. They don’t see the problems that we see in Europe today or in North America. They remember, and cannot forget, what happened during colonial times. And what they want to use the conference for is to obtain compensation for what they suffered under colonial rule.’

‘Just imagine,’ he told me, ‘what would happen if Spain had to compensate so many countries in South America, Portugal had to compensate Brazil, and we Belgians had to compensate the Congo. We all know what Belgium robbed from the Congo.’

‘So I tell you frankly: The simple solution to this problem was to pick on Israel and the Jews.’

He said it so simply and so openly that he left me speechless. That was a blunt and exact explanation of what happened at the Durban Conference.”

The post 25 Years After Durban: The Lasting Impact of the UN World Conference against Racism appeared first on UN Watch.

The remark follows last week’s Financial Times interview in which outgoing Secretary-General António Guterres admitted “we have many [rapporteurs] that are totally out of control, from the point of view of the Secretariat.”

Guterres had previously described Albanese privately as a “horrible person,” according to former U.S. antisemitism envoy Deborah Lipstadt. His spokesman has also said the Secretariat “doesn’t agree with much of what she says.”

Albanese responded by claiming the Secretary-General “never meant what the pro-Apartheid scavengers spread” and accusing critics of being “genocide enablers.”

UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer noted that Albanese herself has said she has “never heard from” Guterres, making her poorly placed to interpret his words.

“Albanese has functioned as Hamas’s de facto spokesperson at the UN. Many leading democracies have condemned her for Holocaust inversion and other ethical violations, making her the first UN human rights official in history to be so denounced. The United States sanctioned her. Guterres called her a horrible person in private. Now Ambassador Waltz confirms what senior UN officials have been saying all along,” said Neuer.

“Albanese has functioned as Hamas’s de facto spokesperson at the UN,” said Neuer. “Iran’s regime and its terrorist proxies routinely praise her. But numerous democracies have called for her removal, condemning her for Holocaust inversion and other ethical violations, making her the first UN human rights official in history to be so denounced.”

“The United States sanctioned her. Guterres called her a horrible person in private. Now Ambassador Waltz confirms it: senior UN officials knew she was out of control. A human rights system that cannot remove its most notorious antisemite is not independent. It is broken,” said Neuer.

UN Watch reiterated its call for Albanese’s immediate removal, and for real accountability mechanisms before Guterres leaves office in December.

The post U.S. Envoy: U.N. Officials Knew Albanese Was ‘Out of Control’ appeared first on UN Watch.

Appeared on Fox News Digital, August 14, 2026:

“Lunatics Running the Asylum: That the UN would empower the Islamic Republic of Iran—one of the world's most misogynistic regimes—to a body addressing women's rights is, frankly, Orwellian. The most disturbing part is that many Western states went along.”
— Hillel Neuer @FoxNews pic.twitter.com/micylL0AQX

— UN Watch (@UNWatch) August 18, 2026

Key Quote:

 That the UN would empower the Islamic Republic of Iran—one of the world’s most misogynistic regimes—to a body addressing women’s rights is, frankly, Orwellian. The most disturbing part is that many Western states went along.

Appeared on ILTV, August 5, 2026:

Key Quote:

The very idea of UNRWA today is to teach millions of Palestinians — whether they’re in Judea and Samaria, the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon, or Jordan — that their mission in life is to dismantle Israel. That is the essence of UNRWA.

Featured on Welt TV, August 18, 2026:

.@welt: “In its annual memorial ceremony, the UN apparently honored a Hamas terrorist. Imad El Samhouri, [UNRWA] teacher in Gaza, was also a member of Hamas. UN Watch released a ‘martyr’ video of him in which he can be seen wearing a uniform and carrying various weapons.” pic.twitter.com/CHLUgMmHvv

— UN Watch (@UNWatch) August 17, 2026

Key Quote:

In its annual memorial ceremony, the UN apparently honored a Hamas terrorist. Imad El Samhouri, [UNRWA] teacher in Gaza, was also a member of Hamas. UN Watch released a ‘martyr’ video of him in which he can be seen wearing a uniform and carrying various weapons.

Quoted in Fox News,“UN watchdog slams potential election of Iran to panel with human rights sway: ‘Lunatics running the asylum’,” August 14, 2026: 

Sadly, at the United Nations today — an organization founded after World War II out of great idealism to bring international peace — it is a case of the lunatics running the asylum. You have the Islamic Republic of Iran, a regime that beats, blinds, tortures, rapes, and imprisons women for standing up for their rights or showing a few strands of hair.

Quoted in Fox News, “Watchdog demands apology after UN memorial erroneously honors Hamas terrorist,” August 26, 2026:

The deeper problem is that the international leadership of UNRWA and of the U.N. rarely act. This is hardly a vetting oversight — it’s a system failure. UNRWA has demonstrated that it is either unwilling or unable to remove Hamas terrorists from its schools. UNRWA cannot be reformed; it must be dismantled if Gaza is ever to be deradicalized and given a real future for peace and success.

Quoted in Welt, “Baerbock honors 136 killed UN staff members – including a Hamas fighter,” August 17, 2026:

Hillel Neuer, director of UN Watch, called on Guterres and Baerbock to retract their tribute to El Samhouri: “Will you apologize for lighting a flame to honor a Hamas terrorist commander at a recent UN ceremony?” Neuer wrote in an open letter on the UN Watch website.

Featured in The Hill, “An ‘insane’ job: Election heats up for next UN secretary-general,” August 17, 2026:

UN Watch, a nongovernmental organization describing itself as combating anti-Israel prejudice, antisemitism and racism at the United Nations, urged the Security Council to reject Bachelet’s bid, criticizing her for refusing to call out dictators and failing to condemn antisemitism during her human rights tenure.

Featured in The Daily Wire, “Top U.N. Brass Lit ‘Eternal Flame’ For Hamas Terror Commander,” August 18, 2026:

In an explosive open letter penned last week, U.N. Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer demanded that U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres and U.N. General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock issue an immediate retraction and a public apology to the victims of Hamas.

Quoted in The Jerusalem Post, “UN helped Iran expand anti-drug crackdown despite execution concerns,” August 17, 2026:

Hillel Neuer, the executive director of UN Watch, added that the UN “should not be helping Iran’s brutal regime catch people whom it may then torture into confessing and execute after sham trials.” He noted that the Islamic Republic of Iran’s “fundamentalist government routinely denies defendants due process, and has dramatically increased executions for drug offenses, including in cases raising grave questions of innocence and coerced confessions.”

Featured in The Australian, “Hamas lies swallowed by the woke West,” August 17, 2026:

Foreign Minister Penny Wong has been a staunch defender of UNRWA. On June 11, UNRWA sacked another 70 workers, yet refused to acknowledge the sackings were linked to Hamas membership even though UN Watch supplied information suggesting 400 staff are Hamas members.

Featured in Neue Zürcher Zeitung, “Growing doubts about lists of journalists killed in Gaza: how the difficult data situation becomes a weapon in information warfare,” August 10, 2026:

The debate was sparked by a report published on July 8 by the Geneva-based human rights organization UN Watch. In it, the organization, which is considered close to Israel, accused UNESCO of publicly honoring at least seven men killed in the Gaza Strip as journalists, even though they were later identified as members or officials of terrorist organizations.

Quoted in Bild, “Baerbock honored slain Hamas terrorist,” August 15, 2026: 

According to Neuer, El Samhouri was part of a network of more than 400 UNRWA employees with terrorist contacts. He presents the results of his organization’s simple research on social media: countless posts glorifying terrorism by the alleged school principal. Neuer’s further accusation: children in UNRWA schools continue to be indoctrinated with hatred and terrorism.

Featured in Ynet, “Francesca Albanese cries defamation to Elon Musk on X over UN Watch chief’s ‘Hamas spox’ label,” August 25, 2026:

UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese has accused UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer of ‘outright defamation’ after he described her as ‘Hamas’s de facto spokesperson’ at the United Nations, escalating a long-running public feud between the two.

Quoted in JNS, “Amnesty: India’s weapons shipments to Israel suggest ‘complicity’ in ‘genocide’,” August 11, 2026: 

Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, told JNS that “Amnesty’s accusation is an obscene inversion of truth.The only attempted genocide was Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre. Had they not been stopped, Hamas terrorists would have continued slaughtering Israelis,’ he said, referring to the Palestinian Arab invasion of southern Israel, and the ensuing atrocities and hostage-taking that launched the war in 2023.”

Quoted in The Jewish Chronicle, “The UN leader lit a candle for a Hamas commander – the organisation is ‘no longer fit for purpose’,” August 26, 2026: 

El Samhouri was not a man leading a double life with any great subtlety. His social media accounts, still publicly available, show him posing with Hamas officials and celebrating the kidnapping and murder of Jews. In his capacity as an educator, he brought Hamas figures into UNRWA schools to address the pupils and preside over ceremonies, and scouted and recruited children into Hamas-linked organisations. UN Watch lists him within a network of more than 400 UNRWA staff with documented terror ties. As Hillel Neuer, its executive director, asked in an open letter to Guterres and Baerbock this month, how many UNRWA teachers must emerge from Hamas tunnels before the UN concedes that the terrorists are not merely beneath its schools but inside them?

Featured in Frankfurter Rundschau, “Baerbock honors UN staff – now there is a serious suspicion,” August 16, 2026: 

UN Watch cites footage allegedly showing El Samhouri in combat gear with assault rifles and hand grenades as supposed evidence. According to UN Watch, he is said to have stated in a video: “Death in the path of Allah is our highest goal,” as reported by RUHR24. UN Watch chief Hillel Neuer stated that the alleged connections were already publicly known.

Featured in Jüdische Allgemeine, “UN honors slain Hamas commander,” August 17, 2026:

In an open letter, UN Watch Director Hillel Neuer calls for an independent investigation into how a Hamas commander was able to run UNRWA schools for more than a decade – and who within the agency knew about it or should have known. He urges Guterres and Baerbock to apologize to the victims of Hamas, to disclose all UNRWA staff members whose links to terrorism have been proven, and to hold those in charge accountable. He also calls for the retraction of El Samhouri’s commendation.

Featured in Makor Rishon, “From Hamas tunnels to UN corridors: The affair that embarrasses UNRWA,”  August 18, 2026:

Hamas was proud of him as a field commander, in the documentation he was seen armed and coming out of tunnels, but at the UN he was presented as a teacher and school principal who fell in the line of duty — now UN Watch is demanding an independent investigation, an apology and the revocation of the honor given to him.

Quoted in News 12/Mako, “‘Zionism is racism’: Inside the well-oiled machinery of the obsession with Israel at the UN,” August 27, 2026:

Since October 7, the situation has only gotten worse. “It is impossible to overstate how completely biased the UN is today against the West, against the United States and especially against the State of Israel,” Neuer claims. At the Human Rights Council, where he speaks regularly, the agenda is structured in a distorted way: “There is one day for the whole world, and there is one day against Israel. There is no item on the agenda for North Korea, none for Iran, and none for what Russia is doing in Ukraine. There is no other country in the world that is targeted in this way. It is systematic.”

Featured in Maariv, “‘Get out of here’: Ben Gvir and Tali Gottlieb lost patience in the debate on UNRWA,” August 3, 2026:

As a reminder, about a month ago, UN Watch called on UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to immediately lift any immunity enjoyed by the outgoing UN official, so that competent national authorities can investigate and prosecute him for alleged complicity in terrorism, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. The request was submitted in a formal legal letter relying on Article 20 of the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the UN. The letter argued that immunity exists solely to protect the interests of the UN — not individual officials — and should be lifted.

Quoted in Ruhr24,“Baerbock at the center of it: Explosive suspicion at memorial service,” August 18, 2026:

UN Watch chief Hillel Neuer addressed the case in an open letter to Guterres and Baerbock, which was published by UN Watch. According to him, El Samhouri’s alleged terrorist connections were publicly known. “There must be no immunity, no impunity, and no ‘eternal flame’ for terrorists who infiltrate the United Nations,” Neuer is quoted as saying. According to UN Watch, El Samhouri was part of a network of more than 400 UNRWA employees with terrorist ties.

Featured in Libero Quotidiano, “UN commemorates Hamas terrorist,” August 17, 2026: 

The NGO UN Watch, led by Hillel Neuer, lifted the veil on this affair by sending an open letter to UN leaders and Western governments. Neuer simply asks: the teacher-terrorist’s social media profiles were public and featured photos with Hamas leaders and posts glorifying the kidnappings. How is it possible that no one within the agency knew?

Featured in News.de, “Annalena Baerbock: Controversy after NGO allegations – former foreign minister allegedly honored Hamas terrorists,” August 22, 2026:

Another recording shows the UNRWA school director apparently exiting a Hamas tunnel. According to UN Watch, he says: “Praise be to Allah for the tunnels; the Zionist enemy has no idea that we will emerge from the depths of the earth, from the rubble.” UN Watch chief Hillel Neuer emphasized that these alleged links to Hamas were already publicly known before the commemoration. Neuer addressed his criticism in an open letter not only to Guterres, but also directly to the former German foreign minister.

Featured in Just Security, “U.N. Secretary-General Candidates May Agree More than They Differ on the Way Forward,” August 5, 2026:

While the power of the veto hasn’t changed, the contest is more publicly visible today. The 2016 race introduced public hearings and candidate dialogues, and the current contest is already producing organized campaigns for and against individual candidates. UN Watch, a vocal critic of the U.N., has urged the Council to reject Bachelet’s bid, Republican lawmakers have called on the United States to veto her, and U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz has publicly questioned her fitness for the role.

Quoted in All Israel News, “UN official Albanese, UN Watch chief clash over ‘Hamas spokesperson’ claim,” August 26, 2026:

“Francesca Albanese cannot refute the facts of her record, so she resorts to crying ‘outright defamation’ and trying to get X to censor the truth on her behalf,” Neuer argued. “For years we have documented that Albanese functions as Hamas’s de facto spokesperson at the United Nations,” he added, accusing her of repeatedly “inverting the Holocaust,” invoking antisemitic tropes concerning Jewish power and the “Jewish lobby,” and “justifying” or “contextualizing” the Oct. 7 massacre.

Quoted in Nuevo Mundo Israelita, “Sánchez accused Israel of causing famine. Now he’s subjecting Moroccan migrants to starvation,” August 7, 2026: 

Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, commented on this blatant hypocrisy in a sarcastic statement on X, along with a link to an article about Spain’s appalling treatment of migrants. “Thank you for lecturing the world on international law, humanitarianism, and that ‘public responsibility also implies a moral obligation not to look the other way,’” he noted, quoting Sánchez verbatim.

Quoted in Jüdische Allgemeine, “Following pro-Israel song: Boy George fires his record label manager,” August 3, 2026:

Hillel Neuer, director of the Geneva-based organization UN Watch, declared: “Boy George, you had the courage to stand up for truth and humanity while others marched with the crowd. Now the United Nations must hear your voice. I will do everything in my power to ensure that this happens.”

Quoted Brasil En Folhas “UN watchdog criticizes potential inclusion of Iran in committee,” August 14, 2026:

Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, based in Geneva, declared that Iran is one of the last governments with influence in the organization. He stated that the situation at the UN represents “madmen running asylum,” citing the Iranian regime for violence against women who defend their rights.

The post UN Watch in the News — August 2026 appeared first on UN Watch.

UN Chief Guterres Admits Special Rapporteurs Are “Totally Out of Control” – After Privately Calling Francesca Albanese a “Horrible Person”

GENEVA, August 27, 2026 — In a Financial Times interview, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres responded to charges of institutional anti-Israel bias at the world body by conceding that many of its independent special rapporteurs “are totally out of control.”

Asked about Israel’s argument that the UN as an institution is biased against it, Guterres replied: “There are different entities in the U.N. and I cannot respond for the U.N. in its entirety because there are many entities in the U.N. that are independent. We have independent rapporteurs and we have many that are totally out of control, from the point of view of the Secretariat.”

The admission comes after Guterres privately described UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese as a “horrible person” – twice, according to then-U.S. Special Envoy on Antisemitism Deborah Lipstadt. Lipstadt revealed that Guterres made the remarks to her during a conversation at the 2024 Munich Security Conference after she raised U.S. concerns about Albanese’s record.

Albanese, appointed by the UN Human Rights Council in 2022, has drawn widespread condemnation from the United States, France, Germany, Canada, Italy, and others for antisemitic rhetoric, comparisons of Israel and its leaders to Nazis, denial of Israel’s right of self-defense, and other statements that violate the UN Code of Conduct for special rapporteurs.

Despite the private criticism and public distancing by Guterres’ office earlier this year – when his spokesperson stated that the Secretariat “doesn’t agree with much of what she says, and wouldn’t use the language that she uses” – the Secretary-General has never publicly denounced her or called for her removal.

Guterres’ own words now effectively corroborate the findings of UN Watch’s 104-page investigation From Watchdogs to Ideologues, released on  May 26, 2026. That report examined 13 of the UN Human Rights Council’s 59 Special Rapporteurs – more than a fifth of the system – and documented a systemic pattern of ideological bias, financial conflicts of interest with authoritarian regimes, and conduct that would end careers in any other institution.

Among the cases detailed: Alena Douhan received $1.3 million from China, Russia and Qatar while defending those regimes; Ben Saul took $150,000 from China while remaining silent on the Uyghur persecution; Tlaleng Mofokeng declared “Hamas are not terrorists”; and others systematically attacked democracies while shielding dictatorships. The report found no meaningful mechanism to remove or discipline such mandate-holders. Three months later, the Secretary-General himself has confirmed that many of these rapporteurs are “totally out of control.”

“Guterres’ interview is a rare moment of candor,” said Hillel Neuer, Executive Director of UN Watch. “For years the UN has described its special rapporteurs as the ‘crown jewels‘ of the UN human rights system. Now the Secretary-General himself admits many of them are ‘totally out of control.’ The most egregious example is Francesca Albanese, whom he privately called a ‘horrible person’ yet refused to rein in. This is not about independent experts but rather it is institutional failure — which fuels antisemitism and undermines the credibility of the entire United Nations human rights system.”

UN Watch has repeatedly documented how the special procedures system has been captured by ideologues who systematically single out Israel while ignoring far worse abuses by dictatorships. The organization has called for fundamental reform, including greater accountability, transparent funding rules, and mechanisms to remove mandate-holders who breach the Code of Conduct.

Guterres’ term ends in December 2026. UN Watch urges member states and his successor to treat the Secretary-General’s own words as a mandate for urgent change: special rapporteurs who are “totally out of control” cannot continue to speak in the name of the United Nations.

BREAKING: Secretary-General admits anti-Israel bias among UN's human rights experts, saying “many rapporteurs are totally out of control.”

António Guterres previously called UN rapporteur Francesca Albanese “a horrible woman.” pic.twitter.com/ozaPx8ncH3

— UN Watch (@UNWatch) August 26, 2026

The post UN Chief Guterres Admits Special Rapporteurs Are “Totally Out of Control” — After Privately Calling Francesca Albanese a “Horrible Person” appeared first on UN Watch.