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UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer joined Maria Bartiromo on Fox Business to discuss the latest developments in the Middle East, including U.S.-led efforts to broker a deal between Israel and Hamas.
Maria Bartiromo, Fox News:
Joining me now is UN Watch Executive Director, Hillel Neuer. Hillel, good to see you. Thank you for being here. I want to get your reaction to this and your expectations for Monday’s meeting.
Hillel Neuer:
Look, the main points of the Trump peace plan for Gaza involves Hamas laying down their arms, releasing the hostages, difficult concessions by Israel, release of thousands of terrorists. But if we can end the war, release the hostages, and remove Hamas from power, that is a serious move towards peace. Everyone should embrace it. That’s the initial reaction we’re getting from Arab leaders and the international community, and we hope that the meeting on Monday will advance this plan and end a very horrific war for everyone involved.
Maria Bartiromo:
Of course. What do you make of what Microsoft did? Microsoft disabled some cloud systems to Israel and the Israeli Defense Ministry after Microsoft reviewed claims that the Israeli military was carrying out mass surveillance of civilians in Gaza. It follows reports from the Associated Press and from The Guardian earlier this year which prompted Microsoft to do this review. Now, Microsoft Vice Chairman and President Brad Smith wrote a blog post on the company’s website, and he writes this: “Microsoft is not a government or a country. We are a company. Like every company, we decide what products and services to offer our customers. We do not provide technology to facilitate mass surveillance of civilians. While our review is ongoing, we have found evidence that supports elements of The Guardian’s report.” Microsoft’s stock this morning is trading this way. Hillel, I want to get your take on the impact of this move from Microsoft against the Israeli defenses.
Hillel Neuer:
Well, look, we need to protect privacy, and that’s important for any company. We also need counter-terrorism and to allow countries to prevent a repeat attack of October 7th. So the important thing here is that Microsoft has to apply its policies, but they also have to support democracies who are fighting terrorism, and the question is whether their policy here is being applied in a way that is a consistent, objective, and universal. We know that there were some radicals within Microsoft who took over the office of Brad Smith and were trying to impose their own radical ideology on the company. So you don’t want to shackle democracies who need to fight terrorists. And let’s remember that Gaza had hundreds and hundreds of miles of terror tunnels under the entire territory, and Israel is entitled to do what it needs to protect itself and we need to support democracies who are trying to fight terrorism.
Maria Bartiromo:
By the way, I just want to point out that Lisa Monaco, who was the Assistant Deputy Attorney General, is now the president of Global Affairs at Microsoft. President Trump often names her specifically as someone who was pushing the Russia collusion lie. And so on a day that we’re talking about Jim Comey being indicted and Microsoft doing this to the Israeli defense. I have to mention Lisa Monaco’s new job. I saw her recently at a conference in Italy and she was talking under that title, President of Global Affairs at Microsoft. Your reaction?
Hillel Neuer:
Well, again, it underscores that this is not a judicial review. This is a company that you’re indicating particular people who have their own ideological position, and we know the radicals who took over his office. So it seems that there is clearly ideology at play here. Companies should not allow ideology to interfere with the right of democracies to engage in counter-terrorism. If we want Western civilization that produces the kinds of incredible applications that Microsoft has, you’re going to find that in Israel, which is defending Western civilization in the entire Middle East.
Maria Bartiromo:
All right, we will leave it there. I just noted that because I was surprised to see Lisa Monaco works at Microsoft now. Hillel, thank you very much for joining us this morning.
