UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer appeared on Fox Business with Maria Bartiromo to discuss the threat of Iran, U.S. sanctions on Francesca Albanese and Gaza ceasefire talks.
Maria Bartiromo, Fox News:
Joining me now from Jerusalem is UN Watch Executive Director, Hillel Neuer. Hillel, what are your thoughts on a potential ceasefire? Do you think this could happen?
Hillel Neuer:
I think it could happen, but let’s recall that Hamas is a terrorist organization with a history of exploiting ceasefires to rearm and regroup. They’re demanding an IDF withdrawal — a complete withdrawal from Gaza — and unrestricted aid flows, which are really tactical ploys for Hamas to maintain control over the captive population in the Gaza Strip and divert resources to their own war machine. So, Israel has a moral priority to get out as many hostages as they can — to bring all the hostages back as soon as they can. They’re under brutal conditions. But Hamas’s demand that they maintain power to rearm, regroup, and attack Israel again cannot be accepted.
Maria Bartiromo:
Why is it that the Iranian regime can actually, you know, get as obliterated as it did — in terms of their capacity, as the President told us — but then come back days later and say they’re going to put a fatwa on the back of President Trump, and they’re going to make a call to Muslims across the world to take down the President?
Hillel Neuer:
Look, Iran’s claims are clearly exaggerated propaganda. There is bluster coming from the Islamic regime. They’re trying to project strength after devastating U.S.-Israeli strikes on their nuclear sites, the Israeli elimination of IRGC terrorist generals, and their weakened position since the attacks by the U.S. and Israel demonstrate that they’re on the defensive. And a lot of this is bluster meant for internal, as well as for their neighbors, for their consumption. But at the same time, clearly the intelligence is imperfect. I don’t think we know exactly what happened to the enriched uranium that may be at those sites, as Netanyahu said, it might be very deep. This only underscores the need for vigilance, follow-up action. We need to make sure that Iran is prevented from rebuilding its nuclear program. We need maximum pressure — it means sanctions, military readiness, intelligence sharing — maximum pressure on the Iranian regime.
Maria Bartiromo:
Well, that’s exactly what President Trump is doing, and his relationship with Netanyahu is critical to that. That’s what many of the Democrats miss. President Trump has personal relationships with a number of these people, and that’s how he gets his deals done so quickly. You’ve also got Secretary of State Marco Rubio — quite effective. He’s sanctioning a top official at the UN Human Rights Council. That person has been critical of Israel’s offensive in Gaza. Francesca Albanese is claiming that Israel is profiting from the war with Hamas, accusing them of genocide nearly 70 times in this new report, Hillel, and even as they are actually putting Netanyahu on trial in Israel, something President Trump said is a witch hunt and is ridiculous, you rebutted these points to her face last week at a meeting of the Human Rights Council. Let’s take a look at that. Hillel, what was her reaction? And were you pleased with how she responded?
Hillel Neuer:
Well, she did not verbally respond, but throughout the speech I could see her going into a kind of meltdown. At the end of my speech, her head tilted back in a kind of whiplash. She shut her eyes to imagine it wasn’t happening, because I challenged the fact that a UN investigation confirmed that she received funding from pro-Hamas groups. Look, this is someone who is a racist demagogue. She’s been condemned by France, Germany, and Canada for antisemitism and Holocaust inversion. She blamed the CIA and the Mossad for the ISIS terrorist attack in Paris. So she’s really a dangerous nutcase. She’s an enemy of America. I want to commend Secretary Rubio for taking the bold and historic step to sanction her. It’s a message to the world. It’s a message to the UN: if you appoint terrorist-supporters and racists as so-called human rights experts — America, at least, will say no.
Maria Bartiromo:
Yeah. Don’t forget the strategy that the Trump administration has used in terms of pulling Syria into the fold of the good guys, continuing to put a wall around Iran — which was very strategic as well. Hillel, always great to get your perspective. Thank you.
Hillel Neuer:
Thank you.
