UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer was interviewed on i24 News about the sudden resignation of all three members of the UN’s controversial Commission of Inquiry on Israel.
i24 News Interviewer:
Now joining me in the studio is Hillel Neuer, Executive Director of United Nations Watch. Thank you so much for joining us this evening. The three members of this committee all resigned. Now officially, for very different reasons, but, it still came at the same time. A wave, all of three of them just resigned, one after the other. What more do we know about this?
Hillel Neuer:
Well, this has never happened before. I’m not aware, I’ve been at the Human Rights Council since it was created in June 2006, those nearly 20 years, never seen before an entire commission resign like this. The timing is important. This basically came out right after Secretary of State Rubio announced historic sanctions on Francesca Albanese, the notorious UN supporter of Hamas terrorism. We know from a report today that came out that Navi Pillay has family in America, and that apparently she was frightened of sanctions. The sanctions deal with anyone who engages with the International Criminal Court, to use that against America or Israel. Navi Pillay was a major figure in falsely accusing Israel of apartheid and genocide, going to the Hague to try to weaponize the International Criminal Court, so she was afraid of sanctions, and the other two each had their own reasons. Miloon Kotharii has been condemned previously by 18 countries for anti-semitic remarks. He said the Jewish lobby controls social media. He was condemned by Switzerland, Belgium, France, Germany, every major democracy, so he was a liability for them. And, I think the moment Navi Pillay resigned, fear of sanctions, the others were persuaded to do so as well. But it’s never happened before, and I think dominoes are falling. Rubio sanctioned this Hamas terrorism supporter at the UN. Others are getting very scared. Dominoes are falling.
Interviewer:
Is this a positive direction that we’re seeing? You’re saying dominoes are falling. There can also be the criticism saying that these people are afraid, and should they be? Perhaps they shouldn’t be, they’re working at the UN is this a positive?
Hillel Neuer:
This is a very positive direction. This calls itself a commission of inquiry. But I quote Canadian ambassador Bob Rae, who had said two years earlier that this is like the Inquisition. The Inquisition in Spain existed for hundreds of years, where Jews, those accused of practicing Judaism, were burned at the stake. There was no justice. This commission of inquiry was designed to persecute Israel. You have Navi Pillay was chosen, chosen as the chair, after she had publicly lobbied governments to quote, “sanction apartheid Israel”. So this is a commission that was there to persecute Israel, and now they have all been forced to resign. And I think that’s a very welcome development. Again, it’s thanks to Secretary of State Marco Rubio. We hope that other figures who abuse their UN positions, who use a position of human rights and international law to justify terrorism. Navi Pillay said the Hamas attacks of October 7th didn’t happen in a vacuum. She was legitimizing Hamas atrocities; now she’s gone.
Interviewer:
All right, so we have these figures that are being pushed out or leaving due to circumstances. What about the commission itself, though? It still continues, right?
Hillel Neuer:
Well, we’ll have to see. Their mandate was given by the Human Rights Council in June 2021. It has not been eliminated. As you said, they’re looking for replacements, and so, yes, that will be very troubling if replacements are appointed. We need to end the mandate. UN Watch has created a petition and a draft resolution to just end the mandate of something that its only purpose is to legitimize Hamas terrorism. They’re not trying to help the human rights of anyone.
Interviewer:
All right, so right now, we’re looking at one positive step in the right direction. The UN, though, has been very widely accused of anti-semitism, of anti-Israel bias. What is it that needs to be done right now to counter that?
Hillel Neuer:
Well, member states need to speak out. We’re not going to convince the Qataris or the Iranians or the Cubans to stop hijacking UN bodies like the Human Rights Council, like the Women’s Rights Commission, where the Islamic Republic of Iran was elected a member. So we’re not going to convince them, but we need to get decent countries to speak out. France, Germany, Canada, condemned Francesca Albanese for antisemitism. She compares Israel to the Third Reich. She says that America, that the Jewish Lobby subjugates America, but the UK has been silent. Why is Prime Minister Starmer silent? Why is Italian Prime Minister Meloni silent? Other countries need to step up and speak out. If they do so, it will, may not be the majority, but it will be moral majority. We need more decent countries to say and do the right thing.
