UN Watch was quoted by media outlets around the world in June 2026 on numerous topics, including on former Israeli hostage Ilana Gritzewsky’s viral speech, in which she confronted Reem Alsalem, the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, over her denial of sexual violence committed by Hamas during the October 7 attacks.
Appeared on Sky News Australia, June 23, 2026:
Key Quote:
Ben Saul claims to be an independent expert. This is a law professor at the University of Sydney who has a position on human rights and counter-terrorism, and he’s called an independent expert. I want to know: How can you be an independent expert while you’re receiving $150,000 from the Chinese Communist regime? Now, let me be clear. No one’s claiming that it’s going into his own pocket to buy a Ferrari or what have you, but it’s going to his office. This is the same office that has never condemned China for putting a million Uyghurs into camps under the pretext of counter-terrorism, which is the very issue he’s supposed to be addressing. When countries abuse human rights in the name of counter-terrorism, Professor Ben Saul is supposed to speak out. Yet when it comes to China—the one giving him $150,000 a year—he is silent.
Appeared on i24 News, June 18, 2026:
Key Quote:
This is a significant legal victory. Francesca Albanese is someone who, as you indicated, openly supports Hamas terrorism. Back in 2014, she was calling them “resistance.” As you said on October 7th, she defended their actions, saying that there was context to justify it. She’s been condemned for a Holocaust inversion by the Canadian Government — which normally supports the UN very strongly, rarely criticizes experts. France and Germany have condemned her for antisemitism. The Netherlands last year said she should not be renewed because she had violated the UN Code of Conduct. So this is someone who is subverting human rights, who supports terrorism, who incites antisemitism around the world with the blood libel accusing Israel of genocide. She’s the leader of that. She’s now been condemned, you could say, by the U.S. Appeals Court. For the sanctions, she tried to get them lifted. She did win a temporary victory in the lower court in the U.S. District of Columbia, but the appeals court, three judges have overturned that. And for now, for the duration of the appeal, which could last months or even longer, these sanctions are enforced. It sends an important message.
Featured in the Daily Mail, “Appalling Reaction of UN ‘Expert on Violence Against Women’ as Female October 7 Survivor Blasts Her for Denying Hamas Rapes,” June 25, 2026:
A United Nations expert on violence offered a shocking reaction when a female October 7 survivor confronted her for denying Hamas’ rapes after she detailed her own sexual abuse at the hands of the terrorist group. “On October 7, terrorists stormed our Kibbutz, murdering, kidnapping and burning,’ Gritzewsky said. ‘They touched me and sexually abused me.” Gritzewsky, who was brought to the floor by watchdog nongovernmental organization UN Watch, added that she had been sexually assaulted by at least seven Hamas terrorists.
Featured in the National Post, “‘Please Look at Me’: Former Israeli Hostage Demands of UN Adviser on Violence Against Women,” June 25, 2026:
It is a tragedy in its own right that Ilana Gritzewsky, a liberated Israeli hostage whom Hamas abused sexually, had to confront the United Nations expert on violence against women, according to Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch. “It’s absolutely horrible that this should have to be the case,” Neuer told JNS on Wednesday, the day after Gritzewsky appeared before the U.N. Human Rights Council to address Reem Alsalem, special rapporteur on violence against women and girls. “It’s absolutely absurd and tragic that there are U.N. experts who are supposed to care about the rights of women, especially to combat sexual violence, and she’s one of the world’s major deniers of sexual violence against Israeli women,” Neuer said.
Quoted in the Washington Examiner, “UN’s Albanese Faces Uphill Battle With First Amendment Case Seeking to End Sanctions Against Her,” June 19, 2026:
Hillel Neuer, executive director of the nonprofit organization U.N. Watch in Switzerland, has made it his mission to call attention to Albanese and oust her. He claims she has abused the position by turning it into a vehicle of celebrity and hysteria. “Historically, [rapporteurs] would write two reports a year, maybe issue a few press releases, and it was kind of a quiet job,” Neuer told the Washington Examiner, explaining that the age of social media “changed everything” about the position. “She’s tweeting every five minutes, every Hamas lie about Israel … she just repeats it. And so she’s hyperactive, doing all this stuff in the name of the U.N.” “From her standpoint, she benefits from the incredible imprimatur to be a U.N. expert,” Neuer continued. “She can tell the world that she is the U.N. special rapporteur in Palestine. She suddenly benefits from immunity. She gets various U.N. documents that won’t call her an employee, but basically call her some kind of an official. … She gets to issue press releases on the U.N. stationery and issue U.N. reports.”
Quoted in the National Post, “Facts, Persuasion Are Powerful Tools Against Israel Haters, Advocate Says,” June 4, 2026:
Hillel Neuer: It is easier said than done, but if you have friends who are going to ostracize you because you told the truth — because you contested the manufactured blood libel that Israel commits genocide, and that whoever supports Israel is somehow a supporter of baby-killing — then they are not really your friends and you are better off without them. Certainly, in my own experience, I have been in a hostile atmosphere for two decades. But with the contempt and hatred I get from those who have become apologists for the Islamic regime in Iran, I also get support, encouragement, and admiration from amazing people around the world. It may be difficult at first to be ostracized, but you will earn respect from morally principled, good people. They may be fewer — but better to have a few good people than a majority of fake friends.
Quoted in the National Post, “Michael Higgins: Anita Anand Ignores UN’s Terrorist Ties, Gives It More Money,” June 16, 2026:
In a statement, Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, an organization that has reported UNRWA’s ties to Hamas, said the firings were a “small beginning.” But he also noted the UN’s “incoherent” position. “Firing people while refusing to acknowledge why reveals an institution still more interested in protecting itself and its Hamas-embedded workforce than in genuine neutrality or accountability.”
Featured in Sky News Australia, “‘Sickening misuse of taxes’: October 7 fallout deepens as UNRWA purge expands,” June 16, 2026:
The UN has announced that 70 UNRWA workers have been dismissed, fired from the aid agency, after accusations from Israel and the UN Watch organisation that they were affiliated with Hamas.
Quoted in the Sunday Times, “Ignore the Howls, the East Mids Are Perfect for Nuclear Experiments,” June 6, 2026:
The latest report from UN Watch stars the deranged Canadian academic Michael Fakhri, who thinks Venezuela is a paragon of governmental excellence while Canada is pursuing vendettas against its own people. Or there is Alena Douhan, a Belarusian looking into whether sanctions against authoritarian regimes are doing a great deal of good. She believes they are not — yes, yes, I know. But at least the funding pouring into her capacious pockets from Russian, Chinese and Qatari state donors must mitigate any qualms she might have about her independence: £1 million at the latest count.
Quoted in the National Post, “Michael Higgins: Anita Anand Ignores UN’s Terrorist Ties, Gives It More Money,” June 16, 2026:
In a statement, Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, an organization that has reported UNRWA’s ties to Hamas, said the firings were a “small beginning.” But he also noted the UN’s “incoherent” position. “Firing people while refusing to acknowledge why reveals an institution still more interested in protecting itself and its Hamas-embedded workforce than in genuine neutrality or accountability.”
Featured in Ynet News, “‘Please Look at Me’: Ex-Hostage Confronts UN Official Over Silence on Hamas Sexual Violence,” June 23, 2026:
She was accompanied in Geneva by Meirav Lapidot, who has tried to shield her as much as possible from shocks and triggers. The two were brought to the UN by UN Watch, the Geneva-based organization founded in 1993 that monitors whether UN debates and decisions align with the world body’s own founding principles. UN Watch has long criticized what it describes as the disproportionate amount of time and number of resolutions the UN devotes to Israel compared with the rest of the world. Since the Human Rights Council was established in 2006 and through the end of 2025, it has issued 112 condemnations of Israel, slightly fewer than half the condemnations issued against all other countries combined.
Featured in the Jerusalem Post, “Former Hostage Condemns UN Special Rapporteur’s Silence on Hamas’s October 7 Sexual Violence,” June 24, 2026:
Former Gaza hostage Ilana Gritzewsky took the floor at the UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday in order to confront the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women for her minimization of sexual violence used against victims on October 7, 2023. “Your report speaks about violence against women. Why is there no mention of Hamas?” Gritzewsky, who was speaking for the watchdog NGO UN Watch. demanded from the Special Rapporteur, Reem Alsalem.
Featured in The Daily Wire, “Watch U.N. Official’s Sickening Reaction To Oct. 7 Survivor,” June 25, 2026:
The confrontation laid bare a record that is nothing short of a scandal. As U.N. Watch noted, Alsalem publicly declared last November that “no independent investigation found that rape took place on October 7” — a claim directly contradicted by a U.N. report issued months earlier that found reasonable grounds to believe Hamas committed sexual violence during the attack, with an even higher evidentiary threshold met for assaults on hostages held in captivity. As recently as April 2026, she was still dismissing survivor testimony as “misinformation” deployed to “justify genocide against Palestinians.”
Featured in Ynet News, “Author of Oct. 7 Sexual Violence Report Tells UN: ‘You Abandoned the Victims,’” June 25, 2026:
Dr. Cochav Elkayam-Levy, chair of the Civil Commission on Oct. 7 Crimes by Hamas against Women and Children, delivered a speech Wednesday at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, where she presented the findings of the commission’s report on the sexual crimes committed by Hamas during the massacre and in captivity. Elkayam-Levy came to the UN at the invitation of UN Watch, a Geneva-based organization founded in 1993 that serves as a UN watchdog.
Featured in i24 News, “Former Hostage Ilana Gritzewsky at the UN: “Why This Silence? I Am Living Proof of Hamas’s Sexual Crimes,” June 23, 2026:
Invited to Geneva by the non-governmental organization UN Watch, based in Switzerland and specializing in monitoring the activities of the United Nations, Ilana Gritzewvsky directly challenged the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, accusing her of ignoring the suffering of the Israeli victims of October 7…The event also sparked criticism of certain reports presented to the Human Rights Council. Israel’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Daniel Maron, denounced what he called a minimization of the crimes committed on October 7. For his part, Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, accused certain international bodies of silencing the voices of Israeli victims.
Featured in the Jerusalem Post, “Civil Commission Chair Presents Oct. 7 Sexual Violence Report to UN, Calls for Recognition,” June 27, 2026:
Executive Director of UN Watch Hillel Neuer echoed Elkayam-Levy’s concern and condemnation of the UN’s double standard. “Israeli victims did not receive compassion or protection from this system. Instead, they were exposed to the hatred that rages throughout the world and to the institutions that enable it,” Neuer said. “The question now is whether the United Nations will finally apply the same standards of compassion, credibility, and accountability to Israeli victims that it demands for every other victim of sexual violence,” Neur stated.
Featured in The Spectator, “No, Israel Isn’t ‘Deliberately Targeting’ Children in Gaza,” June 24, 2026:
The UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry has published a 94-page paper claiming Israel “deliberately targeted” Palestinian children during the war in the Gaza Strip – language implying war crimes and crimes against humanity. These are among the most serious charges in international law. So you would expect, at minimum, one clearly documented case: a soldier who identified a child as a child, and killed that child for no reason other than that they were a child. After 94 pages, the Commission cannot produce one. What it produces instead, according to a detailed rebuttal by the watchdog UN Watch, is a chain of assumptions dressed up as findings.
Featured in the Times of Israel, “Ex-Hostage to UN Official Who Doubted Oct. 7 Rape: ‘I Am Living Proof’ of Hamas Sexual Violence,” June 23, 2026:
Gritzewsky was invited to testify before the council by UN Watch, a pro-Israel NGO that monitors the world body. The organization’s executive director, Hillel Neuer, told The Times of Israel that it invited her to speak to the council because Alsalem “only comes for a debate once a year — and it was vital to invite a survivor to confront this serial denier with the truth.” He noted that Gritzewsky spoke directly after Alsalem presented a report on violence against mothers, which discussed the two-year war in Gaza but did not mention October 7. “Ilana displayed immense courage by standing at the United Nations, reliving the most traumatic moments of her captivity in front of the very official who had denied the sexual violence she endured,” Neuer said.
Featured in JNS, “UN Watch Chief Seeks Indictment of UNRWA Head,” June 22, 2026:
The executive director of U.N. Watch on Monday called for the indictment of Philippe Lazzarini, the outgoing commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East ( UNRWA), accusing him of crimes against humanity over the agency’s alleged role in enabling and perpetuating Hamas terrorism. Speaking at the second JNS International Policy Summit in Jerusalem, Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva-based watchdog organization, argued that UNRWA had become deeply intertwined with Hamas and should be held accountable for its actions and failures. “For years, UNRWA has been funded by Western governments—the European Union, Canada, Australia and others—with millions of dollars,” he said. “Yet it has not resettled a single Palestinian refugee. Its structure perpetuates the conflict rather than resolves it.”
Quoted in i24 News, “At the UN, the Author of the October 7 Report on Sexual Violence Denounces ‘Abandoned Victims,'” June 24, 2026:
Also present at the session, Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, criticized the attitude of certain UN bodies. “The victims of October 7th deserve the same recognition, the same compassion, and the same justice as all other victims of sexual violence,” he declared, asserting that “human rights cannot be selective.”
Featured in Exxpress, “The Propaganda Scandal Surrounding the UN Special Rapporteur,” June 29, 2026:
The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has 59 UN Special Rapporteurs who address specific issues—such as food security—or the human rights situation in individual countries. However, many abuse their mandates to spread propaganda for dictatorships and attack democracies. They simultaneously receive funding from Moscow, Beijing, Qatar, or from left-wing organizations like George Soros’ Open Society Foundations. This is the conclusion of a 100-page report by a Geneva-based NGO that aims to measure the work of the United Nations against the principles of the UN Charter. “Whenever a UN expert publishes a report, it can influence international courts, media, universities, and other institutions,” explains Hillel Neuer, director of UN-Watch. “Although their findings are not necessarily legally binding, they can significantly shape public opinion. Their reports influence discussions within the UN; they influence the way governments act.”
Quoted in JNS, “The Most Important Thing That Can Be Done Is Sanctions by the United States,” June 24, 2026:
International human rights lawyer Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, agreed on the importance of “showing up and making the case.” “The United Nations, despite its obsession, its pathological obsession, with demonizing the world’s only Jewish state, is a global podium. In general, there is no magic bullet on how to confront this global demonization. And being at the UN offers opportunities,” he said, citing several examples of his activism at the world body.
Featured in the Forward, “‘There Was a Campaign’: UN Torture Official Says Colleagues Tried to Block Her Letter Documenting Oct. 7 Atrocities,” June 25, 2026:
A day earlier, Ilana Gritzewsky, a survivor of Hamas captivity who has spoken publicly about experiencing sexual violence, took the floor in Geneva, where she confronted Alsalem during a live testimony in an emotional appeal. “Ms. Alsalem, you said there was no evidence of sexual violence on October 7,” she said. “I am the living proof of sexual violence by Hamas. When I and other Israeli women begged not to be raped, why were you silent?” Both women were brought to the United Nations to speak by the Geneva-based NGO UN Watch.
Featured in Maariv, “I Returned From the Depths of Death”: Yazidi Captivity Survivor Reveals the Nightmare in Gaza,” June 29, 2026:
The person who brought Amin Sido to the UN building was Hillel Neuer , executive director of UN Watch. “Survivors deserve a voice,” he explains, “especially in institutions that often prefer political narratives to inconvenient truths. No diplomat’s speech can match the moral authority of a survivor who has experienced firsthand the consequences of hatred, bigotry, and terrorism – which the UN has too often failed to confront.”
Quoted in Opindia, “UN Special Rapporteur Found to Be Under China’s Payroll,” June 27, 2026:
A recent report of the UN Watch has accused the United Nations Special Rapporteur on counterterrorism, Ben Saul, of ideological bias and conflicts of interest. The report reveals that Saul has been receiving funding from the Chinese government. According to Sky News, the report of the Geneva-based group also states that Saul has an anti-Western and anti-Israel bias. It points out that Saul has condemned the killing of the terrorist leader Ayman Mohammed Rabie al-Zawahiri, who was a senior member of the terrorist group Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. “He’s not supposed to be an activist; he’s supposed to be an academic. We’re supposed to see scholarship,” UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer said, speaking to Sky News.
Featured in Israel National News, “Former Hostage Ilana Gritzewsky Confronts UN: “Why Were You Silent?” June 23, 2026:
Alsalem’s report to the council mentioned “Palestinian suffering” 11 times but did not include a single reference to the atrocities of October 7 or the hardships faced by Israeli civilians. UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer criticized the report, saying, “There is something absurd about the fact that the UN envoy responsible for combating violence against women has produced a document that erases Hamas’ victims.
Featured in News Ghana, “Yazidi Survivor’s UN Plea Exposes Global Hypocrisy,” June 27, 2026:
Sido testified at a UN Watch side event during the 62nd session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. She was joined by Marzieh Hamidi, an Afghan-Iranian taekwondo champion who called on the international community to stop diplomatic normalisation with the Taliban, and Dr Cochav Elkayam-Levy, who presented findings on Hamas’s sexual crimes during the October 7, 2023 attacks.
Featured in Enlace Judio, “Ilana Gritzewsky’s Forceful Denunciation of the UN’s Silence,” June 24, 2026:
Gritzewsky was accompanied by Merav Lapidot , and both were brought to the session by UN Watch , a Geneva -based organization that monitors the activities and resolutions of the United Nations. The organization highlights what it describes as a persistent anti-Israel bias, noting that between 2006 and 2025, the Human Rights Council adopted 112 resolutions condemning Israel , nearly half of all specific condemnations issued against the rest of the world combined during that period.
Featured in Bet Magazine Mosaico, “The UN Accuses Israel of Genocide Against Gaza’s Children. Israel Rejects the Report and Denounces a “Biased” Commission,” June 24, 2026:
Accusations of bias don’t just come from Israel. The organization UN Watch , led by Hillel Neuer, has been denouncing the composition of the UN Commission on the Palestinian Territories for years. In a recent analysis, UN Watch argues that even after the commission’s renewal, its work continues to display “a persistent anti-Israel bias.” According to the organization, over half of the report’s focus is on alleged Israeli violations, while only a small portion concerns Palestinian attacks against Israelis. UN Watch has also challenged in the past the appointment of members who had already expressed very harsh judgments on the conflict before even taking on the role of investigators.
Quoted in J-Wire, “Israeli Investigator Challenges UN Over Response to Hamas Sexual Violence,” June 25, 2026:
UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer said the survivor’s testimony and the commission’s report provided both a personal account and a wider body of evidence. “Yesterday, a survivor spoke. Today, the lead investigator presented the evidence,” Neuer said. “The question is no longer whether these crimes occurred. The evidence is overwhelming. “The question now is whether the United Nations will finally apply the same standards of compassion, credibility and accountability to Israeli victims that it demands for every other victim of sexual violence.”
Featured in Matzav, “UN Watch Chief: Anti-Israel Bias at UN Has Reached Unprecedented Levels Since October 7,” June 25, 2026:
Speaking with Arutz Sheva on the sidelines of the JNS International Policy Conference in Jerusalem, Neuer looked back on more than 20 years of monitoring the United Nations and said the organization’s treatment of Israel has deteriorated even further in the aftermath of the Hamas attack. When asked whether the fight against anti-Israel bias at the UN has become more difficult, Neuer responded, “It’s hard to imagine, but the pathological UN, which obsesses over Israel, got even so much worse after October 7th, in particular because of Antonio Guterres.”
