Why the UN Hates this Man

The United Nations, I think it’s safe to say, has moved beyond parody to farce.

Created in the wake of the Holocaust with the primary goal of preventing future world wars and genocides, its number one target of condemnation since 1967 has been the only Jewish state.

Russia and China are permanent members of the Security Council, tasked with “the maintenance of international peace and security.” Current members of the Human Rights Council include China, Qatar, Cuba, and Sudan. The Commission on the Status of Women finally unloaded Iran, but still includes Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and China.

Since 2015, the General Assembly has condemned Israel 140 times; the total against all other countries combined: 65.

Still, the U.N.’s treatment of Israel remains its most barbaric affectation. In 1975, the U.N. declared that Zionism is racism. Since 2006, more than half of all condemnatory resolutions in the Human Rights Council have targeted Israel. Since 2015, the General Assembly has condemned Israel 140 times; the total against all other countries combined: 65. Israel has been made to face the International Criminal Court, because in the morally corrupt human rights industry, Israel’s self-defense amounts to a war crime.

And then there’s UNRWA, whose tight alliance with Hamas no doubt makes ISIS jealous.

Much of the above came to light when in 2004 a Canadian named Hillel Neuer became executive director of UN Watch, a human rights NGO in Geneva, Switzerland. Under his leadership, UN Watch has become the leading force against what he calls the “U.N.’s pathological discrimination and delegitimization of Israel.” He regularly calls out countries and their leaders on human rights abuses, which is what the U.N. would be doing if its mission hadn’t become politicized.

None of this makes him very popular at the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva. “When I walk into the room at the U.N., if looks could kill, I’d be dead by a thousand blows,” Neuer told the Jerusalem Post.

On Feb. 7, a bipartisan group of 12 U.S. legislators sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urging him to demand that U.N. Secretary General António Guterres and the head of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, resign over the revelation that a dozen members of UNRWA staff were involved in the Oct. 7th massacre: seven staffers infiltrated Israel; five helped to kidnap Israelis and provide ammunition. In addition, the IDF found that Hamas stored weapons in UNRWA buildings; used UNRWA resources for terrorist activities; and built tunnels under UNRWA facilities. And a recent Wall Street Journal report estimates that roughly 10% of UNRWA employees — 1,200 — are linked to Hamas.

Who initiated this call for their resignations? Hillel Neuer.

A Voice for the Voiceless

Born in Montreal, Neuer was raised in a Modern Orthodox family devoted to Judaism and Israel. At Shabbat meals, “someone would invariably bring out ‘The Encyclopaedia Judaica’ to settle a point of discussion,” he told the Jewish News Service (JNS). At 14, he took his first trip to Israel, igniting a lifelong spark to support and defend the Jewish homeland.

While studying political science at Concordia University, he saw the kind of antisemitism that he would battle years later: “A toxic alliance with radical-left activists.” Neuer earned a graduate law degree in comparative constitutional law from the Hebrew University, and then served as a law clerk for Yitzhak Zamir, then an Israeli Supreme Court judge and a former Israeli attorney general. Neuer went on to practice commercial and civil rights litigation.

In 1993, Morris B. Abram, a civil rights activist and former U.S. Permanent Representative to the U.N., founded UN Watch. In 2004, the executive director position was open, and Neuer, just 35, got the job. The nonprofit had been affiliated with the World Jewish Congress and then the American Jewish Committee. In 2013, under Neuer’s leadership, it became independent, solely funded by donors. UN Watch “has a vital part to play in creating a new center of gravity for the human rights movement,” he told JNS. “There is a whole ecosystem at the U.N. and surrounding it to demonize Israel.” The human rights industry “began with moral clarity fighting against Hitler … And has ended up with people like Ken Roth who attacks Israel as a war criminal every single day, comparing Israel to the Nazis.” 

Amnesty International will host events with Hezbollah supporters and Holocaust deniers and continues to “demonize Israel, calling it an apartheid state,” while avoiding any discussion about the estimated million Uyghurs in concentration camps in China, Neuer said. It is well known in the nonprofit world that Amnesty forces its employees to lie about Israel.

Still, Neuer has seen some promising responses to the hate that UN Watch flags, as when Qatar’s ambassador, Hend Al-Muftah, lost the chance to chair the Forum on Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law after UN Watch exposed her homophobic and antisemitic tweets.

In 2016, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel adopted a resolution declaring Hillel Neuer Day, citing his role “as one of the world’s foremost human rights advocates” and his contributions to “promote peace, justice and human rights around the world.”

In 2018, McGill University awarded Neuer with an honorary doctorate of laws for his work to advance human rights, and for being “a voice for those without one.” The university recognized Neuer as “an innovator in creating global platforms for courageous dissidents and champions of human rights from around the world,” and for being “a passionate advocate for human rights, fighting tirelessly against discrimination, torture, and injustice.”

The Tribune de Genève has described Neuer as a human rights activist who is “feared and dreaded” by the world’s dictatorships. The Journal de Montreal wrote that Neuer “makes the U.N. tremble.”

Human Rights Industry 

Nineteen-forty-eight was a big year in the world of human rights. Israel was finally reestablished as the homeland of the Jewish people, and the U.N. General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. That document, recognized today as a cornerstone of international human rights law, outlines a range of fundamental rights meant to honor human freedom and dignity. 

At the time, many of the proponents of human rights were not only Jewish but proud Zionists. But in the past 75 years, things have been subverted to the point where most people who work in the human rights industry — most especially Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch — have not only politicized which human rights they support, ignoring atrocious abuses in the process, but have made Israel their number one target of lies and distortions.

In a 2017 speech, Neuer singled out several Arab countries before the United Nations Human Rights Council. “Where are your Jews?” he asked each one. Silence.

“Jewish refugees from many Arab countries fled to Israel, the United States, Canada, France, and others … These Jewish refugees from Arab lands — whose suffering and losses the U.N. has never addressed — put their hardship behind them and built great lives for their families.”
– Hillel Neuer

In 2018, he answered his own question: “Jewish refugees from many Arab countries fled to Israel, the United States, Canada, France, and others … These Jewish refugees from Arab lands — whose suffering and losses the U.N. has never addressed — put their hardship behind them and built great lives for their families,” he said. “Now, let us contrast this with the situation of those descended from Arab refugees, who fled the area of British Mandatory Palestine during the invasion of nascent Israel by Arab armies. What is holding them back?”

Again, Neuer answered his own question. Palestinians are the only population in the world “not eligible for services by the U.N. Refugee Agency,” he said. “Instead, these descendants are governed by UNRWA, which holds generation after generation trapped in refugee camps, denied integration in the Arab countries they were born in and denied resettlement elsewhere.” 

Neuer continually points out the hypocrisy now entrenched in the human rights complex. On Feb. 6, he tweeted: “Massive rallies today in London, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam for 10.7 million people now displaced by war in Sudan,” above photos showing empty streets in each city.

On Feb. 11, he tweeted: “The U.N. Human Rights Council annual opening will host Iran’s foreign minister even as his regime beats, blinds, rapes, poisons, jails and tortures its own women and girls. On Feb. 26, we are calling on all democracies to walk out on [Iran’s Foreign Minister] Amir Abdollahian … The Ayatollah’s Islamic Republic will not be the only serial abuser of human rights invited to address the UNHCR opening together with Secretary-General António Guterres. Also present will be the foreign ministers of Venezuela, Cuba, Qatar, Turkey, Zimbabwe and the PLO.”

Neuer also has no problem hitting back at the right when necessary. When Tucker Carlson foolishly claimed that no other journalist has even tried to interview Russian President Vladimir Putin, Neuer tweeted: “Mr. Carlson, Americans also have a right to hear from the man who dared to stand up in Moscow to oppose Putin’s war on Ukraine, was sentenced to 25 years in prison, and then sent to a Siberian penal colony. He’s my friend Vladimir Kara-Murza. Will you please try to interview him?”

UNRWA

Neuer has focused on UNRWA for more than a decade, eliciting no response from the U.N.

“UNRWA is the most terrorism-infested agency in the history of the United Nations,” he tweeted on Feb. 6. “Seven years ago, we sent warnings to UNRWA estimating that thousands of their employees were implicated in terrorism. They did nothing. Worse, UNRWA attacked us. Last week it was revealed in The Wall Street Journal that in Gaza alone, 1,200 UNRWA staffers belong to Hamas or Islamic Jihad.”

On Jan. 27 Neuer called for UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini to resign. On Jan. 31 Neuer called for Secretary General António Guterres to resign. On Feb. 7 a bipartisan group of 12 legislators, led by Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), sent a letter to Secretary Blinken urging him to demand both resignations. “We have lost all confidence in Secretary-General António Guterres’ ability to ensure that the U.N. is not actively supporting terrorism or giving refuge to known terrorists,” the letter stated.

Neuer has repeatedly provided both Lazzarini and Guterres with detailed evidence about UNRWA’s support for terrorism, all detailed in “The Case Against UNRWA”: http://unwatch.org/unrwa-obstacle-to-peace. In a Congressional hearing on Jan. 30, Neuer reviewed the evidence:

• At least 12 UNRWA employees personally participated in the massacre of October 7th. 

• 113 UNRWA teachers have been found to support terrorism. 

• 1,200 UNRWA employees in Gaza are part of Hamas or Islamic Jihad, meaning actual operatives within the political and military organizations.

• An estimated 6,000 UNRWA employees, half of the UNRWA workforce in Gaza, have close family members in these terrorist organizations.

• 133 UNRWA teachers and staff have promoted hate and violence in social media.

• A report called “UNRWA’s Teachers of Hate” includes the following Facebook post by Elham Mansour, an UNRWA teacher: “By Allah, anyone who can kill and slaughter any Zionist and Israeli criminal and doesn’t do so, doesn’t deserve to live. Kill them and pursue them everywhere. They are the greatest enemy. All Israel deserves is death.”

“They cannot say they didn’t know. Mr. Guterres knew. The head of UNRWA knew. The United Nations knew. They simply chose not to act. But it’s much worse than that. From the beginning, their response to our reports was to attack us for doing the work they failed to do.”
– Hillel Neuer

“They never contacted us for information,” Neuer told Congress. “They refused our repeated written requests to meet to discuss the problem. They cannot say they didn’t know. Mr. Guterres knew. The head of UNRWA knew. The United Nations knew. They simply chose not to act. But it’s much worse than that. From the beginning, their response to our reports was to attack us for doing the work they failed to do.”

Since Neuer’s testimony, the IDF has found that Hamas stored weapons in UNRWA buildings; used UNRWA resources for terrorist activities; and built tunnels under UNRWA facilities, even the headquarters. On Feb. 10 Neuer tweeted: “Terror tunnel discovered right below UNRWA HQ, hiding Hamas intelligence data center, with electrical room, industrial battery power banks, living quarters for Hamas server operators. Electric cables from UNRWA powered the Hamas servers. UNRWA chief: ‘We had no clue.’”

Chris Gunness, a longtime UNRWA spokesman, wrote on Twitter in response to the testimony: “Appeal to journalists: Please don’t turn UN Watch’s baseless allegations about antisemitism into a he-said-she-said story. It’s a nonstory … UN Watch makes a fool of itself again. Credibility dead in the water. Will anyone believe them again?” 

Actually, yes. But we’ll never believe anyone connected to UNRWA.

In the hearing, Neuer presented a new report called “UNRWA’s Terrorgram,” which documents a telegram chat group of more than 3,000 UNRWA teachers in Gaza that is replete with messages, photos, and videos cheering and celebrating the massacre of Oct. 7. 

On the morning of Oct. 7, UNRWA teacher Safaa Mohammed Al-Najjar celebrated the massacre, posting videos. She praised the Hamas “mujahideen,” the holy warriors, as they massacred, mutilated, and raped Israelis. UNRWA English teacher Abdallah Mehjaz shared a message from Hamas urging Gazans to stay put, to ignore Israeli messages asking them to evacuate for their safety, effectively doing the work of Hamas, to ask Gazans to be human shields. 

Israa Abdul Kareem Mezher, an elementary school teacher, celebrated the Hamas terrorists saying: “May Allah keep their feet steady and guide their aim.” When a group member wondered what these “heroes,” the terrorists, were brought up on, Mezher replied, “They imbibed jihad and resistance with their mother’s milk.” And a few days later, this UNRWA teacher asked Hamas to execute their Israeli hostages. 

When Stéphane Dujarric, the U.N. spokesman, was asked about UN Watch’s information, he replied on Jan. 11: “I mean, UN Watch, they have a track record. And I think from our end it speaks for itself.” 

Indeed, it does.

Neuer concluded his Congressional testimony: “The core problem of UNRWA, the very purpose of the agency, is to perpetuate the war of 1948, to send the message to Palestinians that the war of 1948 is not over. Don’t use cement to build homes, hospitals, and schools here in Gaza. Use it to build hundreds of miles of terror tunnels, to tunnel into Israel, to invade Israel, to go back to where your true homes are.

“That is the message of UNRWA. So we should not be surprised by what happened on Oct. 7 because that is the message that these Palestinians got for more than 70 years in UNRWA schools. UNRWA is a failure. We have to recognize what the Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis said. And Switzerland is a country that historically supports the U.N. He said the following: ‘UNRWA has become part of the problem. It supplies the ammunition to continue the conflict. By supporting UNRWA, we keep the conflict alive. It’s a perverse logic.’

“It’s time to put an end to this perverse logic. We are asking Congress to take the lead in dissolving this agency.”

On February 12th, Neuer tweeted, “As Antonio Guterres and foreign ministers from around the world gather in Geneva on Feb 26 to open the 2024 UNHCR (U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees), we will be there to host the first International Summit for a Future Beyond UNRWA. Political leaders, aid officials & experts will transform crisis into opportunity.”

“UNRWA can’t be reformed,” Neuer told me. “Its entire purpose is to dismantle Israel. It’s well past time to dismantle UNRWA, entirely.”

Restoring Human Rights

In terms of reforming the larger human rights movement, that’s going to take “a change in the political will of democracies, to finally stand up to dictatorships,” Neuer told me. It’s also going to take “an alternate center of gravity” to begin to restore the true meaning of human rights. 

UN Watch began that process 15 years ago with the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy. Sponsored by a coalition of 25 non-governmental organizations, the Summit meets each year on the eve of the U.N. Human Rights Council’s main annual session. Activists from around the world attempt to raise international awareness of dire human rights situations.

Perhaps Neuer’s greatest accomplishment will be explaining to the world that the universal values of freedom, respect, and dignity that were encoded in the U.N.’s original charter are very much Jewish values. 

Perhaps Neuer’s greatest accomplishment will be explaining to the world that the universal values of freedom, respect, and dignity that were encoded in the U.N.’s original charter are very much Jewish values. Which is why the human rights complex’s treatment of Israel is in line with its non-treatment of very real human rights transgressors. 

I ended my 2016 book “Passage to Israel” with the lines, “Israel is indeed a mirror to one’s soul. Those who see the beauty, who stand up for the truth, who understand the meaning, will never regret where they stood in this moment in history, when silence is not an option.” 

In my decade writing about antisemitism, Hillel Neuer is one of the few who have not only fully embodied those words but made them actionable: creating change, slowly yes because the forces of evil are so strong right now, but still: creating change that will not only finally bring the U.N. back to its original mission, but will allow Israel, the one Jewish state, to finally live in peace.

Karen Lehrman Bloch is editor in chief of White Rose Magazine.