In this powerful Fox Business interview, UN Watch’s Hillel Neuer exposes the Orwellian hypocrisy of China hosting a UN meeting on “bullying and unilateralism”-while it bullies Taiwan, the Uyghurs, and its neighbors.
Neuer also calls out the UN Human Rights Council for being hijacked by dictatorships like China, Cuba, and Qatar-and blasts the reappointment of Francesca Albanese, a UN official who supports Hamas and has been condemned by several countries for antisemitism.
- “The UN has been hijacked-China, Cuba, Qatar sit on the Human Rights Council.”
- “The UN just reappointed a Hamas supporter, condemned by five countries.”
- “Hamas is a suicidal death cult funded by Iran. Israel cannot survive with it on its doorstep.”
Full transcript:
Fox Business: China holding an informal United Nations Security Council meeting tomorrow, accusing the United States of bullying by weaponizing tariffs. Chinese diplomats sending a note to all 193 UN members saying, quote: “By weaponizing tariffs as a tool of extreme pressure, the US has gravely violated international trade rules and triggered severe shocks and turbulence in the world economy and multilateral trading system, casting a shadow over the global efforts for peace and development.”
Want to bring in UN Watch Executive Director, Hillel Neuer. Hillel, I want to get your reaction to that statement from them.
Hillel Neuer: Look, the official meeting tomorrow-the title is “Bullying and Unilateralism.” It is nothing less than Orwellian to see the communist regime of China organizing a UN meeting accusing the United States-or any democracy-of bullying.
Let’s recall, this is a regime that, as a matter of practice, bullies their own people and bullies their neighbors. Any country that recognizes democratic Taiwan gets threatened by China. Any country that stands with the persecuted Uyghur minority gets bullied by China.
And I’ve seen it at the United Nations in Geneva, when the Chinese ambassador sent threatening letters to any other country’s ambassador who would show up at a meeting for the persecuted Uyghurs.
And the South China Sea-China bullies its neighbors in the South China Sea.
So the notion that Beijing-that the communist dictatorship of Xi Jinping-is organizing a UN meeting to condemn the US for bullying is Orwellian and, frankly, brings new meaning to the word irony.
Fox Business: Well, this is why the Trump administration talks about pulling funding from the United Nations. This is why they talk about what is the use of the United Nations, which, by the way, is headquartered just a few blocks from where I’m sitting here in New York. And if we’re funding-sometimes, you know, too much, many would argue-putting into the UN and they’re not protecting all countries, that would include the United States, then what’s the point?
Hillel Neuer: Look, you know, President Trump has said that the UN could be beautiful. Its ideals are beautiful-international peace, security, fundamental freedoms. But over the years, the world body has become hijacked. We’re talking about China-let’s recall that they are basically a permanent member of the Human Rights Council. China always gets elected to the world’s top human rights body.
Also sitting there is communist Cuba, the Qatari regime that sponsors terrorism. So the Human Rights Council has been hijacked. US money has been paying. Under Trump, it stopped-and it stopped a year ago under bipartisan legislation-for UNRWA, the UN agency that is completely infested with Hamas.
And you know, coming back to the Human Rights Council-they have experts that they appoint. The Trump administration last week complained to the UN that they appointed a known supporter of Hamas-Francesca Albanese-a notorious UN official, for another three years. She just got another three years to be expert on Palestine. She’s someone who openly supports Hamas. She’s been condemned by four or five countries for hatred against Jews.
And the Trump administration rightly said that the UN decision to reappoint this woman shows that they tolerate anti-Americanism, support for terrorism, and antisemitism. So, you know, US is giving $13 billion a year, and some programs we’re going to have to keep because they’re necessary. But a lot of them may get the axe, and frankly, the UN needs to know about that-and deserves it.
Fox Business: Well, the Qatari and Egyptian mediators are reportedly proposing this new peace plan for Israel and Hamas, and it calls for a truce that would last between five to seven years, the release of all Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, a formal end of the war, complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. I want to get your thoughts on that as well, because that last piece of this seems to be where the Israelis don’t seem interested in making that concession.
Hillel Neuer: Well, the reports are relatively recent reports, as you indicated-coming from Egypt and Qatar. Some Saudi media reporting on these talks. We have not seen the Israeli comment yet. The basic facts remain the same: Hamas is holding 59 hostages, including an American citizen.
And Hamas is a suicidal death cult whose raison d’être, the entire purpose of Hamas, is to destroy the State of Israel. They are funded, armed, and trained by Iran. None of that’s going to go away. So of course, Israel is going to do everything to get its hostages back.
But at the same time, Israel has to maintain the ability to continue eroding and ultimately destroying Hamas. As long as Hamas is sitting meters away-yards away-from Israeli communities, they will never have a moment of peace. Israel’s economy won’t be able to develop as long as Hamas continues to exist. So it’s a dilemma. You’ve got to get the hostages out. But Israel can’t give up on the ability to destroy this fanatical Islamist death cult.
Fox Business: Well, and the question mark-is Iran going to continue to fund Hamas? I think that that’s a new discussion that’s happening right now. I want to move on and kind of actually go back to what I mentioned earlier, because I think this is important. So the Trump administration is reportedly considering this proposal.
It would cut funding for more than 20 international organizations. That includes the UN, NATO, and then reduce the State Department budget, and then reallocate funds for America First priorities. So, the US-referring to a moment ago-the US contributes about $13 billion to the UN, and that was for 2023; $3.5 billion to NATO.
A State Department spokesperson says there’s no final plan and that the proposal was an early draft. But again, I do want to get your thoughts on this, because this could really be a major shift for the United Nations in particular.
Hillel Neuer: It sure is. I can tell you-in Geneva, where I’m based-the UN is reeling because of some of the cuts. They are already feeling the pain. There are various UN agencies. So, the UN gets the message. And I think it may not be possible or desirable for the US to cut every single program.
There may be programs-like the World Food Program-that are in America First US interest to maintain. At the same time, there are many UN programs that are either corrupt, wasteful, or outright anti-American. Many UN agencies now-the World Health Organization, when COVID began, they were completely echoing and parroting the Beijing propaganda.
They have goodwill ambassadors-one of whom is the wife of the Chinese dictator. Another goodwill ambassador is a Chinese propagandist. So there are many UN agencies that either should be defunded or should feel the pressure. You know what? The moment that President Trump makes that threat-and it’s serious, it’s a credible threat-the US has leverage.
And there may be things they can get from it. When it comes to NATO, that’s a different kettle of fish. You know, NATO has been an essential institution since World War II in protecting the Western alliance and Western civilization, we can say. And I think American leadership is necessary.
No question-European countries have been ripping off America, in the sense that they have not been paying their share. They have lavish social programs, and they need to step up to the plate and need to do much more to be better citizens of NATO. But the US shouldn’t give up on it. We need it.
Fox Business: Hillel Neuer, thank you so much for joining us.
