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UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer joined Fox Business with Cheryl Casone to discuss Hamas violating the peace agreement, Qatar’s and Turkey’s connection to the Muslim Brotherhood, and antisemitism in North America.
Full Interview:
Cheryl Casone, Fox Business: The administration is looking to bolster the peace deal, despite Israel and Hamas accusing each other of violating the ceasefire. The remains of two more Israeli men returned home overnight - the bodies now of at least 13 hostages still in Gaza.
Hamas says it’s having some difficulty finding all of the remains that need to be returned. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met with the families of recently released hostages yesterday.
I want to bring in United Nations Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer. Hillel, your reaction to where we are right now in the peace deal?
Hillel Neuer: Look, JD Vance has arrived here in Jerusalem. He and the Trump administration are taking the peace deal very seriously. The problem is that Hamas isn’t. You know, we are 13 days after Hamas signed the deal which promised that they would release all of the hostages, living and dead. As you indicated, they are still holding 13 dead hostages.
Their excuses are ridiculous. The hostages, living or dead, are their main leverage. Of course, they know where they are. The fact is that Hamas has not released the hostages. They have not disarmed - and they were supposed to release the hostages within 72 hours. We’re 13 days later; they haven’t released them, they haven’t disarmed.
On the contrary, they are torturing and killing Palestinians - they don’t like - executing them in cold blood. This isn’t the peace deal that Hamas and its backers, Turkey and Qatar, signed on to.
Cheryl Casone, Fox Business: Those images of those executions in Gaza were very jarring, and I saw those as well. I’ve got Tiana Lowe Doescher on set, she actually has a question about the deal as well for you.
Tiana Lowe Doescher, Washington Examiner: Yeah, and I want to specifically ask about the Qataris. Steve Witkoff, on 60 Minutes over the weekend, said that the Qataris were the peacemakers - really doubling down on this. But there are reports that Saudi Arabia and the UAE are warning that if Qatar is holding the deal at the center, it will fall apart. What’s your take on that?
Hillel Neuer: Look, Qatar and Turkey both are part of the Muslim Brotherhood network. They are backers of Hamas. Qatar hosts the Hamas chiefs. Turkey also hosts Hamas chiefs, including Suhail al-Hindi, one of the Hamas leaders who used to run the UNRWA education network in Gaza.
So unless the Trump administration squeezes Turkey and Qatar hard, they’re not going to deliver Hamas as they promised.
Cheryl Casone, Fox Business: We just saw images of the Vice President meeting with Israeli President Herzog. So these conversations are ongoing right now where you are in Jerusalem.
The Israeli government now is putting pressure on Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to abandon his vow to uphold the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant against Netanyahu upon any visit to the country.
New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is facing similar calls after he said he would also honor that arrest warrant - he even said it right here on Fox. Watch this:
Zohran Mamdani (recorded clip): I’ve said that this is a city that believes in international law, and this is a city that wants to uplift and uphold those beliefs. The International Criminal Court has issued a warrant for the arrest of Benjamin Netanyahu, as it has for Vladimir Putin.
I’ve said that I believe that we should uphold arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court, and that we should do so only in abiding with all of the laws in front of us.
Cheryl Casone, Fox Business: Think about that - arresting Benjamin Netanyahu in New York. And Elie Wiesel’s son has a new op-ed in The Wall Street Journal opinion section. He says a Mamdani mayoralty threatens New York’s Jewish community. Hillel, your reaction?
Hillel Neuer: Look, the ICC is primarily a rogue court. Keep in mind that Israel is the only Jewish and democratic state in the entire Middle East. It just survived a seven-front assault led by the Islamic Republic of Iran. Iran fired hundreds of missiles that were bombing Tel Aviv. They organized Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthi terrorists - fired thousands of missiles.
The ICC hasn’t issued a single arrest warrant for the Supreme Leader of Iran or any other IRGC terrorist in Iran. So going after Israel is absurd. Israel is defending itself.
The fact that Mamdani, the candidate to be mayor of New York, would seek to threaten to arrest the Israeli prime minister is throwing fuel on an antisemitic fire that we’ve seen raging across North America - and I’m going to include Canada as well.
The Canadian Prime Minister - that’s a betrayal of Canada’s values. I grew up in Canada. The synagogue where I went - someone shot at it a year or two ago. The Jewish school in my neighborhood was shot at multiple times.
It’s a conflagration across Canada. For the Canadian Prime Minister to say Netanyahu is not welcome and he’s going to want to see him prosecuted is just pouring fuel on a very dangerous fire.
Cheryl Casone, Fox Business: Hillel, you know, what did you make of that op-ed by Elie Wiesel’s son? Because the question here is - we’re less than two weeks away from Election Day here in New York City.
And, you know, he talks about the fact that we’ve already seen an incredible amount of antisemitic behavior since October 7th here in New York, which has been shocking to many. But what about the Jewish community here? Can they rally around and support Cuomo to stop Mamdani from taking over the city that, again, has the largest Jewish population in our country?
Hillel Neuer: Look, I’m not going to comment on U.S. domestic politics, but I will say this: there is no question that Mamdani’s statements are clearly promoting antisemitism. When you falsely accuse the world’s only Jewish state of genocide, apartheid, colonialism - these are the modern-day equivalents of the blood libel. And we know in history what kind of consequences this incitement leads to.
This is a guy, Mamdani, who can’t condemn Hamas, and he is rather overtly supporting Muslim Brotherhood figures who are connected to terrorism - including people connected to the 9/11 attacks. It’s astonishing that we’re in a time, in New York City - which was hit barely 20 years ago by radical Islamic terrorists who blew up the World Trade Center - you have someone who’s hanging out with people who were, you know, involved with the World Trade Center bombers.
It’s astonishing, and it’s a very scary place we’re at today in the United States.
Cheryl Casone, Fox Business: Yeah, no, there’s a photo of him arm-in-arm with one of the men that was involved in the 1993 World Trade Center attack, and this is why there is such uproar about his statements and what this could do to New York.
Well, anyway, Hillel, thank you so much for being here. We really appreciate you joining us today. It’s always - you’re such a great voice in all of this.
Hillel Neuer: Thank you for having me.
