UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer joined Newsmax’s Emma Reckenberg and Jon Glasgow to discuss Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s UN General Assembly address, the UN’s longstanding bias against Israel, and UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher’s troubling embrace of Iran’s regime.
Emma Reckenberg, Newsmax: Let’s welcome Hillel Neuer, Executive Director at UN Watch. Hillel, what did you make of Netanyahu’s speech at the UN General Assembly?
Hillel Neuer: I think it was a strong statement by Israel’s Prime Minister. Israel is being attacked militarily on seven different fronts in the past three years. You could say the eighth front is the United Nations, the international stage where Israel’s very existence is challenged repeatedly by the world’s worst dictatorships. Israel’s leader made a powerful statement, a powerful speech. He called out the dictators like Turkey, Iran, and Qatar for their funding of terrorism and their hypocrisy. He called out the UN, and he made a strong case for Israel’s right to defend itself.
So I think it was regarded by neutral observers worldwide as a strong case, and I think Israelis at home as well. And, of course, keep in mind that Israel’s Prime Minister has an election in one month, and obviously he was looking both to the global audience but also to the domestic audience. I think on both, I think it was successful for him.
Jon Glasgow, Newsmax: And you’ve been covering the UN for years here. Why do you think that the institution has become so anti-Israel?
Hillel Neuer: Well, this isn’t new. It began at least 50 years ago. Let’s recall that in 1975, the then-Soviet Union, which was the leader of the anti-democratic bloc, together with Arab states, pushed a resolution through declaring Zionism to be a form of racism. This means the very existence of the State of Israel, which was first proposed and recognized by the League of Nations in 1922, when they recognized the ancestral historical rights of the Jewish people to their homeland, and then in 1948, when Israel was admitted to the United Nations, was challenged in 1975 by the General Assembly.
Since then, going back now 50 years, every year at the UN, there’s only one resolution on Iran, one on North Korea, zero on most of the world, and at least 15 targeting Israel. No mention of Hamas, no mention of the jihad, no mention of Abbas and the torture that he commits, or the fact that Abbas, who calls himself president of Palestine, is in the 22nd year of his four-year term.
So why is it happening? Briefly, you have countries that want to go along to get along. They are persuaded by vote trading. Fifty-six Islamic nations trade their votes, vast amounts of oil in the Arab world, and, I would say, fear of terrorism. These can all combine - threats to pull investment, Qatar’s billions of dollars of sovereign wealth funds. All of these are realpolitik.
And I would just mention one other factor, which is that Israel continues to be singled out as the Jew among the nations. There’s no question that some Europeans, for example, when they used to single out the Jews for poisoning the wells, today the modern form is singling out the world’s only Jewish country as responsible for all the world’s ills.
Emma Reckenberg, Newsmax: You point out so many challenges Israel continues to face, and yet the country is defiant in its determination to stand up for its Jewish residents, but also Christian residents, Arab residents as well. Those who are practicing Islam are all welcome in Israel to do so. But you saw those delegations get up and leave. I mean, are they even going to offer a chance to listen to some of these proposals that we’ve heard from Bibi Netanyahu?
Hillel Neuer: Look, that’s an annual ritual. There’s the ritual of scapegoating Israel in 15 different resolutions, and the United Nations so-called Human Rights Council, which just met yesterday on their special agenda item targeting Israel. No other country in the world has that agenda item.
There’s a ritual scapegoating, and the walkout is performative. You know, many of the delegates were, you know, 10 or 15 members of the same tiny country. The Palestinians sent a memo saying, “Bring the largest possible entourage you can gather, so that we’ll have a walkout.”
Look, the reality is that Israel’s Prime Minister just went to Abu Dhabi to meet with the head of the United Arab Emirates. Israel has very strong relations with Bahrain, Morocco, and other Arab and Muslim nations that actually care about peace. Israel has a very strong relationship with Saudi Arabia. It’s not formal yet. We wish that would be formalized for the sake of peace.
And as you said, Christians and Muslims live with equal rights in Israel. If you walk into any shopping mall in Israel, you will see Arabs wearing hijabs, not just working there, but managing the stores there as customers. Anywhere you go in Israel, you will hear the call of the muezzin to call to prayer.
So the accusations made against Israel are completely false. It’s a Jewish country, but very much a multicultural society. There’s going to be elections next month. Arabs will vote, Muslims will vote, Christians will vote. Not only will they vote, they’ll be elected to positions of power. Nowhere else in the Middle East-not Egypt, not Syria, not Lebanon-can you actually have free and fair elections for Arabs, Muslims, or Christians. Only in Israel. That’s the truth. That’s the reality.
Jon Glasgow, Newsmax: Well said. Let me show you this photo here. That’s become quite controversial. It shows Tom Fletcher, who serves as the head of the UN’s relief agency, shaking hands with the Iranian foreign minister. Critics say that Fletcher looks like he’s bowing to the Iranian leader. You say that when this was posted, the photo, Fletcher blocked you after this was posted. What were your takeaways from the photo and maybe the backlash that followed?
Hillel Neuer: Look, that photo is published throughout Iranian state media. They are cheering this. This is a propaganda victory. I’ve seen no explanation other than that he made some kind of a deferential bow. You see the smile on the part of the regime’s so-called foreign minister. He has blood on his hands. They massacred tens of thousands of Iranians for protesting for freedom. The regime is celebrating this photo.
Tom Fletcher is someone - let’s keep in mind, when he was British ambassador to Lebanon, he welcomed the role of Hezbollah. He, for the past year or two, as UN relief chief, humanitarian coordinator, has routinely echoed Iranian regime talking points, accusing America and Israel of harming the economy worldwide. He hasn’t said a word about the Iranian regime, how they destroyed Lebanon, destroyed Iraq, destroyed Yemen, destroyed Gaza. He gives them a free pass.
So there are serious questions. We’ve called on the United Nations to remove Mr. Fletcher from his position, replace him with someone who can actually earn the respect of the world, because humanitarian needs are serious. This is someone who defers to dictators. He shouldn’t be in that position.
