UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer joined Fox Business with Cheryl Casone to discuss Israel’s looming operations in Gaza, the fate of hostages still held by Hamas, and the UN’s ongoing failures.
Cheryl Casone, Fox Business:
I want to bring in UN Watch Executive Director, Hillel Neuer. Hillel, I want to get your reaction to this, because we knew this was coming. The Cabinet had already approved for the complete takeover of Gaza, Gaza City, but it looks like we may see some pretty major operations underway within the next 24 to 48 hours in Gaza.
Hillel Neuer:
That’s right. Look, folks have to remember that Israel is sitting next-door to a terrorist organization that is armed and financed by the Islamic regime in Iran, that is holding dozens of hostages - some living, some dead - and has sworn to repeat the assault that they perpetrated on October 7, two years ago, nearly two years ago, where they massacred more than a thousand people, families, and committed atrocities, and they threatened to do it again. They still fire rockets at Israel when they can. So Israel has an obligation to push back. There’s a stronghold in Gaza City. Of course, there’s a dilemma in Israel, there’s a terrible dilemma: do you defeat Hamas and root them out, as you need to do, but at the same time, you have to do everything not to harm the hostages. And that’s why Israel’s Prime Minister announced that he was going to instruct his negotiators to engage fully diplomatically to seek to negotiate the release of the hostages.
Cheryl Casone:
But Hamas has been completely unwilling for all these years to negotiate, and there were releases, but at this point, those last living hostages seem to be the only bargaining chip that Hamas has left. Do you think they’re even going to use that chip at all? Or do you think that it is a worst-case scenario where, unfortunately, if the IDF gets close enough to where the hostages are, that Hamas would indeed kill them?
Hillel Neuer:
Well, tragically, that is what happened last year, and many people in Israel painfully remember when some of the hostages were executed, exactly as you said, as Israel got closer. So look, this is a vicious terrorist organization. They’re not new at this modus operandi. Let’s recall 25 years ago: Hamas unleashed suicide bombers, which were blowing up dozens and dozens of suicide bombs, bombs in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, in pizza shops, in discotheques and so forth, blowing up buses. This is a nihilistic death cult. They are holding onto hostages, in part to torture them, but also to create a rift between Israelis, because a large part of Israelis say: “Do everything to release the hostages,” and others say: “Yes, but we also have to defeat Hamas.” So it’s a horrible dilemma, and one wouldn’t want to be any of Israel’s cabinet ministers having to make that decision.
Cheryl Casone:
Well, Israel is accusing the United Nations of misleading the world, as aid in Gaza is being stolen and diverted from civilians. It seems that Hamas has been doing this for months. A review conducted by the Israeli Coordinator of Government Activities is claiming that UN figures have failed to account for the entry of about 6,000 additional aid trucks since May. They write: “The fact that the U.N. presents only part of the aid actually transferred misleads the international community and creates a false picture of the situation, directly influencing global media coverage and shaping the positions of international decision-makers regarding the humanitarian situation in Gaza.” Hillel, your reaction to that statement?
Hillel Neuer:
Well, it’s tragic. You know, the UN is meant to be the world’s primary humanitarian organization, and yet, we’ve seen in the past two years, in this case and others, that systematically, they have mobilized to parrot the narrative that is pushed out by Hamas. Whatever is the Hamas narrative, you will see it days later, endorsed by UN agencies, and that goes into the media ecosystem, as quoted by the UN - “the UN said.” So indeed, as you said, the UN is saying only 3,000 trucks have entered Gaza since May. The reality is it’s 9000 trucks. They failed to count 6,000 because they weren’t brought in by the UN. Well, guess what? The U.S. and Israel have been backing the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an alternative to the UN, which is now giving up to two million meals a day, and the UN sees that as a threat, especially their agency, UNRWA, which is complicit with Hamas. The heads of UNRWA in Gaza and Lebanon and other places are actual Hamas members. So they are mobilized in a way that is failing to uphold the UN’s humanitarian principles.
Cheryl Casone:
What is so interesting is if you listen to the UN, they’ll say: “Well, we’re the ones that should be handling the aid. We’re the experts. We’re the people that know how to do this.” That’s their pushback. Does that ring hollow to you?
Hillel Neuer:
Well, it does, because, you know, with UNRWA, that’s the primary agency in Gaza, it’s meant to be the UN agency for Palestinians. They employ 13,000 staff. The UN will say: “Only UNRWA can distribute food.” Well, why is that? You know, Israel says, and there’s strong evidence, that there are thousands of members of UN staff who belong to Hamas. When Hamas took over Gaza, they infiltrated the entire UNRWA. We have a report, UN Watch, next month, showing that teachers, school principals, heads of the unions overseeing thousands of UNRWA staff, are leading Hamas terror chiefs. And the UN says: “Only we can give out aid.” So what you have is, actually, they are disguising a pathological agenda, because UNRWA tells Palestinians that their mission is to dismantle Israel, and they wrap that as a humanitarian agency, when any other group, like the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, is giving out two million meals, they see that as an existential threat.
Cheryl Casone:
Before you go, I want to ask you about the story. This senior World Bank Group economist is lobbing accusations at political leaders for their stance on Israel, yesterday. This, during an Italian Parliament forum, the economist publicly accused Italy of supporting genocide against Palestinians. UN Watch is now calling on the World Bank Group to fire him because of these antisemitic statements. I know you’ve been following that story. What can you tell us?
Hillel Neuer:
Look, yesterday, our organization, UN Watch, sent a letter to the president of the World Bank demanding that they terminate a senior economist of theirs named Massimiliano Cali. He happens to be the husband of Francesca Albanese, who is a known pro-Hamas, UN figure who was sanctioned last month by the United States, and she’s barred entry into the U.S. And he, in his own part, has been working for over a decade for the World Bank. At the same time, on his Facebook page, he calls for the indictment of Netanyahu, accuses him of massacres. He endorses a pro-Hamas initiative. He compares Israelis to Nazis. And as you said, he recently stood up in the Italian Parliament, while his wife was accusing Israel of genocide, he parroted her remarks. He called on the EU to break their trade pact with Israel. All of this is in gross violation of the World Bank’s basic rules. We wrote to Secretary Rubio yesterday and said: “America is a top donor to the World Bank. If you have their officials embracing a Hamas narrative, acting in a way that is completely contrary to how an international civil servant is supposed to behave, that person should be fired.”
Cheryl Casone:
Hillel, thank you so much for the perspective. We’re obviously going to be following any breaking news developments out of Israel and Gaza over the next couple of days, as that thing seems to be really moving now. Thank you, sir, for being here.
Hillel Neuer:
Thank you.
