Hamas’s Friends at the United Nations Even staying impartial in the Gaza war can get you denounced at Turtle Bay.
The United Nations doesn’t have much credibility left, and its latest outbreak of anti-Israel sentiment shows why. In recent weeks staff at Turtle Bay have campaigned to silence pro-Israel voices and even those who remain impartial in the Gaza conflict.
Take the spiraling attacks on Alice Wairimu Nderitu, the U.N. special adviser on the prevention of genocide. Because she has maintained her office’s mission as an impartial defender of human rights, she is being targeted for cancellation.
A petition from the Concerned Citizens of the International Community has gathered more than 17,000 signatures to demand Ms. Nderitu’s resignation. According to the petition on change.org, Ms. Nderitu condemned Hamas’s murders on Oct. 7 but has “failed to acknowledge” the violence of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
Ms. Nderitu is no declared ally of Israel. In public statements she has called for a cease-fire in Gaza. Her mortal sin in the eyes of the international civil servants is to value the lives of Israelis as well as Palestinians, condemn the barbarity of the Hamas massacre, and call for the release of Israeli hostages.
In early December, the staff of the U.N.’s World Food Program attacked executive director Cindy McCain for not aligning herself with the Palestinian cause. Ms. McCain was among those who signed a letter calling for the release of hostages, greater humanitarian aid and a cease-fire. But the staff called this response “insufficient.”
The only acceptable position in this crowd is to ignore the Hamas massacre and support the elimination of Israel. That’s the position taken by Sarah Douglas, U.N. Women’s deputy chief of peace and security, who recently appeared in a video from home next to a Palestine poster. Her social-media account supported 153 anti-Israel tweets before she deleted it, according to UN Watch, a Geneva-based nongovernmental organization.
Among those she liked were tweets that call Israel’s military strikes in Gaza “genocide” and another claiming that the “forces of empire” are teaming up to “annihilate the Palestinian people.” She supported the views of anti-Israel members of Congress such as Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.) and Rashida Tlaib (D., Mich).
With friends like these among the U.N.’s top female leaders, it’s no wonder the group has been so quiet on sexual violence by Hamas, including rapes, sexual mutilation and murder of Israeli women.
Section 101 of the U.N. charter on the conduct of staff notes that working as an international civil servant demands “integrity, independence and impartiality.” Staff are not permitted to make statements or “any kind of public pronouncement” that would call their impartiality into question. Yet holding that line is now grounds for a petition against Ms. Nderitu, while Ms. Douglas carries on without rebuke.
The U.S. pays about 22% of the U.N. budget despite its frequent hostility to American interests. That’s bad enough, but now Turtle Bay officials are endorsing voices that support the elimination of another member state. Why are U.S. taxpayers still paying the bills?
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