UNHRC cuts off UN Watch for quoting antisemitic posts by UNRWA teachers

The UNHRC cut off UN Watch for quoting antisemitic posts by UNRWA teachers, saying it was an unacceptable personal attack.

OCTOBER 3, 2021 05:57

Deputy Minister, Alvin Botes delivers a National Statement at the Annual High Level Panel on Human Rights Mainstreaming under the theme “Thirty years of implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child: challenges and opportunities”, at the UNHRC, Geneva. (photo credit: FLICKR) — Deputy Minister, Alvin Botes delivers a National Statement at the Annual High Level Panel on Human Rights Mainstreaming under the theme “Thirty years of implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child: challenges and opportunities”, at the UNHRC, Geneva.

(photo credit: FLICKR)

President of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) Nazhat Shameem Khan cut off UN Watch during a UNHRC session on Friday after the NGO began quoting antisemitic posts by UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) teachers, saying that the quotes were unacceptable "personal attacks" against the teachers.

CENSORED: @UN_HRC just stopped me from calling out UNRWA teachers who glorify Hitler & incite antisemitism. Chair says I made "derogatory, insulting & inflammatory remarks"—by quoting their own Facebook posts. "This amounts to personal attacks. This statement is out of order." pic.twitter.com/8jFrvzdYR8
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) October 1, 2021

"I have noticed that in the course of this video, derogatory, insulting and inflammatory remarks have been made which in particular refer directly to specific individuals. This amounts to personal attacks against those individuals and it is not acceptable in this forum," said Khan, saying the video was "out of order."

The video in question showed Hillel Neuer, director of UN Watch, referencing a report published in August by UN Watch calling out over 100 teachers and staff at UNRWA schools for posting antisemitic content on social media.

The content included videos of Adolf Hitler, antisemitic conspiracy theories about Jews controlling the world and content inciting and glorifying terrorism.

A Palestinian teacher conducts a class for students in an UNRWA-run school that reopened after the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) restrictions were eased, at al-Fari'ah refugee camp, in the West Bank April 12, 2021. (credit: RANEEN SAWAFTA/ REUTERS)

The UNHRC president proceeded to give the floor to the Palestinian Return Centre (PRC), an organization which has been linked to the Hamas terrorist movement. An intelligence report by the German Interior Ministry in 2012 stated that Hamas does not appear openly in Europe and instead uses platforms such as the PRC.

The Shin Bet announced in 2010 that the PRC serves as the organizational and coordinating arm of Hamas in Europe.

Neuer questioned why Khan cut him off, saying on Twitter that Khan made up a rule and that he had "every right to quote the racist Facebook posts of UNRWA teachers—funded with hundreds of millions by US, Germany, EU, Canada—and to name them."