Hillel Neuer appeared on NewsNation with Nick Smith to discuss how the U.N. has lost their moral legitimacy through their uplifting of dictatorships, their bias against Israel, and their lack of condemnation towards terrorism.
Nick Smith, NewsNation: The surging violence in the Middle East, coming ahead of high level meetings at the U.N. General Assembly in New York. This week, leaders and diplomats from around the world will discuss critical issues, including the escalating war in Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to speak, as is Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
I want to bring in foreign policy expert and human rights advocate, Hillel Neuer. Last week, all of this has really just exploded, for lack of a better term, with the attention of focus back on Israel. The U.N. adopted a non-binding resolution demanding Israel end its presence in Gaza and the occupied West Bank in one year. Israel has rejected it. Hillel, how much weight do those resolutions really carry when Benjamin Netanyahu has made it clear that they won’t stop until they feel as though they can really protect Israel?
Hillel Neuer: Well, look, the U.N.’s about to open its annual General Assembly in a few days. This will be a catwalk for dictators. We’re going to see the presidents of Turkey, of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and other gross human rights abusers pretending to enjoy international legitimacy, abusing the gravitas of the United Nations. And the reality is that when they adopt resolutions that are supposed to be in the name of international law, sadly, these are exploited and actually invert international law.
So the latest resolution is non-binding. It has no weight under international law. It’s an expression of the fact that there is an automatic majority of dictatorships against Israel. Let’s recall, in the last year, China is sitting on the U.N. Human Rights Council, and the Islamic Republic of Iran was made Chair of the U.N. Human Rights Council Social Forum. They were also made president of the Conference on Disarmament. The other members of the Human Rights Council are Qatar, Algeria, Eritrea, Cuba. So the U.N., for many, has lost moral legitimacy.
Nick Smith, NewsNation: Hillel, I’m so glad you mentioned that, because when we have countries that are proven enemies of Israel, how can they be part of a decision about a binding resolution? It seems to be more performative than anything.
Hillel Neuer: Well, absolutely. If you look at the U.N. officials, the UN created a Commission of Inquiry targeting Israel. They named Navi Pillay, someone who had already announced in advance that Israel is guilty in any of its wars with Hamas to head the commission. She also called Israel an apartheid state. The U.N. has a permanent investigator on Palestine. Her name is Francesca Albanese. She’s been condemned by the United States, France, and Germany for spreading antsemitism. She has said publicly, “America is subjugated by the Jewish Lobby.” This is classical antisemitism. Yet, the U.N. named her their permanent investigator against Israel. So this is completely Orwellian justice. They’re exploiting the true values of human rights that the U.N. was founded to uphold.
Nick Smith, NewsNation: Okay, Hillel, here’s the problem, you and I both know that people want some kind of resolution, something where there’s just a semblance of peace, so that there’s not this constant pressure and fear of drone attacks or some type of attack coming to Israel. What if anything can the U.N. do to help the peace process and help seal a ceasefire?
Hillel Neuer: Well, the U.N. should begin by understanding the difference between good and evil. There was a time when the U.N. was founded that it was the anti-Hitler alliance. The founders of the U.N. were people like Eleanor Roosevelt who understood what right and wrong meant. Today, we’re seeing the opposite. You know, you have two barbaric terrorist groups, Hamas and Hezbollah, who openly endorse sadistic atrocities against civilians. That’s why they’re named terrorist groups in America, in Europe and by other countries. The U.N. is incapable of calling them terrorist groups.
So, the first thing the U.N. should do is to name Hamas and Hezbollah as terrorist groups to understand that they openly call for the extermination of Israel. They say it openly. They call for slaughtering Jews. This is what they’re about. The U.N. has been doing the opposite. Until they can restore their basic sense of right and wrong, and until they can call terrorists and name them for who they are, the U.N. is never going to be able to restore peace and security. Instead, we’re seeing the U.N. elevating the Islamic regime in Iran, and elevating dictatorships like China, Cuba, Russia, to high positions at the U.N. Look, until democracies call out this abuse, we’re never going to make any advances on the international scene.
Nick Smith, NewsNation: Foreign policy expert and human rights advocate, Hillel Neuer, thank you so much for joining us this afternoon.
Hillel Neuer: Thank you for having me.
