UN Watch cites anti-Israel double standards among UN experts amid silence on Iran massacres

A new UN Watch report alleges systematic anti-Israel bias among 54 UN experts, accusing them of repeatedly targeting the Jewish state while largely overlooking severe human rights violations and massacres committed by the ayatollah regime in Tehran against innocent civilians, including women and children. According to the watchdog, this pattern suggests UN officials are motivated less by human rights concerns than by a political agenda hostile to Israel.

Hillel Neuer, the executive director of UN Watch, blasted many UN officials for their bias against Israel.

“The data prove that many UN experts are not acting out of concern for human rights, but out of a political agenda. When they are silent toward Tehran and shout toward Jerusalem, they lose all legitimacy. Their silence is like a green light for the ayatollahs to continue hanging regime opponents from cranes,” Neuer stated.

It is currently unclear how many Iranian civilians have been murdered by the ayatollah regime since the latest protests began in late December. The regime has officially admitted that some 5,000 protesters were killed, while blaming the United States and Israel. However, the latest estimates suggest that as many as 16,500 protesters may have been killed by regime forces in recent weeks.

The UN Watch report reveals that UN Human Rights Council “special rapporteurs” who frequently criticize Israel for alleged human rights violations have remained largely silent amid the ayatollah regime’s brutal crackdown and massacres of Iranian civilians. The report notes that these UN human rights officials have largely ignored the regime’s violent oppression of women and attacks on religious minorities, including members of the Baha’i faith in Iran. Dozens of Baha’i believers have been arrested solely on the basis of their religious identity.

Francesca Albanese, the special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories, is one of the UN officials whose conduct was examined by the UN Watch. The report noted that Albanese who has systematically equated Israel’s self-defense operations against Hamas with “genocide,” has largely ignored the ayatollah regime’s massacres of Iranian civilians. Albanese has also inaccurately accused Israel of “apartheid” while ignoring real apartheid practice against various minorities across the Middle East. 

In 2024, UN Watch accused Albanese of receiving illegal payments and "running a global influence network of more than 100 individuals and NGOs to target Israel.”

The UN Watch report urged member states to halt funding for reports it described as biased and politically motivated.

“It cannot be that an expert meant to defend freedom of expression ignores the arrest of hundreds of journalists in Iran yet finds time to condemn Israel every Monday and Thursday,” the report concluded.

The United States recently warned the UN that it would cut funds to the international organizations by 10% unless it decided to “take credible steps to combat anti-Israel bias.”

The U.S. is the single largest contributor of funds to the UN. On any given year, the UN passes more resolutions against Israel than against all other countries combined, including systematic human rights violators such as China, Iran, Libya, Syria and North Korea.