A recent report found that a high-profile United Nations human rights official’s social media was full of anti-Israel posts, raising questions about his ability to be objective when dealing with the Israeli-Palestine conflict.
United Nations Director and Deputy for the Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Craig Mokhiber’s social media posts were the subjects of a Feb. 28 report from GnasherJew, a group of experienced online investigators descended from Holocaust survivors who expose Holocaust deniers and antisemites, that found the human rights lawyer promoted anti-Israel views. Mokhiber accused Israel of “genocidal cruelty,” claimed Israel has been engaging in “ethnic cleansing” and voiced support for the “Right of Return,” the idea that Palestinians have an ancestral right to Israel as their homeland. (RELATED: ‘Mapping Project’ Originally Targeting Jewish Groups May Be Aimed At US Security Institutions, New Report Finds)
“Mr. Mokhiber was also found to be spreading misinformation, using stronger, more emotive, language when talking about Israel than any other country,” the report read. “He expressed support for Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS), but he doesn’t appear to advocate boycotting any other country, clearly indicating he holds Israel to a higher standard than any other country, a form of antisemitism. Furthermore, we found no commentary or social media posts by him criticizing Palestinian terrorism or Hamas/Islamic Jihad rocket attacks.”
In a 2021 interview with NBC LX News, Mokhiber alleged that Palestinians in “occupied East Jerusalem” were targeted by Israelis simply for being Arab, likened Israel’s security presence in Gaza to a prison and perpetuated the idea that Palestinians are the true “indigenous” people that have been irreparably “dehumanized” by “settler colonialism.” Mokhiber also denounced the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), created by the IHRA Plenary in Budapest in 2015, in a Twitter post as a “politicized … threat” to the Palestinian community and their supporters, according to the report.
Mokhiber is also a strong supporter of UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territory Francesca Albanese, who was recently called on by 11 members of Congress to step down for her antisemitic and anti-Israel comments, according to the report. Albanese was heavily criticized in recent months for comments she made in a 2014 Facebook post claiming the U.S. was “subjugated” by the Jewish lobby and referenced “Israel’s greed,” while accusing Israel of settler-colonialism as recently as Feb. 27 on her Twitter account.
Despite this, Mokhiber appeared to defend Albanese by posting an article supporting her after the wave of criticism and continues to retweet Albanese’s posts about the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Scholars of anti-Semitism defend UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine against pro-Israel onslaught https://t.co/06IO94Uuv2 via @middleeastmnt
— Craig Mokhiber (@CraigMokhiber) December 26, 2022
Mokhiber also defended Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota in a tweet after she was removed from her spot on the Foreign Affairs Committee for antisemitic comments.
It’s obvious. They are targeting @IlhanMN because she is everything they despise: a strong, African-American, Muslim, woman, refugee, who openly advocates for human rights, including in Palestine. A congressperson with all of those traits is a bigot’s worst nightmare. #IlhanOmar
— Craig Mokhiber (@CraigMokhiber) February 3, 2023
Mokhiber did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment regarding the report’s findings, but posted on Feb. 28 on Twitter that claims he was antisemitic were a “tired old trick.”
It is simply a fact of life that if you defend the human rights of Palestinians you will be smeared as an antisemite. Few people fall for that tired old trick today but we must resist it as an offense to the human rights of Palestinians & to the real struggle against antisemitism
— Craig Mokhiber (@CraigMokhiber) February 28, 2023
“The lack of impartiality shown here is evident,” GnasherJew said in the report. “Mr. Mokhiber’s conduct on social media needs to be reported to the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) and to UN Ethics.”
The U.N. did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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