Top 10 Biggest UN Watch Moments Of 2014

The most compelling, dramatic and impactful moments in UN Watch's battle against dictatorships and double standards, in defense of the true principles of human rights.

10. We Caught Chinese Agent Spying on UN Watch Dissident Ti-Anna Wang

CTV / Via sinosphere.blogs.nytimes.com

When 24-year-old Ti-Anna Wang, invited by UN Watch, testified before the U.N. Human Rights Council about her father's imprisonment in China for being a pro-democracy activist, a Chinese agent in the room, carrying phony NGO credentials, was caught trying to spy on her. The story was covered in the New York Times.

9. Israel Wins Admission into U.N. Regional Group

Eleanor Roosevelt and Rene Cassin, architects of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, were great supporters of Israel's right to equality at the UN. / Via unwatch.org

On January 1, 2014, diplomatic history was made when Israel was finally admitted into a regional group at the UN Human Rights Council, in the Western group. UN Watch, through two decades of unrelenting diplomatic and media advocacy, played an important role in putting an end to one of the many visible aspects of anti-Israel segregation at the UN. Diplomats thanked UN Watch for its help in achieving this milestone. UN Watch continues to advocate for the full equality of Israel across the UN system.

8. PLO Rep Interrupts UN Watch for Revealing They Tried to Fire Richard Falk

UN Watch / Via unwatch.org

UN Watch shamed UN Palestine Expert Richard Falk and exposed the hypocrisy of the PLO, by revealing that they had secretly tried to dismiss their supposed hero. Taking the floor in the March 2014 session of the Human Rights Council, Hillel Neuer read out a classified State Department cable—published on the Internet by Wikileaks—describing how a top Palestinian diplomat in Geneva had asked the Americans for help in removing Falk, due to his open support for Hamas. Embarrassed and enraged by Neuer’s speech, the Palestinian ambassador three times interrupted him to implore the Chair stop the speech, followed by further objections raised by Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Cuba, Venezuela, Algeria and Morocco.

7. Exposed Anti-Israel Bias of U.N. Gaza Inquiry Chair William Schabas

UN Watch / Via blog.unwatch.org

When William Schabas, a Canadian law professor, was named head of the UN’s Gaza probe in August 2014, UN Watch was the first to call on Schabas to step down on account of his prior statements against Israel. UN Watch released Schabas videos and quotes showing his extreme prejudice, which were picked up worldwide. A few weeks later, UN Watch published a legal brief demanding Schabas’ recusal, and this was handed personally to Schabas and the other committee members in a private meeting with UN Watch.

According to the Daily Beast, “Schabas has faced the harshest criticism from Hillel Neuer, the head of the Geneva-based advocacy group UN Watch.” Schabas fought back, arguing “I have opinions like everybody else about the situation in Israel. They may not be the same as Hillel Neuer’s or Benjamin Netanyahu’s, that's all.” The Schabas Report is expected in March 2015.

6. U.S. and Canada Blast U.N. Appointment of Richard Falk's Extremist Wife and Co-Author

Via blog.unwatch.org

UN Watch sprung into action when it learned that Ms. Hilal Elver, the wife and professional partner of Richard Falk, was the UN’s nominee to be the expert on the “right to food,” a position that has often been used to accuse Israel of “starving Palestinians.”

Like her husband, Elver has promoted 9/11 conspiracy theorists, and accused Israel of “genocide” and “Water Apartheid.” UN Watch mobilized thousands to sign an online petition, and sent letters to all Western embassies. Regrettably, the UN appointed her anyway.

However, Falk’s wife was put on notice: Thanks to UN Watch’s campaign, the U.S. slammed her “lack of relevant experience,” questioned “her readiness for this assignment,” and pointed to her “biased and inflammatory views” which “run counter to the dispassionate professionalism central to the work of a Special Rapporteur.” Also in response to UN Watch appeals, Canada’s Foreign Minister sent a formal letter to the UN condemning Elver’s “abysmal judgment.”

5. Nazareth Priest Tells U.N. in Arabic: “Israel is the only country in the Middle East where Christians can live in safety”

UN Watch / Via unwatch.org

UN Watch hosted Father Gabriel Naddaf, a Greek Orthodox priest from Nazareth, who in a dramatic speech before the September 2014 session of the UN Human Rights Council said—in Arabic— that “Israel is only country in the Middle East where Christians live in safety.” Father Naddaf urged the nations of the world to support Christians suffering in the Middle East, and to support the State of Israel. The video of his speech was widely distributed on the Internet.

4. UN Watch Turned Spotlight on Worst Dictatorships

Joe Cook & Melissa Maclean. Music Edited by: Julia Schmidt. Music: Jack Haining - Embers (Rameses B Remix) / Via youtube.com

UN Watch gathered courageous champions of human rights at its 6th Annual Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy, with a sponsoring coalition of 20 human rights groups. The speakers were victims of tyrannical, violent and oppressive regimes, including Chen Guangcheng, blind Chinese dissident and escaped political prisoner; Naghmeh Abedini, wife of Christian pastor Saeed Abedini jailed in Iran; and Egyptian women’s rights activist Dalia Ziada. Hundreds of human rights activists, diplomats and students participated, and numerous media articles were generated. And throughout the year, UN Watch gave a global platform at the UN to dissidents from such human rights hotspots as Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea, Ukraine, and Eritrea.

3. 21-year-old Iraqi Christian takes the floor: "Why has the U.N. waited so long?”

UN Watch / Via unwatch.org

In August 2014, UN Watch held a rally in front of the U.N. Human Rights Council to expose their inaction over the Islamic State’s wholesale slaughter of Yazidis and Christians in Iraq. UN Watch launched a joint appeal signed by parliamentarians and human rights activists around the globe to demand an emergency session. When such a session was finally convened, UN Watch brought 21-year-old Maryam Wahida, a Christian Iraqi woman, to make an impassioned appeal: “Given the extreme life-and-death urgency, we must ask: Why has the U.N. waited so long?”

2. Emergency Debate on Gaza: Iran, Syria, PLO Fail to Shut Down UN Watch

UN Watch / Via unwatch.org

When the UN in July held an emergency session on Gaza, creating a one-sided commission of inquiry, UN Watch was the lead voice fighting back. Iran, Syria, and the PLO tried to shut down UN Watch from speaking. Instead, UN Watch turned the tables on the dictatorships and exposed their hypocrisy in a dramatic confrontation heard around the world. During the debate, UN Watch’s Executive Director quoted the Palestinian Ambassador himself, who days earlier had said on Palestinian TV that every Hamas rocket is “a war crime.” The JTA ranked the debate one of the top four viral videos of the war, together with videos by Joan Rivers, Howard Stern and Israeli ambassador Ron Dermer.

1. PLO Lawyer Diana Buttu Gasps for Air in Al Jazeera Debate with Hillel Neuer

UN Watch / Via blog.unwatch.org

In an Al Jazeera debate during the Hamas-Israel war, UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer took on PLO lawyer Diana Buttu, Human Rights Watch's Palestine researcher Bill van Esveld, and a biased moderator—and defeated them.

Famously, Ms. Buttu accused Israel of being "anti-women, anti-free speech, anti-... anti-gay, anti-everything." The clip went viral on YouTube with reactions from around the globe. (Transcript here.)