President of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) Nazhat Shameem Khan on Friday cut off a video presentation by UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer quoting anti-Semitic social media posts by UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) teachers.
After stopping the video, Khan said that "insulting and inflammatory remarks" were made that amount to "personal attacks" against individuals. She then went on to say that the "statement is out of order" before giving the floor to the UK-based Palestinian Return Centre (PRC), which has been accused of having ties with Hamas.
2 View gallery
Palestinian students attend a class at a school run by The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza Strip
(Photo: AFP)
UN Watch is an NGO based in Geneva that monitors the intergovernmental organization for anti-Israel bias.
Neuer was highlighting a recent UN Watch report that, according to the organization's website, "exposed more than 100 teachers, school principals and other employees that praise Hitler, propagate hatred against Jews and support terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians on social media."
In response to the allegations in the report, UNRWA announced that it was investigating 10 of its staffers to determine if any of them violated "social media policies that prohibit personnel from engaging in non-neutral behaviors online," according to a press release from UNRWA.
The PRC has been accused by the Israeli and German governments of being associated with Hamas, a militant movement based in the Gaza Strip designated as a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States and European Union.
A 2011 intelligence service report of the German Ministry of the Interior found that “Hamas does not operate openly in Europe. Instead it uses, for instance, the Palestinian Return Centre in London as a forum.”
PRC denies any affiliation with Hamas, threatening legal action in 2015 against the Israeli government over its accusations that the NGO is linked to the terrorist group.