The United Nations Human Rights Council silenced a human rights expert who spoke out today for the human rights of Israelis and against the Hamas terrorist organization.
The UNHCR held a meeting of "interactive dialogue" with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on his latest report entitled "The Obligation to Ensure Accountability and Justice."
According to UN rules, UN-accredited NGOs are permitted to speak in person or by video at the UN Human Rights Council and are allotted a total of one minute and thirty seconds to do so. The Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust, led by Professor Anne Bayefsky, is one such UN-accredited NGO. Despite this, Prof. Bayefsky was not allowed to finish her address to the council today or even to state two sentences before she was silenced.
Prof. Bayefsky began, "The world now knows. Palestinian savages murdered nine-month-old baby Kfir..."
At this point, UNHCR President Jürg Laube interrupted her and said, "Sorry, sorry. I have to interrupt. And I invite all speakers to use language that is commensurate with the dignity in here to our discussions here on human rights. Everyone has the right to express their views, but this should remain within the appropriate framework and terminology. As I said yesterday, tolerance and respect must be the guiding principles of the council's work, and I will not tolerate disrespectful language with this in mind. I give the floor back to this video statement."
Prof. Bayefsky attempted to continue her address, stating, "... brother Ariel and their young mother, Shiri Bibas, with their bare hands. Palestinian barbarians mutilated their tiny bodies."
Laube then instructed, "Please stop the recording. Stop the message, please. As I just said, the language used in this room must adhere to the rules of dignity and respect inherent to our discussion. The language that's used by the speech cannot be tolerated. It exceeds clearly the limits of tolerance and respect within the framework of this council, and I therefore give the floor to the next statement."
Professor Bayefsky told Arutz Sheva - Israel National News following the incident, "Today the UN silenced me, as a representative of a UN-accredited Jewish American NGO, for attempting to point to the atrocities perpetrated against the Bibas family by Palestinians, and to call the UN to account for aiding and abetting their murder."
"The context was a UN meeting referred to as an 'interactive dialogue' with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights - Volker Türk - at a session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. The subject matter was his latest report and remarks about 'the obligation to ensure accountability and justice.' But there was no dialogue. There were only speeches demonizing Israel and Jews, and the silencing of someone who dared to demand accountability from the UN itself," she said.
She noted, "I was allotted 1 minute and 30 seconds to engage in a so-called 'dialogue' with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights so I had to get right to the point, and I did, or at least I tried to before the UN censors shut me down. The actual horrors of the extermination of the Bibas babies by Palestinians was off limits, and pointing out the UN responsibility for their murder and torture, was 'inappropriate.'"
Laube and other council officials knew the exact text of her speech beforehand. "The whole charade was clearly planned by the UN in advance. Every NGO must submit the transcript and video well in advance of the session so they already knew exactly what I was going to say. According to their plan, this is what happened: I was allowed to speak for ten seconds, the Council President then read from a prepared script alleging my remarks were the problem, the video was allowed to proceed for another five seconds while I was given a chance to change my ways - an obvious impossibility with one pre-prepared video - before the mic was cut for good."
"It was farcical. At the UN, there is no free speech for an NGO that calls out UN antisemitism. The UN is waging war on Jews, on Americans, and on free speech," she said. "With High Commissioner Turk himself sitting at the front of the room, the UN didn't want the world to hear me demand accountability from the High Commissioner himself."
Prof. Bayefsky reiterated that "it was Turk who, together with UN Secretary-General António Guterres, turned the Bibas babies into bargaining chips and kept them in captivity until Hamas strangled them and mutilated their little bodies. For instance, on October 10, 2023 it was Turk who shouted about 'everyone deprived of their liberty in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel' - instantly setting up the perverse idea that a 9-month old baby and all the other hostages were the equivalent of convicted terrorists in Israeli jails."
"While shutting me down, the UN held what should be described as an antisemitic orgy. No censorship, no cut mics, no words of reproach from the Human Rights Council President to the following language: speeches about Israel committing 'genocide against Palestinians,' 'heinous crimes,' 'ongoing atrocities,' 'ethnic cleansing,' 'brutally killing,' 'unspeakable horrors,' 'barbaric acts,' 'brutal atrocities,' 'massacres' of civilians, 'deliberately inflicting starvation,' 'indiscriminate killing,' a 'campaign of genocide,' 'racial domination and oppression.' Israeli forces were 'like a merciless steamroller' and 'have systematically killed Palestinian children.' Blood libels galore were allowed, like 'Israeli forces will continue to kill Palestinian children without limits,' and have left Gaza 'strewn in blood,'" she said.
Moreover, "Qatar - the purported peace negotiator - made this antisemitic slur: it objected to alleged 'attempts to impose Judaism in the face of this genocide.' There were also the obvious objections to continued existence of the UN member state of Israel, a number of speakers referring to 75 plus years of 'illegal occupation.' All of it passed the UN test of 'appropriate.'"
"President Trump's Executive Order requires the United States not to participate at the Human Rights Council or pay for it. But the bulk of American funding for the UN in this context is for Turk and his kingdom at the "UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights." If ever there was a reason for the United States to refuse to fund the agency Turk leads, this is it. If ever Americans needed one more reason not to pay another cent for UN-driven lethal antisemitism, this is it," she said.
The following is the full text of the speech of Prof. Anne Bayefsky that was not allowed to be given at the United Nations Human Rights Council.
The world now knows:
Palestinian savages murdered nine-month-old baby Kfir, his four-year-old brother Ariel and their young mother Shiri Bibas – with their bare hands.
Palestinian barbarians mutilated their tiny bodies in an attempt to cover up the atrocity and pin their deaths on the Israelis trying to save them.
Palestinian beasts sent a coffin back to Israel with Shiri’s photo on it that didn’t contain her remains.
Palestinian perverts, sipping on coffee, brought their babies and children to watch the handover of a dead Jewish baby and child.
The stage depicted Israel’s Prime Minister as a blood-sucking vampire and Israelis as Nazis.
And yet, High Commissioner Turk, you responded that the problem was the “handover of the remains.” Not the degenerate Palestinian masses who reveled in their very butchery. Not the obscene antisemitism – everywhere – you refused to name and shame.
On the contrary, today you demonize Jews on the basis of so-called facts from the same liars and murderers themselves. “According to the Ministry of Health” your report says – an oxymoron if there ever was one.
Which makes you an accomplice. A High Commissioner for Human Wrongs with the blood of Jewish innocents on his hands. Where is the accountability for you?
