Jerusalem condemns politicized, pro-Hamas selection to U.N. post

"Israel’s Foreign Ministry condemned on Sunday the expected March 31 appointment by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) of a candidate with a long history of anti-Israel activism to a senior post.

‘A UN mandate born from a 2014 Iran-sponsored resolution is now set to be filled by Zeina Jallad, who has voiced support for Hamas, a designated terrorist organization responsible for the October 7 massacre,’ the ministry posted to X, calling the appointment ‘outrageous.’

The decision exposes the process as political and not about human rights, it added.

In a rare break from its own vetting process, the UN Human Rights Council is set to bypass its top-ranked candidate to appoint a Palestinian academic who defended the terrorist group that invaded Israel in 2023, justified violence directed against civilians as ‘resistance,’ and blamed the West for the Oct. 7, 2023, bloodshed...

Jallad justified Hamas’s behavior on Oct. 7 by claiming the terrorist group had been mistreated by Western countries. ‘[Hamas] won the elections in 2007, so they were the elected government.

What did the world do? The Americans decided to sanction the Palestinian government. The Europeans decided to boycott Hamas. The entire world bashed Hamas. And then Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza. So before talking about October 7th, let’s talk about October 6th.’

In April 2025, she said that ‘suspending Israel’s involvement in international organizations should be viewed as a means to uphold justice.’ A month earlier, she said that ‘Israel is not faced with any existential threat.’

In a May 2024 article about Jordanians who shouted in support of Hamas, Jallad wrote that the chants were about the ‘resistance movement,’ and ‘if you’re under occupation, fighting is resistance.’"