Watch how UN “Human Rights” Council responds to confronting vs. spewing antisemitism

Professor Anne Bayefsky, the Director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust and President of the Human Rights Voices organization, spoke with Arutz Sheva - Israel National News about the meeting held yesterday (Wednesday) on the United Nations Human Rights Council's Agenda Item 7 on the "Human rights situation in Palestine & other occupied Arab territories" and the hypocrisy displayed in the language allowed for those who embrace the council’s anti-Israel and anti-Jewish agenda versus those who oppose it.

During her remarks before the council, Prof. Bayefsky criticised the Human Rights Council, the UN as a whole, for their overt displays of antisemitism, and specific officials who are notorious for their extreme anti-Israel biases such as Francesca Albanese and Navi Pillay.

Her remarks were condemned by UNHCR officials who accused her of being "disrespectful" and stepping outside of the "acceptable limits" of the permitted speech.

Following the UNHRC session, Prof. Bayefsky posted a video showing numerous times representatives of Arab and Muslim countries have been allowed to say whatever they wanted about Israel and "Zionists" with no limitations or concern about respect no matter how outrageous or hateful their remarks.

Speaking with Arutz Sheva, Prof. Bayefsky said, "The UN Human Rights Council, the UN's top human rights body, countenances some of the world's worst human rights abusers among its members. Its permanent agenda means the predominant subject matter of every regular session the Council has ever had - since it began in 2006 - is Israel-bashing. There is more time spent demonizing and condemning the state of Israel than any other state on earth."

"So what really bothers them, is when somebody refuses to tow the party line. How dare I point out the inconvenient truth that the UN is the epicenter of global antisemitism? On February 26, 2025 I spoke at the Council - or I tried to - and my statement was interrupted and then cut-off and disallowed altogether by Council President Jürg Lauber of Switzerland," she recalled." "In that statement I tried to point directly to the horrible atrocities perpetrated by Palestinians against the Bibas family, and to the role of the UN in contributing to the hatred of Jews and the Jewish state."

"The UN Human Rights Council machinery reacted by placing a permanent mark against my name and institution. It reads: 'message interrupted by the President of the Human Rights Council.' To my knowledge, I am the only person who has been made subject to a statement of censure on the UN website - and for speaking the truth about antisemitism. And this has happened as the UN machinery and website is simultaneously riddled with antisemitic hate speech against Jews and Israel," she said.

Prof. Bayefsky continued, "After I was permitted to deliver the statement, however, the presiding official - UN Human Rights Council Vice-President Paul Empole Efambe of the Democratic Republic of the Congo - castigated me. He alleged my statement used language that was 'unacceptable,' and failed to be sufficiently 'tolerant,' 'dignified,' and 'respectful.'"

She wondered, "What does the UN Human Rights Council count as acceptable, tolerant, dignified and respectful when it comes to Jews and Israel? Demands to wipe Israel off the map, blood libels and comparisons of Jews to Nazis. UN 'acceptable' remarks, assembled in the video from the past year, speak for themselves: double-standards, discrimination, demonization."

'Political fallout is imperative if this dangerous behavior fueling lethal antisemitism is to end. The Human Rights Council is emblematic of a larger whole. President Trump has signed an Executive Order requiring a full accounting of the U.S.-UN relationship. It offers a rare opportunity to put an end to America underwriting and backstopping an organization diametrically opposed to the very values it purports to support: tolerance, dignity and respect," she concluded.