INNOVATION AND ACTIVISM

Hillel Neuer

Executive director, UN Watch

The man who “makes the UN tremble,” Hillel Neuer is at the forefront of the battle for democracy and human rights at an institution that often makes a mockery of both.

Neuer is the head of UN Watch, an NGO that through research, reports, and Neuer’s own scathing speeches seeks to counter the hegemony of the dictatorships and human rights abusers that tend to dominate the international body.

In particular, UN Watch is noted for its defense of Israel, which tends to be the object of viciously biased treatment by UN institutions. “When I address the antisemitism and the demonization of Israel, I bring the full passion of that injustice to my speech,” says Neuer.

Most recently, Neuer’s speech at the notoriously anti-Israel UN Human Rights Council went viral, as he confronted the member countries asking, “How many Jews live in your countries? How many Jews lived in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco?” To each nation he asked a simple question: “Where are your Jews?” (Photo credit: UN Watch.)