Senior UN figure says he lost his job for criticizing Israel over Gaza

A senior official at the UN’s agriculture agency said yesterday that he had lost his job for criticizing Israeli policies in Gaza, as another official condemned staff who “play the game of human rights.”

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) director Ben Davis told AFP he had been informed in July that his contract would not be renewed after 26 years because he had allegedly breached impartiality rules.

“They accused me of organizing these moments of silence on the situation of starvation and famine in Gaza,” he said, referring to weekly silent protests by some employees at the Rome-based organization.

Davis was also criticized for a report he worked on about food availability in Gaza and humanitarian law, published in May.

“We were told to take it down,” he said. “We weren’t allowed to make any references to humanitarian law.”

Israel has repeatedly denied that there was a famine in Gaza, where hunger was widespread last year after Israel halted the entry of aid for more than two months. Israel accused Hamas of stealing aid and said there were sufficient supplies in the territory.

Israel also views the UN as systemically antagonistic to it, and frequently condemns or rejects reports put out by the global body.

FAO director-general Qu Dongyu appeared to warn FAO staff Tuesday that “we don’t allow you to play the game here of human rights.”

He was speaking in public comments made at the start of a filmed session on forestry.

“Of course, human rights is very important, but we have the human rights agency in Geneva,” he added. “If you want to take care, go there.”

“That’s why some senior members play the political game here, I fire [them],” he said. “You should follow the FAO constitution… You are against staff regulations… But I’m a very soft person, I didn’t fire that many.”

“I will fire more people if they are against the law,” he added.

FAO did not respond to a request for comment.

Asked if he thought the director general’s comments were about him, Davis said “absolutely.”

“He has already scolded me in public in the past for being too political,” he added.

Davis also said he was “concerned” about the director general’s comments on firing more people.

Hundreds of people attended the moments of silence at their height and there are now only 30-40 people coming on a weekly basis, he said.