UN Rights Council appoints expert who called Hamas ‘resistance movement’

The UN Human Rights Council appoints an academic who has defended Hamas as a “resistance movement.”

Zeina Jallad is appointed as the special rapporteur “on the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures,” the UN Human Rights Council announces.

#HRC61 | The @UN Human Rights Council appointed Zeina Jallad as Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures. pic.twitter.com/a2UX5aWeMs

— UN Human Rights Council (@UN_HRC) March 31, 2026

Jallad is a Palestinian who has called Hamas a “political party” that recognized Israel, despite Hamas being dedicated to Israel’s destruction.

She has also referred to Hamas as a “resistance movement”; said separately that “resisting oppression must be recognized not as a crime”; called to suspend Israel from international organizations as a “means to uphold justice”; said Israel’s creation was “the product of the wrongdoings of the West” and a “product of Europe”; and accused Israel of settler colonialism and apartheid.

The UNHRC’s Office of the President nominated Jallad for the role, bypassing the candidate recommended by the rights council’s own consultative group, who was an academic from Spain.

Special rapporteurs are independent experts assigned to report on particular subject fields for the council.

Once appointed, they are given resources, a prominent platform and UN authority to espouse their views, but are largely free of oversight.

Special rapporteurs whose fields are nominally unrelated to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have used their platform to denigrate Israel.

The UN Human Rights Council, in Geneva, overwhelmingly targets Israel in its condemnations, similar to the UN General Assembly.