‘Please look at me’: Former Israeli hostage demands of UN adviser on violence against women

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“I woke up half-naked with seven terrorists standing over me, not knowing what happened to me in those lost moments,” she told Alsalem. “I went through days of pain and horror in captivity and even now, the feeling of being powerless and violated still lingers. I came back with a broken hip, a broken jaw and a shattered soul.”

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“When I and other Israeli women begged not to be raped, why were you silent?” Gritzewsky demanded. “Please look at me. Do you believe us now? Will you apologize?”

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Video footage, in which Alsalem appeared to sit without visible reaction as Gritzewsky delivered her testimony, spread widely on social media. Neuer told JNS that the U.N. adviser was “stone-faced.”

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“It’s not inconsistent with her positions until now,” he said.

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Neuer pointed to past comments, in which Alsalem claimed that no independent investigation had found that rape occurred during the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attacks, despite a March 2024 U.N. report that found “reasonable grounds” to believe that sexual violence, including rape and gang rape, occurred at several locations during the attacks.

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That report also found “clear and convincing information” that Hamas and other terrorists subjected hostages, whom they held in Gaza, to sexual violence.

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Neuer also cited a 2024 interview with Israel’s Channel 13, in which he said that Alsalem claimed not to know about the rockets that Hamas and Hezbollah fired at the Jewish state.

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“She seems extremely uninterested in hearing about Hamas crimes,” Neuer told JNS. “On the contrary, she has been quite aggressive in doubting or denying, in particular, Hamas sexual violence.”

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“That’s tragic,” he said. “Sadly, she’s not the only U.N. rapporteur who seems to be more sympathetic to terrorists than to their victims.”

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Neuer pointed to U.N. documents, which he said that UN Watch saw, which suggest that Alsalem received $70,000 from Saudi Arabia in 2024. That raises questions about her impartiality as a supposed defender of women against violence, according to Neuer.

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“It’s peculiar that someone who’s an expert in women’s rights would take money from a country that is notorious as a violator of women’s rights,” he said.

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“It’s relevant because in the Arab-Israeli conflict, she has very much adopted the anti-Israel position,” he said. “It seems that she’s not acting as an objective, impartial human rights expert. She seems to be funded by Arab states and acting in a way that’s extremely anti-Israel, extremely hostile.”

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Neuer said that the widespread response to Gritzewsky’s testimony should serve as a wake-up call about the U.N. system of special rapporteurs, whom the Human Rights Council appoints.

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“It’s a system that’s completely out of control,” he told JNS. “There’s no accountability. Many people who get appointed are the opposite of human rights defenders. They are defenders of terrorists.”

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“Unfortunately, they do need to be exposed,” he said. “We need member states, European member states, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, to take leadership and speak out against the appointment of rapporteurs who subvert and pervert human rights.”

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JNS asked Neuer what accountability would look like.

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“It begins with words,” he said. “Someone like Reem Alsalem should not have been appointed if she has such extreme views that she’s unable to be objective to victims of sexual violence, depending on what their background is.”

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When U.N. officials are appointed for political reasons, democracies must speak out, according to Neuer.

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“That’s the basic way accountability begins,” he said. “To say, this is wrong.”

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“The Human Rights Council itself has a majority of dictatorships, so it’s very hard to get the council itself to change,” he told JNS. “But at least the democracies should be speaking out when nasty applicants are appointed and when they act in a manner that betrays the U.N.’s values.”

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