The Blogs: Meet Hillel Neuer, Executive Director of UN Watch and staunch advocate of Israel

Over the past few years, I have had the distinct opportunity of meeting Hillel Neuer both in Jerusalem and in NYC. Hillel Neuer is a Canadian-born international lawyer, writer, and the Executive Director of UN Watch, a non-governmental organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, that monitors the performance of the United Nations according to its own charter. He is widely known for his advocacy in support of Israel, his vocal criticism of the UN Human Rights Council’s structural biases, and his work on behalf of human rights dissidents globally.

Born in Montreal, Hillel holds four degrees in law and politics, including a Bachelor of Arts from Concordia University, a Bachelor of Civil Law (BCL) and Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from McGill University, and a Master of Laws (LLM) from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He has worked as a commercial litigator at the prominent international law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP in New York and served as a law clerk to Justice Itzhak Zamir on the Supreme Court of Israel. As the Executive Director of UN Watch since 2004, he has led the campaign against institutional double standards, antisemitism, and the inclusion of dictatorships that are so blatantly seen on so called “human rights” panels. Neuer acts as a champion for the Jewish people and the Nation of Israel and challenges the bias, antisemitism and hypocrisy that we see in the UN on a daily basis.

Hillel serves as the founding chairman of ‘The Geneva Summit for Human Rights in Democracy’ annual assembly. The summit coordinates a coalition of 25 human rights NGOs to provide a global platform for pro-democracy activists fighting oppressive regimes. He has lectured on international human rights at the Geneva School of Diplomacy and frequently provides commentary on networks like CNN, BBC, and Al Jazeera to act as a counter-voice that stands up for the Jewish people and the Nation of Israel against the constant Media bias of many of these outlets.

Neuer has testified numerous times before the UN Human Rights Council, the European Parliament, and the U.S. Congress. In his famous and powerful “Where Are Your Jews?” Speech (that Hillel Neuer Delivered at the UN in 2017), he went viral globally. In response to an Arab state-sponsored report falsely accusing Israel of apartheid, Neuer detailed the millions of Arab citizens with equal rights inside Israel and contrasted it with the near-total disappearance of centuries-old Jewish communities across Arab nations like Algeria and Egypt.

Hillel Neuer has spearheaded campaigns exposing systemic bias and ties to militant groups within the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), repeatedly testifying about curriculum issues and union heads with active ties to Hamas leadership. Beyond Middle Eastern geopolitics, he regularly champions victims of human rights abuses in nations such as Darfur, China, Cuba, Iran, and Syria. Because of his outspoken advocacy against authoritarian states, he was permanently banned by the Russian Kremlin.

In recognition of his great work and achievements, Hillel Neuer has been named one of the world’s top most influential Jewish figures by Ma’ariv, awarded an honorary Doctorate of Laws by McGill University in 2018, honored by the City of Chicago and Mayor Rahm Emanuel in 2016 with a formal resolution declaring “Hillel Neuer Day” and he was awarded the King Charles III Coronation Medal in 2025 for his contributions to international human rights.

As I spoke to Hillel this past week I asked him, “You have been a longtime advocate for Israel and for standing up for the Jewish people and have done tremendous work for UN Watch. You have not just done this for the Jewish community but for all of mankind. What do you think is the lesson that can be learned right now from what is currently going on in France? Macron was the first one to tell Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “show resistance” on October 7th and now we see that the tables have turned in Europe. What is the biggest takeaway?” Hillel replied, “Unfortunately, we have seen appeasement from leaders in Europe. We see something actually paradoxical where Muslim Countries (like the United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Bahrain) are fighting Islamists and they are very clear about it but we see the opposite in Western Europe (and in Canada and Australia). We see ruling parties in those Countries that (to the contrary) are courting Islamist votes and are therefore appeasing Islamists as we see what’s happening in France and it doesn’t work”.

I thanked UN Watch’s Hillel Neuer as he heads today (Monday, October 26th) to speak at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in a panel debate about the UN’s treatment of Israel. We need more people like Hillel Neuer who are willing to stare our adversaries in the eye on the World stage and bravely defend the Nation of Israel, a Nation that is on the right side of History.