The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) just made a Hamas sympathizer who justified the Oct. 7 atrocities a special rapporteur.
Of course, UNHRC also recently appointed an Iranian regime representative as chair of a forum despite that regime’s constant terrorism funding and a domestic slaughter of 40,000+ pro-freedom Persian protestors. So the appointment of “Palestinian academic” Zeina Jallad as special rapporteur on “the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures and the enjoyment of human rights” (whatever the hell that means) is not all that surprising, despite her disgusting defense of Hamas jihadis. But UNHRC did just give the United States another reason to defund the UN altogether.
#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
According to watchdog group UN Watch, Jallad’s role at the UNHRC is one specifically designed to protest Western sanctions against dictatorial regimes like Iran’s and Cuba’s, so maybe she’s actually overqualified. Jallad leads the Palestine Land Studies Center at the American University of Beirut and has a lengthy track record of defending jihad and smearing Israel.
UN Watch explained that UNHRC’s president, Indonesia’s Sidharto Suryodipuro, actually rejected the five-nation vetting committee’s top recommendation for the special rapporteur position, going instead with Jallad, the second choice or backup. He claimed Jallad’s “practice-grounded perspective… as well as her pledge to approach the role with independence, transparency and a commitment to listen” made her best qualified.
But UN Watch clarified that the supposed commitment to listen. As recently as March 2025, Jallad was refusing to admit that Hamas is a terrorist organization and that nothing could possibly justify the heinous Oct. 7 massacre. “Hamas is a political party. Hamas and its Charter recognized Israel,” she said, without acknowledging that even the updated Hamas charter explicitly says it aims to take over all of Israel.
Jallad ranted about how Hamas won elections in 2007 without confessing it hasn’t held elections since. “What did the world do?” she shrilled. “The Americans decided to sanction the Palestinian government. The Europeans decided to boycott Hamas. The entire world bashed Hamas. And then Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza. So before talking about October 7, let’s talk about October 6.” On Oct. 7, jihadis burned alive and beheaded babies, performed the most grotesque rapes, gunned down or kidnapped entire families, and gleefully filmed themselves doing it — but Jallad thought that was defensible because the only Jewish nation in the world is not giving yet more land to the Muslims, who have 50 nations.
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In a May 2024 article, Jallad justified pro-Hamas chants in Jordan by claiming, “if you’re under occupation, fighting is resistance.” Actually, the only occupation is of Palestinians on what is rightfully Israeli land, especially Judea and Samaria.
• In November 2025, Jallad wrote in reference to Palestinians that “resisting oppression must be recognized not as a crime, but as a fundamental legal right and moral imperative.”
• In April 2025, Jallad stated that “suspending Israel’s involvement in international organizations should be viewed as a means to uphold justice.“
• In March 2025, Jallad stated that “The creation of Israel was the product of the wrongdoings of the West.“ She then added that “Israel is not faced with any existential threat.“
• In 2023, Jallad criticized Israel’s purported “settler-colonial approach to state-building” and accused the Jewish state of being “a proto-apartheid regime.”
As of October 2025, 80% of Palestinian still supported genocidal Jihad against Israel and about 70% opposed Hamas disarmament. The Palestinian Authority (PA) increased its pay-for-slay payments to terrorists last year, and indeed, Yasser Arafat invented the idea of the Palestinian people to begin with as a cudgel against Israel and a justification for incessant terrorism. Jallad’s track record of defending Hamas, therefore, is typical among her fellow so-called Palestinians.
Jallad will follow in a not-so-proud tradition of United Nations special rapporteurs who justify terrorism. Last year, Reem Alsalem, special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, brazenly denied the horrific rapes on Oct. 7 that Hamas jihadis themselves proudly admitted to committing and to which numerous victims attested. After the state of Israel called her out for the lies, Alsalem didn’t apologize appropriately; instead, she blocked the state of Israel on X.
Significantly, the UN agency UNRWA is infested with Hamas jihadis, and at least a dozen UNRWA employees actively participated in the Oct. 7 atrocities. At this point, it seems blindingly obvious that the UN is a sponsor and promoter of terrorism.
