Former UN expert: My colleagues displayed an anti-Israel obsession

Alice Jill Edwards, the former UN special rapporteur on torture, accuses her UN colleagues of an anti-Israel obsession and abandoning neutrality. In an op-ed in the Daily Telegraph, she describes how the organization did not fully acknowledge the atrocities of October 7, and how other rapporteurs refrained from documenting rape and sexual abuse.

Alice Jill Edwards, who served until July 2026 as the UN special rapporteur on torture, published a personal op-ed in the British Daily Telegraph in which she attacked her colleagues at the organization. She accused them of an anti-Israel obsession and abandoning the UN's neutrality, while ignoring the atrocities of October 7. Edwards described her visit to Kibbutz Kfar Aza as one of the most difficult moments of her tenure, leading her to conclude that hostage-taking should be treated as torture. She sharply criticized special rapporteurs Francesca Albanese and Reem Alsalem, who she said failed to document rape and sexual abuse despite "incontrovertible" evidence. Edwards highlighted systemic failures at the UN, including a meager budget, an unpaid position, dependence on funding from states, and 2,000 pending complaints. She called on the next UN secretary-general to take a firmer stance and criticized Antonio Guterres for a fatalistic approach. The article also includes a response from attorney Ayelet Razin Beit-Or, who praises Edwards and calls for UN soul-searching.