The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) suddenly cut short a video statement once the speaker started criticizing multiple UN officials—among them one who had been sanctioned by the Trump administration. The video was aired during a UN session in Geneva, Switzerland, on Friday morning.
Anne Bayefsky, director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights and president of Human Rights, singled out several UN officials in her message, including UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk and special rapporteur Francesca Albanese—who is under U.S. sanctions.
On July 9, 2025, the Secretary of State imposed sanctions on Albanese, stating that she “has spread unapologetic antisemitism, voiced support for terrorism, and shown open disdain for the United States, Israel, and the West.”
“This bias has been evident throughout her career, such as suggesting that the ICC issue arrest warrants for the Israeli Prime Minister and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant without any valid justification,” Rubio added.
“I was the only U.S.-based NGO accredited by the UN to have a speaking slot, yet I wasn’t permitted to finish my 90 seconds of allocated time. There’s no free speech at the UN’s so-called ‘Human Rights Council,'” Bayefsky told Digital.
Bayefsky pointed out the irony of the council cutting her video short during a session described as an “interactive dialogue”—an event where experts are supposed to address the council on human rights matters.
“I was cut off right after I named Francesca Albanese, Navi Pillay, and Chris Sidoti for covering up the Palestinian use of rape as a weapon of war and promoting blatant antisemitism. I also mentioned Karim Khan, the International Criminal Court prosecutor who faces troubling sexual assault claims but has remained unaccountable for nearly two years. These are the individuals and truths the UN seeks to shield and conceal,” Bayefsky told Digital.
“It’s an outrage that I’m being silenced and targeted simply for naming specific individuals.”
Bayefsky’s statement was cut short as she accused Albanese, Navi Pillay (former chair of the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory), and Chris Sidoti (a commissioner of the same commission). She also criticized Khan, who has been accused of rape—though Khan has denied the sexual misconduct claims against him.
If her video had been shown in its entirety, Bayefsky would have continued to criticize Türk’s recent report for failing to demand accountability for the “Palestinian policy of paying to kill Jews—including Hamas terror leader Yahya Sinwar, who received half a million dollars in blood money.”
When the video was cut off, Human Rights Council President Ambassador Sidharto Reza Suryodipuro described Bayefsky’s comments as “derogatory, insulting, and inflammatory” and stated they were “unacceptable.”
“The speaker’s language cannot be permitted because it has gone beyond the bounds of tolerance and respect that we all uphold within the council’s framework,” Suryodipuro stated.
Responding to Digital’s request for comment, Human Rights Council Media Officer Pascal Sim noted that the council has long-standing rules regarding acceptable language.
“Decisions about the format and language of interventions in the Human Rights Council are established practices that have existed since the council’s inception, and all council presidents use them to ensure the respect, tolerance, and dignity that are essential to discussing human rights issues,” Sim told Digital.
When asked whether the video had been pre-reviewed, Sim said it was checked for length and audio quality to facilitate interpretation, but speakers are ultimately “responsible for the content of their statements.”
“The video statement from the NGO ‘Touro Law Center, The Institute on Human Rights and The Holocaust’ was interrupted when its language was judged to have crossed the council’s boundaries of tolerance and respect and could not be allowed,” Sim explained.
“As the presiding officer noted at the time, all speakers must adhere to the appropriate framework and terminology used in the council’s work—something familiar to those who regularly participate in its proceedings. After the ruling, no council member states raised objections to it,” Sim added.
While Bayefsky’s statement was cut short, other statements accusing Israel of genocide and ethnic cleansing were allowed to be shown or read in their entirety.
This isn’t the first time Bayefsky has been interrupted. Exactly one year prior, on February 27, 2025, her video was cut off when she mentioned the fate of Ariel and Kfir Bibas. Jürg Lauber, who was the UN Human Rights Council president at the time, paused the video and stated that Bayefsky had used inappropriate language.
Bayefsky opened her speech with: “The world now knows Palestinian savages killed 9-month-old baby Kfir,” and she was almost instantly cut off by Lauber.
“Sorry, I have to interrupt,” Lauber said suddenly as Bayefsky’s video was paused. He briefly objected to the “language” used in the video but then let it resume. A few seconds later, however, the video was turned off completely.
Lauber repeated that “the speaker’s language cannot be tolerated,” noting that it “clearly exceeds the limits of tolerance and respect.”
Regarding the earlier incident, Bayefsky said she believed the entire situation was “stage-managed,” since the council had advance access to her video and transcript and knew what she would say.