The numerous accusations that Israeli officials have made against the United Nations appear to have translated to direct action against officials working for the UN.
Now denied a renewal of her visa by the Israeli authorities, Lynn Hastings is the current Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and United Nations Resident Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Having held her current title for three years, she now faces Israeli allegations of failing to be objective and impartial in her role.
Lynn Hastings, a Canadian Veteran UN official, has worked for decades across a multitude of conflict zones in a professional capacity. Prior to taking her current role in 2020, she had worked as Deputy Director in the Operations and Advocacy Division of OCHA, in New York.
She was also Senior Advisor for the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus, had been the Country Director for Pakistan of OCHA and Chief of Staff in the Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO) between 2003 and 2011.
Ms. Hastings also worked for the Office of the Middle East Quartet Envoy for the Gaza Disengagement, in 2005, giving her a demonstrable background in the occupied Palestinian territory. In addition to this, she held senior positions in peacekeeping forces in Kosovo and East Timor.
Israeli authorities informed the United Nations that Tel Aviv will not renew the visa of Lynn Hastings, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Palestine, a UN spokesman said on Friday.https://t.co/zFLCee3Gh4 pic.twitter.com/IClLi579kG
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) December 2, 2023
Holding a Master of Laws from the University of Edinburgh, UK, she was also a private sector lawyer and carried out legal research for the International Commission of Jurists.
In her current role as an official focused on the Middle East Peace Process and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, she has been vocal about the documented cases of human rights abuses against Palestinian civilians.
For example, in 2022, she stated that “the UN has recorded unprecedented levels of settler violence against Palestinians this year,” underlining the fact that illegal Israeli settlers had ethnically cleansed some 1,100 civilians from 28 villages in the West Bank.
As of the recent Israeli war, declared upon the Gaza Strip following the Hamas-led attack of October 7, Hastings has been directly targeted by the Israeli government. Israel has accused the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, of “justifying terrorism” following his comments in October, during which he made the observation that the Hamas attack did not happen in a vacuum.
The numerous accusations that Israeli officials have made against the United Nations and its affiliated agencies, appear to have translated to direct action against officials working for the UN.
The official X page belonging to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, lashed out at Lynn Hastings, posting that “According to UN ethics, she is supposed to be impartial and objective, but unfortunately, she is neither. Hastings’ dangerous rhetoric endangers innocent Israeli and Palestinian civilians.”
Israeli forces have intensified their airstrikes across various areas of the Gaza Strip, leading to dozens of casualties among the civilian population.https://t.co/u3NLpBSo77 pic.twitter.com/bWEdUDoQ6L
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) December 3, 2023
The UN responded to criticisms and personal attacks against their official, by affirming their belief in the professionalism of Hastings.
Israel has now informed the UN that they will refuse to renew the Lynn Hastings visa, come its expiry date. As her role entails being based in Jerusalem, this could jeopardize her work.
In recent months, as the war on Gaza has raged on, Lynn Hastings has been consistently urging an end to the humanitarian crisis, caused by Israel’s policies, calling for aid to be unconditionally allowed into the Gaza Strip.
However, she has also called for the unconditional release of Israelis held under Hamas detention and maintains a rather neutral tone that speaks to the ongoing humanitarian crisis and facts on the ground.
There does not seem to be any side taking, nor biases displayed, in the language employed by the UN aid official throughout a number of interviews that have been conducted with her since October 7.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
– Robert Inlakesh is a journalist, writer, and documentary filmmaker. He focuses on the Middle East, specializing in Palestine. He contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle.
” … she is supposed to be impartial and objective, but unfortunately, she is neither. …” Actually the problem for the Israelis is that she is both.
Having a morsel of humanity is not permitted by the Israeli regime. They are becoming desperate in attempt to hide their crimes against humanity.