After it was revealed that she had published tweets repeating antisemitic tropes, referring to Jews as “our enemies” and calling for “God’s curse” against gay men, Qatari Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) Hend Al-Muftah deleted her Twitter account (@halmuftah).
Within days of losing her bid to chair the UN Forum on Human Rights, Democracy, and the Rule of Law, Muftah deleted her account.
Two weeks ago, Patricia Hermanns, the Bahamas’ permanent representative, was named to the position by Federico Villegas, president of the UN Human Rights Council. The controversy over Muftah was not mentioned in his announcement. (Qatar’s envoy loses bid)
The non-governmental organization UN Watch wrote to Villegas three days before the announcement, describing Muftah’s tweets and expressing “grave concern” about Villegas’s nomination as forum chairperson.
UN Watch wrote in the letter, “Qatar’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva has a long record of publishing racist tropes about Jews, bigoted attacks on gays, disinformation, and conspiracy theories about Western societies and liberalism.”
One of Muftah’s antisemitic tweets reads, “We learned from a young age that the Jews are our enemies!” and another one recommends Dr Mustafa Mahmoud’s book “The Great Conspiracy,” which asserts that Jews have spread “obscenity and decadence, cocaine, crack, nudity, sex, and violence” throughout Western civilization.
The Qatari ambassador to the United Nations also tweeted in response to a UN plea for LGBTQ+ rights in Africa, writing: Keep your rights for your people and stay away from Arab and Middle Eastern nations. (Qatar’s envoy loses bid)
“Defending human rights has nothing to do with gay rights!” read another tweet with two others pleading with God to “curse” homosexuals.
“The end of America and others does not need any prophecy… Our Messenger and our Qur’an told us about it 1400 years ago, and it is inevitably true…” read another tweet from the UN ambassador. On Tuesday, Infantino met with Villegas in Geneva to discuss “various human rights-related projects including on the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.”
According to a FIFA press release, Infantino stated, “I am very happy to have met the UNHRC president and to have shared with him how the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 has been an opportunity to carry out long-lasting reforms.”
It stated, “Among the positive changes that are recognized and praised by independent international organizations are the introduction of minimum wages, the elimination of the kafala system [for the purpose of monitoring migrant labourers], and heat protection measures for workers.” We will continue to collaborate with the Qatari authorities to ensure that the upcoming FIFA World Cup will be a tournament where everyone is welcome. FIFA played a role in the significant progress that has been made in a short amount of time.
“Recent developments that demonstrate that as an organization, FIFA has taken a strong stance to combat human rights abuses, such as racism and discrimination, which are welcome and I continue to encourage,” Villegas stated.(Qatar’s envoy loses bid)
Hiller Neuer, a human rights activist and international lawyer, is writing. In a tweet, the Executive Director of United Nations Watch stated:
Breaking! After we nixed her bid for a top UN human rights position due to her tweets in which she accused the Jews of orchestrating 9/11 and called gay people “disgusting,” Qatar’s Ambassador of Hate, Hend Al-Muftah, just deleted her account, @halmuftah.She just met with Gianni Infantino, the head of FIFA.
This tweet received numerous comments from Twitter users.
Writer Daniel Rubenstein: Regarding media investments, I’d like to know how much the Qatari royal family spends annually on Al Jazeera.
Waidi also wrote: BTY, “anti-Zionist” does not imply anti-Jewish; her 2012 tweets clearly describe Zionist attacks in #Palestine; therefore, “stop playing with words and act as a superhero.”
As Howard May wrote, Nice effort. We recognize you and your deplorable values. I hope the World Cup serves as a platform for exposing Qatar’s corrupt core.
Once more, Howard May wrote: They won’t say anything unless you pay them bribe money. If you want, pretend otherwise. FIFA, your nation, and you all have been tainted. The world can see that you are immoral.
Mark Thomas penned: As these Arab princesses are placed in their proper places, we are going to find a lot more of this.
As Ahmed Alshehni wrote, Hey, clown, Arab will prevail in the end, regardless of whether you accepted .You can see what’s going on if you live in this world; We will see if Western can survive until the end of the winter without Arab assistance. Arab strength is increasing by the day.
