FAO official says he lost his job for criticising Israeli policies in Gaza

FAO director said he was informed his contract would not be renewed because of allegedly breaching impartiality rules.A senior UN agency director has said that he lost his job because he criticised Israeli policies in Gaza.Ben Davis, who had been Director of Rural Transformation and Gender Equality at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), told AFP news agency on Wednesday that he was informed in July that his contract would not be renewed because he had allegedly breached impartiality rules.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Israeli attacks across Gaza kill at least eightlist 2 of 3Photos: Palestinians mourn more than 100 loved ones in mass Gaza funerallist 3 of 3Israeli drone kills Palestinian in Gaza, settlers kill another in West Bankend of listHe said that he was accused of organising weekly silent protests at the Rome-based organisation.“They accused me of organising these moments of silence on the situation of starvation and famine in Gaza,” Davis said.Davis was also criticised for a report he worked on about food availability in Gaza and humanitarian law, published in May.“We were told to take it down,” he said. “We weren’t allowed to make any references to humanitarian law.”‘Game of human rights’FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu appeared to warn FAO staff on Tuesday that “we don’t allow you to play the game here of human rights”.He was speaking in public comments made at the start of a filmed session on forestry.“Of course, human rights is very important, but we have the human rights agency in Geneva,” he added. “If you want to take care, go there.“That’s why some senior members play the political game here, I fire him … You should follow the FAO constitution … You are against staff regulations … But I’m a very soft person, I didn’t fire that many,” he said.“I will fire more people if they are against the law,” he added.Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Qu Dongyu delivers his speech during a World Food Forum meeting [File: Andrew Medichini/AP]FAO did not respond to an AFP request for comment.