The UN Deserves Better Than Arielle Silverstein

Just a quick history lesson. (It’s general knowledge, but we’ll do a recap anyway.)

In 1945 the world was a mess.

Despite the first world war having earned the nickname “The War to End all Wars” global war broke out again.

This second one brought unprecedented death and destruction. The atrocities of the Nazi regime were so unbelievable that U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered publication and photos of the events, just to prove to future generations, in a visual form, the extent of the carnage. Despite such photographic evidence, the deaths of millions, the documents of war crimes and the countless testimony, Holocaust deniers still exist.

After that unbelievable horror, more than 50 countries got together to commit to maintaining international peace. They agreed to define the rights that belong to all people on Earth, a specific list of human rights drafted by a committee of members of diverse backgrounds, chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt. Known as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, these articles included statements of nondiscrimination, the right to life and liberty, the right to equal representation under the law, and a call for an end to slavery of every kind.

Therein lie the roots of the United Nations, which has grown to include 193 member states: to lay down and guarantee fundamental human rights, after the bigotry and hatred which sparked a devastating war succeeded in stripping these rights from millions.

Those 30 human rights named are core and essential to both every individual on Earth and to the United Nations itself, because it was discrimination and destruction which ultimately brought about the UN’s creation.

I’ve included this historical context here so that you can see how outrageous and completely absurd it would be for such an organization to employ a bigot.

The UN exists to prevent such discrimination, bigotry and atrocity, on an international level.

And there’s even more than just history here that makes that notion unfathomable: The current rules governing staff of the United Nations state:

“Staff members shall uphold and respect the principles set out in the Charter, including faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women. Consequently, staff members shall exhibit respect for all cultures; they shall not discriminate against any individual or group of individuals or otherwise abuse the power and authority vested in them.” (UN Staff Rules and Staff Regulations of the United Nations, Secretary-General’s bulletin, Regulation 1.2)

In summary, bigotry is the seed that, when permitted to grow, incites violence, hate, and ultimately death. In the case of World War II, the deaths of millions.

The UN exists to prevent such discrimination, bigotry and atrocity, on an international level.

Yet, within the ranks of the United Nations—in an ethics capacity, no less—sits an outspoken bigot, Arielle Silverstein.

Arielle Silverstein Speaks Hate

By day, using her own name, Arielle Silverstein works for the United Nations. She’s a lawyer and makes a self-reported six-figure income.

But under the pseudonym Bozuri and others, she has spoken with open contempt about Muslims, Jews, Christians, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Scientologists and other religious or cultural groups.

Despite referring to herself as an “atheist Jew” and a “heretic Jew,” she said, “My dislike of the ultra-orthodox is so high, that I refuse to work with them on anything.”

Mocking Islam’s prophet, she wrote, “Kuwait arrests a man for offending the prophet Mohamed on Twitter. Who knew that an illiterate desert dweller as Mohamed could read tweets?” About Muslims, Silverstein wrote: “The Muslim society in general, not just in Iran, is very sexually repressed and has unhealthy attitudes towards sexuality…”

About Christians: “Christians were really glorifying a torturous death and becoming martyrs. That’s why many of them refused to convert. They thought there [sic] were going to heaven for sticking to the faith and dying painfully. Suckers!”

And finally: “I like nothing more than explaining to religious people why I dislike God.”

She scrubbed her hostile remarks from the internet, after insulting members of virtually every world religion.

But it’s not just her words. Silverstein has given money and support to the cyberterrorist and antireligious group Anonymous, a group which has proclaimed: “We ruin the lives of other people simply because we can.”

So on the one hand, we have a woman earning an income from an organization which champions and was founded on religious freedom and freedom of thought, while on the other hand, we have an antireligious bigot spending that money on the destruction of people’s lives, based on their chosen faith.

The UN Should Fire Arielle Silverstein

Working for the United Nations is an honor. The UN’s core values reflect a desire for a better, safer, freer society for all. Its charter includes the purposes “promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion.”

Arielle Silverstein does not fit those values. The fact that she spews her hatred under pseudonyms and then works to scrub the internet of her hate speech just proves she knows she is in the wrong.

The United Nations cannot maintain its integrity and have a blatant bigot on its payroll.

The UN should fire Arielle Silverstein.