FAO official says contract was not renewed after criticism of Israeli policies in Gaza

A senior official at the Food and Agriculture Organization says his contract was not renewed after he criticised Israeli policies in Gaza. Ben Davis, who had been director of rural transformation and gender equality, said he was told in July that his role would end because he had allegedly breached impartiality rules. He said the decision followed his public comments on Gaza and his involvement in weekly silent protests at the Rome-based agency.

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Davis said he was accused of organising moments of silence over starvation and famine in Gaza. He also said a report he worked on in May about food availability in Gaza and humanitarian law was taken down after colleagues were told to remove references to humanitarian law. According to Davis, the issue was not only his public remarks but also the content of internal work linked to the conflict.

He said the agency had previously warned him in public for being too political. The FAO director-general, Qu Dongyu, made public remarks on Tuesday that Davis interpreted as directed at him. In those comments, Qu said the organisation did not allow staff to play the game of human rights inside the agency and suggested that such matters belonged elsewhere in the United Nations system.

He also said some senior members were playing a political game and referred to firing staff who were against the law or staff regulations. Davis said he was concerned by the comments about firing more people. The dispute matters because it touches on how a UN agency balances neutrality with staff expression on a major humanitarian crisis.

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The FAO works on food security, agriculture and rural livelihoods, so its internal handling of Gaza-related advocacy has wider significance for how international institutions respond to famine warnings and conflict-related hunger. The case also comes as debate continues over the role of UN bodies in documenting humanitarian conditions while avoiding political accusations. Davis said the weekly silent protests at the organisation had once drawn hundreds of participants, but now attract only about 30 to 40 people.

He said the protests focused on starvation and famine in Gaza, and that he believed the director-general's remarks were about him. The agency did not respond to a request for comment in the material provided. The account places the dispute inside a broader pattern of tension between staff activism and management discipline at a UN body headquartered in Rome.

What remains unclear is whether the non-renewal was formally linked only to impartiality rules or also to Davis's Gaza-related comments and protest activity. It is also not clear whether the agency will issue a public explanation or whether the matter will lead to any internal review. For now, the case appears to be an internal employment dispute with wider implications for how UN institutions handle speech on Gaza and humanitarian law.

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