Procedures, Values and Principles

"[The ICRC] is aware of social media posts allegedly made from a personal account of an ICC staff member."

"All ICRC staff members agree to and are bound by a code of conduct and we are now investigating this matter thoroughly in line with our procedures, values, and principles." 

"The ICRC confirms that we do not have an office in Montreal, nor is the individual alleged to have made these posts working for the ICRC in Canada."

Jessica Moussan, spokesperson, International Committee of the Red Cross

"The volume and severity of Mr. Abid's posts that justify the October 7 massacre, portray Hamas as beloved by its tortured hostages, and falsely accuse Israel of 'genocide', not to mention his marching with a Palestinian flag in a march organized by antisemitic groups, are such that his continued employment casts a shadow upon the ICRC as a whole."

"We are calling on the ICRC to take swift and decisive action and protect the integrity of their humanitarian mission."

Hillel Neuer, executive director, UN Watch

 

As a senior staff member of the International Committee of the Red Cross, it would not have been lost on Haythem Abid that by flouting the neutrality rules of the international organization he works for as head of its Algeria office and director of the Libya sub-delegation, his actions would be soiling the vaunted reputation of the venerable group. Much less that his position as a senior employee would be vulnerable to dismissal for a breach of contract of that degree.

 

"F--k neutral s--t, today being neutral is taking a side", he wrote on October 18, eleven days following the Hamas massacre of 1,200 Israeli civilians. His Facebook post was noted by UN Watch that tasks itself with monitoring the United Nations along with other non-governmental organizations. UN Watch took screen shots of Abid's social media posts. He speaks of Israel's determination to destroy Hamas's terrorist network as "terrorism" in and of itself. And despite his employment with the ICRC, he participates in anti-Israel protests.

"Neutrality" is described on the ICRC website as one of its seven fundamental principles. Not that in the past during historical events of great global destabilization, as during World War II, the ICRC was found to have chosen to abandon neutrality itself when its senior executives saw fit to supply Nazi elite senior figures and combatants with papers enabling them to go abroad into safety from arrest and appearances at the Nuremberg Trials. And nor did the ICRC particularly distinguish itself more latterly by failing to manage to oversee the plight of Israeli  hostages in Gaza.

The name of the Facebook account the UN Watch investigation cites lists an Ethan Abid, although the account makes use of the same photograph as appears on the LinkedIn account of Haythem Abid. The photograph shows Abid's face quite clearly, while he poses before an ICRC plane. And employment with the ICRC failed to deter this senior employee from making a number of social media posts since the October 7 attack that are 'anti-Israel', a euphemism for hatefully violent accusations.