Cindy McCain, the executive director of the World Food Programme, faced off on Thursday with irate Middle East staffers, who accused her of displaying pro-Israeli bias in response to an unprecedented military assault that has led to the deaths of more than 15,000 Palestinians, according to figures compiled by the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, and more than 100 United Nations workers in Gaza.
The extraordinarily raw and unvarnished exchange brought McCain and her staff intermittently to tears, while exposing a potentially unbridgeable gulf between the American leader of the Nobel Prize-winning food agency and those on the front lines of the humanitarian effort to save lives in Gaza. This account is based on leaked video of the session, and copies of the formal statements delivered to McCain during the meeting.
In a sign of growing anger with McCain’s leadership, WFP staffers in Gaza boycotted the session, while other employees of the agency walked out in the middle of the meeting. “We are not here today because you were not here for us,” a statement read on behalf of the Gaza office stated. “With all due respect, you have failed us.”
About the author
Colum Lynch
Colum Lynch is an award-winning reporter and Senior Global Reporter for Devex. He covers the intersection of development, diplomacy, and humanitarian relief at the United Nations and beyond. Prior to Devex, Colum reported on foreign policy and national security for Foreign Policy Magazine and the Washington Post. Colum was awarded the 2011 National Magazine Award for digital reporting for his blog Turtle Bay. He has also won an award for groundbreaking reporting on the U.N.’s failure to protect civilians in Darfur.
