Ben Davis, director of the rural transformation and gender equality division at the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization, told colleagues he was effectively forced out of the U.N. agency, the Italian Insider reported.
If the global body didn’t renew his contract due to his Gaza advocacy work, that would mark the first known instance of a U.N. employee facing major consequences for violations of the global body’s standards on impartiality on the Israel-Hamas conflict.
“I am retiring, because my contract was not extended,” Davis reportedly said.
He added that “I was told that I violated the paragraphs about standards of conduct of the civil service related to impartiality in leadership, and I was told this was due to my participation in the moments of silence and technical work that has been carried out about the situation of starvation and famine in Gaza.”
The agency is among the U.N. entities that collect and analyze food insecurity data.
Davis co-authored a September 2025 report that Gaza faced a catastrophic food security situation.
Reports of famine in Gaza, which have been debunked repeatedly, have been drawn largely from misleading, incomplete or false data supplied by U.N. organizations.
It is unclear what other advocacy work might have been at the center of the staffer’s departure from the global body.
“The values that are enshrined in the United Nations must also be those that guide international civil servants in all their actions—fundamental human rights, social justice, the dignity and worth of the human person and respect for the equal rights of men and women, and of nations great and small,” Davis reportedly said.
The Italian Insider reported that the United States, the U.N. agency’s largest donor, pressured it to drop Davis. It didn’t say why Davis, and not other U.N. officials, was singled out. (JNS sought comment from the U.S. State Department and the U.N. agency.)
Critics have said that the United Nations has set its rules on public advocacy and impartiality aside during the Israel-Hamas conflict. Some employees have taken part openly in anti-Israel efforts outside of U.N. infrastructure and posted anti-Israel content on social media.
Sarah Douglas, a senior official at U.N. Women, was reportedly suspended in late 2023 for a series of anti-Israel social-media posts and endorsements. The United Nations said that the matter was “being dealt with.”
“We are aware of reports relating to a mid-level manager in personal social-media activity and its compatibility with the standards of conduct required of U.N. staff members,” Kiri Jo Ginnerup, a U.N. Women spokeswoman, told JNS after repeated inquires.
“U.N. Women takes these concerns seriously,” she said.
She did not verify the suspension. “The standards of conduct are clear, and breaches are dealt with appropriately and in accordance with U.N Women’s accountability and legal framework,” she said. “Such processes are internal and not made public.”
Lamia Burkart, a U.N. writer and consultant in Germany, posted social media messages with Jew-hatred and support of terror in late 2023.
The United Nations first said that the account didn’t belong to Burkart and called on the accuser, who discovered the posts, to retract his allegation.
It then admitted that the account was Burkart’s but said it was hacked. Burkart then deleted the account.
