FAO official says he was forced into retirement over Gaza protests, food research

A senior Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) official says he was forced into early retirement after participating in staff protests over Israel’s genocide in Gaza and publishing research on restrictions on food supplies to the besieged Palestinian territory.

Benjamin Davis, who served as FAO director of Rural Transformation and Gender Equality for 26 years, said he was informed in July that his contract would not be renewed.

Davis, 62, said his participation in weekly moments of silence for Palestinians killed in Gaza, along with his work on a report examining food availability and the implications of restrictions under international humanitarian and human rights law, contributed to the decision.

“They accused me of organizing these moments of silence on the situation of starvation and famine in Gaza,” Davis said.

The report, published in May, examined disruptions to Gaza’s food supply and their implications under international humanitarian and human rights law. Davis said FAO officials instructed staff to remove the report and barred references to humanitarian law.

The dispute gained further attention after FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu appeared to warn staff during a filmed forestry session that the organization would not allow employees to “play the game here of human rights.”

“Of course, human rights is very important, but we have the human rights agency in Geneva,” Qu said, adding that senior staff who engaged in what he described as political activity could be dismissed.

Asked whether he believed the comments were directed at him, Davis replied, “Absolutely,” adding that Qu had previously “scolded me in public” for being “too political.”

Aid groups challenge Israeli ban that could starve Gaza, West Bank

The NGOs say Israel, as an occupying power “must facilitate relief for civilians under its control” under the Geneva Convention.

Davis told Devex that he had regularly attended informal staff gatherings at FAO headquarters in Rome, where employees observed a moment of silence for Palestinians killed by Israeli forces.

He said hundreds of people participated at the gatherings at their peak, while attendance had since fallen to around 30 to 40 people each week.

Davis described FAO as a risk-averse technical organization seeking to avoid political controversy. He said that he believed Qu was sympathetic to the Palestinian cause but did not want the issue to create problems for the agency.

The case comes amid growing restrictions by Israel on international organizations providing humanitarian assistance to Palestinians.

Israel has also taken measures against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), including legislation restricting its operations, while other international humanitarian and aid organizations have faced restrictions on their access and activities in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

In December last year, Israel announced plans to revoke the licenses of 37 international NGOs operating in Gaza and the occupied West Bank from March 1, citing their "failure to provide detailed information about Palestinian employees."

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said it had spent months trying unsuccessfully to meet with Israeli authorities over the requirements, describing the move as a “pretext to obstruct humanitarian assistance” to Palestinians in Gaza.

Humanitarian organizations and UN officials have warned that Israel’s restrictions on aid agencies could further obstruct the delivery of food, medical care and other essential assistance to Gaza’s population amid the territory’s deepening humanitarian crisis.

The dispute over Davis’s departure comes as Israel faces mounting international scrutiny over its conduct in Gaza, where more than 74,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 2023, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

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