FAO director Ben Davis says he lost job over Gaza criticism; agency chief warns staff

Ben Davis, a director at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), told AFP on Wednesday 30 September that he had lost his job for criticising Israeli policies in Gaza. 1 2 He said he was told in July that his contract would not be renewed after 26 years because he had allegedly breached impartiality rules. 1 Al Jazeera describes him as having been Director of Rural Transformation and Gender Equality at the Rome-based agency. 2

Davis said he was accused of organising weekly moments of silence at the organisation over starvation and famine in Gaza. He said attendance peaked at hundreds and has fallen to 30-40 people a week. 1 2 He also said he was criticised over a report he worked on about food availability in Gaza and humanitarian law, published in May. He said staff were told to take it down and were not allowed to refer to humanitarian law. 1 On Tuesday, FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu said in public comments at the start of a filmed forestry session that “we don’t allow you to play the game here of human rights” and that the human rights agency is in Geneva. He added: “I fire him... I will fire more people if they are against the law.” 1 2

Asked whether those remarks were about him, Davis said “absolutely”. He said Qu had scolded him in public before for being too political, and that he was “concerned” about the talk of more firings. 1 2 FAO did not respond to AFP's request for comment, so its account of the non-renewal is not in the coverage. 1 Both outlets give context on the war. Arab News (AFP) cites Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry for over 74,000 deaths since October 2023, and says the UN deems its figures reliable. It also gives 1,219 deaths in the 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, per an AFP tally. Al Jazeera cites over 74,000 deaths and at least 1,431 Palestinians killed since the October 2025 ceasefire. 1 2