While the United Nations already has over 17,000 peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo who are allowed to use force to protect civilians under immediate threat, the intervention troops, who will be part of the existing mission, will have more flexibility when it comes to fighting rebel groups.

“These 3,000 have basically been given the role to ‘neutralize’ the armed groups, and that means they can proactively use force against armed groups who do not put their weapons down,” said U.N. peacekeeping spokesman Kieran Dwyer. “They don’t have to wait until they directly threaten civilians. That’s the difference.”

For over a decade, the United Nations has had a peacekeeping mission in Congo, which has been locked in bloody conflict between the Congolese government and rebel groups backed by Uganda and Rwanda.

While the Second Congo War officially ended in 2003, violent clashes continued. Last April, the March 23 (M23) militia seized Goma, a major city in the eastern part of the country.

Eleven African countries signed onto a security deal to help stabilize Congo in February. The U.N. Security Council authorized 3,000 intervention troops, under U.N. command, who began to arrive in May. The forces will come from neighboring African countries, and the arms will be provided by states, not the United Nations itself.

“It’s not that we’re setting up a war-fighting group,” Dwyer said. “But to deal with the really recalcitrant ones who were fighting to not give up their weapons and continue to threaten civilians.”

He said the hope is that the security framework will also pressure the rebels to lay down their arms.

“The idea is with the political and security framework, that many of these armed groups will already start to put down their weapons,” Dwyer said.

But some foreign policy experts are skeptical that the United Nations can effectively execute a military-type intervention.

“I think it’s a mistake,” former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton told the Washington Free Beacon. “The risk of a disaster, I think, is high. These peacekeepers could well find themselves in trouble from a number of the parties, without adequate training. So the likelihood of success is very low and the potential for real trouble, I think, is very high.”

“What this really calls out for is an African Union solution rather than a U.N. solution,” Bolton added. “It is a stateless area in many respects, and something which the states of Southern Africa really ought to resolve themselves, rather than to try to do it from remote control from the Security Council.”

Claudia Rosett, the journalist-in-residence at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, noted that the United Nations has had peacekeepers in Congo for over a decade with little progress.

“After how many years we’ve been in there, and here we go again—one of [the UN Peacekeeping Operations] latest press releases tells us rape and other forms of brutal sexual violence are on the rise in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, due to the increase in the fighting, et cetera,” Rosett said. “They have been in there for years and the UN simply isn’t configured to deal with this type of problem. It’s a way of spending money and putting a Band Aid on things that fester.”

Rosett noted that there have been reported abuses by U.N. peacekeeping forces, including rapes and other assaults.

“The U.N. just turns them back over to their home companies to avoid embarrassment, so the thing usually just disappears,” Rosett said. “It’s a problem built into the UN system [and] they have yet to solve it. And in the meantime they spend billions on these operations. Too often U.N. peacekeepers become part of the problem.”

Bolton said he was concerned that the operation was “being entered into without a lot of thought and discussions in key capitals.”

“How much have you heard about it in Washington, for example?” he said. “We’re going to pay 25 percent of the cost of it, even though there’s no tangible U.S. interest anywhere at stake.”

As for the new precedent set by the intervention force, Dwyer said, “People do interpret this brigade as sort of an interesting step forward for peacekeeping.”

However, he said this is not the first time U.N. peacekeepers have used force in Congo or elsewhere when civilians were at risk.

“The armed groups have to go,” he said.

McCaul said Power’s “horrible rhetoric” concerning U.S. foreign policy over the course of her career illustrates she is not the kind of advocate the United States should have at the U.N.:

JAKE TAPPER: Do you think, this is my last question for you because we’re running out of time, but do you think Samantha Power will become kind of a proxy battle about Susan Rice or are there opposition — is there reason to oppose Power in and of herself that you’re hearing from your fellow Republicans in the senate?

MICHAEL MCCAUL: Well I think we’ll be talking about both of them, but I think Mrs. Power, the opposition will stand on its own in terms of her — you know, you want an U.N. ambassador that’s going to advocate for the United States, not apologize for the United States. She’s compared our recent American foreign policy to those of the Nazis. This is a horrible rhetoric. It’s not the kind of messenger I want to be sent to the United Nations to speak on behalf of the United States. So we have some serious problems with this nomination.

Full interview:

The Washington Free Beacon broke the news earlier this month that Iran would preside over the arms control forum, which began Monday.

The forum has previously given way to major international treaties on nuclear non-proliferation, prohibitions on chemical weapons, and bans on nuclear tests.

According to the Tower:

The bipartisan letter – coauthored by Peter Roskam (R., Ill.), Ted Deutch (D., Fla.), Mike Kelly (R., Penn.), and Gary Peters (D., Mich.), and co-signed by the chair and ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee – takes note of Iran’s “continued pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability” as one core reason why Tehran ought to be disqualified from presiding over a body dedicated to preventing the pursuit of nuclear weapons capabilities.

Iranian media outlets bragged about the appointment when it was announced two weeks ago, which came just after negotiators made zero progress in talks with Iran, and amid revelations that Iran is locking in advanced nuclear infrastructure.

The U.N.’s annual Conference on Disarmament, which Iran is slated to lead from May 27 to June 23, is the organization’s primary multilateral forum for negotiating arms control agreements.

The forum has given way to major international treaties on nuclear non-proliferation, prohibitions on chemical weapons, and bans on nuclear tests.

UN Watch, a Geneva-based watchdog group, blasted the decision to allow Iran to chair the conference.

“This is like putting Jack the Ripper in charge of a women’s shelter,” said UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer in a statement. “Iran is an international outlaw state that illegally supplies rockets to Syria, Hezbollah, and Hamas, aiding and abetting mass murder and terrorism. To make this rogue regime head of world arms control is simply an outrage. Abusers of international norms should not be the public face of the U.N.”

The organization said it plans to hold protests with Iranian dissidents outside the U.N. hall.

Neuer called on U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and EU High Commissioner Catherine Ashton to “make clear that when the United Nations imposes four rounds of sanctions on Iran for illicit nuclear activities, condemns it for illegally arming the murderous Syrian regime, and denounces Tehran’s massive abuse of human rights, this kind of appointment just defies common sense and harms the U.N.’s credibility.”

U.N. officials say Iran is simply the next country in rotation for the conference chair slot, according to UN Watch.

The U.S. Mission to the United Nations said Ambassador Rice would not attend any meeting of the disarmament conference presided over by Iran in a statement Monday evening.

The U.S. mission also denounced Iran’s leadership role as “unfortunate and highly inappropriate.”

“While the presidency of the CD is largely ceremonial and involves no substantive responsibilities, allowing Iran—a country that is in flagrant violation of its obligations under multiple UN Security Council Resolutions and to the IAEA Board of Governors—to hold such a position runs counter to the goals and objectives of the Conference on Disarmament itself,” said the statement. “As a result, the United States will not be represented at the ambassadorial level during any meeting presided over by Iran.”

The U.N. Secretary-General’s office did not respond to requests for comment.

Iran has not halted its nuclear weapons efforts despite international sanctions and condemnation. The country is a top benefactor of the Syrian regime, which is suspected of using chemical weapons against rebel forces. Iran also supplies rockets and other arms to its terrorist proxy, Hezbollah.

The United Nations has previously hosted the Holocaust-denying Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at its World Conference Against Racism, where he has equated Zionism with racism and claimed Israel exploits the Holocaust to persecute Palestinians.

Neuer said Iran’s record of human rights abuses and U.N. sanctions should make it ineligible for a leadership position.

“Any member state that is the subject of U.N. Security Council sanctions for proliferation—and found guilty of massive human rights violations—should be ineligible to hold a leadership position in a U.N. body,” Neuer said. “The U.S. and Canada have asserted this principle in the past, and should do so again.”

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R., Fla.), who authored the United Nations Transparency, Accountability, and Reform Act of 2011, said Iran chairing the UN Conference on Disarmament “is like allowing the inmates to run the prison.”

“When the absurd at the U.N. becomes the norm it should be a clear indication that the objectives of that body have run afoul of its original intent and founding mission,” said Ros-Lehtinen in a statement provided to the Washington Free Beacon. “Sadly, having Iran—an international pariah state that is under UN sanctions for its illicit nuclear activities—chair this year’s Conference on Disarmament nears the top of the list of absurdities to come out of the UN in recent years.”

Ros-Lehtinen added that the administration has failed to hold the United Nations accountable for its actions, which is why she will be reintroducing her U.N. reform bill from last Congress.

“To continue to send billions of hardworking American taxpayer money to the U.N. without calling for reforms is indefensible in our current economic situation; and even if we weren’t in tough economic times, continuing to accept the mediocrity of the U.N. is irresponsible,” she said.

According to statement, the UNDP said it contribution was through a $25,000 grant to a soccer team for the Ansar al-Quds club.

“The UNDP logo—which is not even in its correct format—was used without any prior authorization from UNDP,” said the agency.

The UNDP has requested that the club stop using its logo for events without prior authorization.

The United Nations Development Programme sponsored a West Bank soccer tournament in April held in honor of a Palestinian terrorist who orchestrated one of the deadliest terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians in history, according to Palestinian media reports.

The annual Prince of Martyrs Khalil Al-Wazir Abu Jihad Football Tournament is named in honor of Fatah-founder Al-Wazir, who planned the 1978 Coastal Road massacre that killed 38 Israeli civilians, including 13 children. The tournament, held to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Al-Wazir’s “martyrdom death,” was reportedly organized by the Ansar Al-Quds Club and sponsored by the UNDP, according to Palestinian Authority newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadida.

The UNDP logo was prominently displayed on a banner emblazoned with a giant photo of Al-Wazir, pictures published by Palestinian news agency Ma’an show.

Palestinian Media Watch, an Israeli research institute that monitors Palestinian media, first flagged the reports and photos.

Hillel Neuer, the executive director of United Nations watchdog group U.N. Watch, said the UNDP’s sponsorship of the terrorist-honoring tournament was not a surprise, considering the U.N.’s history of indulging anti-Israel sentiment.

“Some agencies do try to play an educational role and try to introduce basic standards of decency and international human rights standards,” Neuer said. “Too often, as in this case, they try to appease this raw hatred.”

“They look the other way and either knowingly enter into arrangements where they are endorsing something that sends an evil message, like this [tournament] does,” said Neuer. “They don’t want to deal with the alternative. The alternative is to fight something that is deeply rooted, endemic, and widespread, and to be unpopular in these areas.”

The Israel Project, a U.S.-based pro-Israel group, also blasted the UNDP’s sponsorship.

“The United Nations has been breathtakingly lax in condemning Palestinian incitement, which strikes at the heart of the peace process and the U.N.’s credibility,” said Omri Ceren, a senior adviser at the Israel Project. “Now, apparently, some U.N. officials have moved from silence to active support. This is disgraceful, and it underscores the unhelpful role often played by the U.N. across the region.”

Ceren said the incident was the latest example of why there needs to be more accountability for the United Nations.

“U.S. policymakers are increasingly calling for accountability and reform specifically on how the U.N. approaches Israel and the Palestinians, and this incident highlights exactly why,” Ceren said.

The soccer tournament was one of several Palestinian Authority events held to honor Al-Wazir’s death in April. PMW also reported on an April rally where PLO politician Saleh Rafat, “directed a salutation of honor and pride to the soul of Martyr Abu Jihad” and District Governor of Jenin Talal Dweikat called him “one of the giants and heroes who wrote epics of bravery,” according to Palestinian media reports.

Rep. Peter Roskam (R., Ill.), the chief deputy whip, called on U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to fire Special Rapporteur Richard Falk after he penned an essay that argued the United States and Israel encourage terrorism.

“As long as Tel Aviv has the compliant ear of the American political establishment, those who wish for peace and justice in the world should not rest easy,” Falk wrote in a widely condemned op-ed that appeared in the days following the Boston attack.

“The American global domination project is bound to generate all kinds of resistance in the post-colonial world,” wrote Falk, a polarizing figure who officially serves as the U.N. special rapporteur for human rights in the Palestinian territories.

Falk has a history of making inflammatory comments about Isarel. Pro-Israel observers have long called on the U.N. to fire him over these comments.

Ban decried Falk’s comments last week, but did not take any action against him.

Roskam maintains that it is time Falk be fired for his rhetoric, according to a letter he sent Ban on Tuesday and obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

“I write to urge you to demand the removal of Richard Falk from his position,” Roskam wrote, explaining that Falk’s recent comments cross the line.

Falk’s failed to uphold his mandate to act impartial and in good faith, Roskam argued.

“According to the Council, Special Rapporteurs are appointed to ‘uphold independence, efficiency, competence and integrity through probity, impartiality, honesty and good faith’,” Roskam wrote. “These officials are expected to ‘ensur[e] universality, objectivity and non-selectivity’ without ‘double standards and politicization.’

“Mr. Falk’s conduct fails to meet these standards,” the letter states. “His recent comments blaming the United States and Israel for the Boston Marathon bombings are reflective of an individual whose biases and bizarre behavior have made him undeserving and unfit to serve under the auspices of the U.N. Human Rights Council.”

Falk’s allegation that America’s alliance with Israel led to the bombings is completely egregious, Roskam writes.

“To somehow connect the senseless killing of innocent civilians to the strategic alliance between the United States and Israel is factually baseless and an affront to the victims, their loved ones, and the civilized world,” Roskam wrote.

“Indeed, Mr. Falk is the only official making allegations of any connection to a group other than violent extremists,” according to the letter. “These statements call into question his ability to maintain a level of objectivity, integrity, and competence expected of a U.N. Special Rapporteur.”

Roskam reiterates his call for the “prompt removal” of Falk “from his post as a special rapporteur to the U.N. Human Rights Council.”

Roskam is not the only lawmaker to call for Falk to be fired.

A delegation of nearly 30 lawmakers also called on Ban to fire Falk in a letter sent last week.

Annie Machon, a former British intelligence officer who has said the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks were “an inside job” in order to spur war in the Middle East, is scheduled to address a June 6 briefing jointly organized by the U.N. Department of Public Information Non-Governmental Relations (DPI-NGO) and the Swiss government’s permanent U.N. mission.

The briefing, “Determined to Save Succeeding Generations from the Scourge of War,” will be held at the U.N. headquarters in New York.

Machon’s presence at the briefing prompted Jewish humanitarian organization B’nai B’rith International (BBI) to condemn her conspiratorial views.

“It is unimaginably inappropriate for Machon to be speaking at U.N. headquarters given her worldview,” BBI president Allan J. Jacobs said in a statement. “To blame 9/11 on a massive conspiracy is vile and outrageously disrespectful to the victims of the attacks in the city she’s speaking in.”

The group petitioned U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and Swiss Ambassador to the U.N. Paul Seger about her conspiracist and anti-Israel statements.

“We are writing to express our outrage over the choice of Ms. Annie Machon as a panelist,” BBI wrote last week to Ki-Moon and Seger, according to a copy of its letter obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

“In videos easily accessible and widely viewed on YouTube, she espouses the view that 9/11 was, ‘an inside job designed as a pretext for war,’” BBI wrote in their letter. “In another video, she claims that the Israeli Mossad security agency carried out a 1994 bombing at the Israeli Embassy in London to shatter support for Palestinians in the United Kingdom.”

“Given Ms. Machon’s oft-stated views on the September 11th terrorist attacks, we think it is highly inappropriate and insensitive to the local community in U.N. headquarters’ host city that she was invited to speak from a U.N. platform,” the letter stated. “Spreading lies about states that fall victim to terrorist attacks does not move us closer to the shared goal of saving succeeding generations from the scourge of war. It only serves to blame the victims for their own suffering.”

BBI has yet to receive a response.

Machon left the British intelligence service MI-5 and began claiming the U.S. government perpetrated the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Machon is interviewed at length in a YouTube video titled “9/11 was an inside job.”

“I feature primarily in the 9/11 Truth movement,” Machon tells an interviewer in 2007. “I’m one of the national activists. I think it’s very important to get the message out as quickly as possible.”

“There is a lot of evidence, scientific, eyewitness, all sorts of different types of evidence coming out that proves it’s a lie,” Machon said.

She said the attacks were “designed as a pretext for war and designed as a pretext to erode our freedom.”

Machon also claimed the United States captured a group of “dancing Israelis” after the 9/11 attacks.

“Of course other spy rings have been caught in the United States in the last decade,” Machon said in a 2010 interview with RT, Russia’s Kremlin-funded propaganda network. “Most notably, the so-called ‘dancing Israelis,’ who were arrested shortly after 9/11. They were seen celebrating the collapse of the Twin Towers.”

The “dancing Israelis” conspiracy theory was debunked soon after the attacks more than a decade ago.

Critics say Machon will deliver a conspiratorial and anti-Israel message when she addresses the U.N. panel about the perils of war.

“If it wasn’t bad enough that her views are being given legitimacy, that the event is taking place at U.N. headquarters [in New York City] is something that needs to be quickly addressed,” said David J. Michaels, BBI’s director of U.N. and intercommunal affairs.

Michaels noted the United Nations has a history of anti-Israel bias and events such as this occur too often.

“We see the diversion of this organization far away from where it’s supposed to be,” Michaels said. “There are too many actors, whether NGOs or so-called experts and even bureaucrats, who allow the organization to go astray.”

“To see its credibility further eroded by the hosting of an event with a person like [Machon]… is a tragedy,” he said.

The U.N. DPI-NGO and the Swiss delegation did not respond to a Free Beacon request for comment.

Hamas’s military arm, known as Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, is reported to have “bulldozed a part of the ancient Anthedon Harbor in northern Gaza along the Mediterranean Sea” in order to expand a military training camp, according to al-Monitor.

The destruction of important ancient archeological sites has sparked criticism from regional organizations and led the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to demand an explanation.

UNESCO petitioned the PA late last month “to clarify what is being done on the site,” UNESCO spokesman Roni Amelan said in an interview. The letter was sent to the Permanent Delegation of Palestine to UNESCO, one of the few U.N. bodies to accept Palestine as a member.

The PA has not yet responded to UNESCO’s letter, the full text of which is not publicly available, Amelan noted.

Ambassador Elias Wadih Sanbar, the PA’s representative to UNESCO, did not respond to a Washington Free Beacon request for further comment about the matter.

The Anthedon Harbor is believed to be “the first known seaport of Gaza,” evidencing some of the earliest links between Europe and early Middle Eastern cultures, according to UNESCO. The U.N. body has sought to designate the area an international heritage site.

“The present site consists of a variety of elements which spread in the area from the seashore, including the underwater archaeology, to the inland: The ruins of a Roman temple and a section of a wall have been uncovered, as well as Roman artisan and living quarters, including a series of villas, testifying of the city of Anthedon,” according to UNESCO. “Mosaic floors, warehouses, and fortified structures are found in the area.”

Remains and artifacts dating back to the Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine periods can be found at the site, according to UNESCO.

Hamas officials admitted the archeological site would be disturbed in order to expand a military training facility, which critics dub a terrorist training ground.

“We can’t stand as an obstacle in the way of Palestinian resistance; we are all a part of a resistance project, yet we promise that the location will be limitedly used without harming it at all,” Muhammad Khela, Gaza’s deputy minister of tourism, was quoted as saying by al-Monitor.

The destruction of Gaza’s archeological sites has led watchdog groups and other human rights advocates to express great concern.

U.N. Watch exerted pressure on UNESCO Monday to resolve the issue and provide the public with answers.

“U.N. Watch is alarmed by the reported destruction by Hamas of parts of the ancient Anthedon Harbor in Gaza for use as a terrorist training camp,” the group wrote in an open letter to UNESCO director-general Irina Bokova. “We urge you to bring the matter immediately before the UNESCO executive board.”

UNESCO’s executive committee is holding meetings this week in Paris. The body is not currently scheduled to discuss this matter.

“That the UNESCO executive has so far failed to place the Hamas destruction and cynical abuse of this site on its agenda underscores the tragic politicization and diversion of the agency’s mission to protect world culture and heritage,” wrote Hillel Neuer, U.N. Watch’s executive director.

The controversy comes amid great upheaval in the PA.

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad resigned over the weekend, sparking great concern among Western governments that considered the reformer one of their prime allies.

He reportedly had a strained relationship with PA President Mahmoud Abbas, who has been cited by critics as one of the Palestinian government’s most corrupt politicians.

Abbas had been contemplating firing Fayyad for months, according to reports.

Syria is an elected member of the executive committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The body, which deals with human rights issues among other subjects, is meeting this week in Paris.

David Killion, U.S. ambassador to UNESCO, told U.N. Watch, an oversight group, “the Syrian regime’s actions are an affront to the dignity and human rights of the Syrian people, and it is not fit to sit on this body.”

“It is indefensible for the Syrian regime to be allowed to stand as a judge of other countries’ human rights records while it systematically violates the human rights of its citizens, commits acts of sexual violence against women and children, and murders its own people,” Killion said.

More than 70,000 Syrians have been killed in a years-long civil war aimed at toppling President Bashar al-Assad.

A UNESCO spokesman did not immediately respond to a Washington Free Beacon request for comment.

Investigator Ahmed Shaheed conducted 169 interviews, the majority inside Iran, in compiling his report.

Iran said the claims made were “unfounded propaganda.”

 He asserted that rights abuses, including what he called “serious torture,” had been carried out across a wide section of society, affecting people engaged in a range of activities.

Mr. Shaheed expressed particular concern for the situation of journalists, rights activists and prominent lawyers defending politically sensitive cases or working with organizations promoting human rights who were facing long prison sentences or long bans on their ability to practice their professions. In a statement to the council, he said they “continue to be subjected to harassment, arrest, interrogation and torture, and are frequently charged with vaguely defined national security crimes, which is seemingly meant to erode the front line of human rights defense in the country.”

Shaheed also expressed concern over Iran’s 497 executions in 2012, half of which were kept secret.

About 80 percent of executions were carried out for drug-related offenses that are not a capital crime under international law, Mr. Shaheed said. In his review of capital cases, he found what he called frequent reports of forced confessions, inadequate opportunities for defense and widespread disregard for legal safeguards.