The executive director of the UN’s World Food Programme, Cindy McCain, is refusing to align with the anti-Israel narrative preferred by the majority of UN employees and leadership, and now some members of her staff want her fired because of it.

The UN’s secretary-general, António Guterres, and various bodies within the international governance organization have advocated for “a full humanitarian cease-fire” in the Israel-Hamas war, which critics warn would leave the Jewish state vulnerable to Hamas’s aggression. 

Ms. McCain, though, has stood up against pressure to parrot these demands, sparking accusations from her global staff members that her steadfast support for Israel is unethical and impartial and she should resign from her post at the world’s largest humanitarian organization. 

“For 54 days, your staff, our teams, have been living through hell to stand behind our organizations’ mandate to save lives and leave no one behind,” a WFP staffer told Ms. McCain from his office at Jordan during a virtual meeting held on Thursday to address the internal uproar. The meeting was boycotted by staff members in the program’s Jordan offices, while others staged a symbolic walkout and some called for Ms. McCain’s removal. 

“I’m sorry if you don’t think I’ve done enough or I’m not doing enough,” Ms. McCain responded, according to a video of the meeting shared with the New York Times, “but I’m doing absolutely everything I can to see an end to this and see a country, a place once again where they can live freely and live with their families.” 

Fury mounted within the WFP after Ms. McCain attended an international security forum honoring the people of Israel last month. She sat in the front row next to a former Israeli prime minister, Ehud Barak, at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia. The annual prize for Leadership in Public Service, named after her late husband, Senator McCain, was given to a reserve officer in the Israel Defense Forces on behalf of the people of Israel. 

While discussing concerns about the forum during Thursday’s meeting, Ms. McCain told staffers, “I will always support the legacy of my husband. No one will ever take that away from me.”

The McCain family has a long tradition of standing with the Jewish state. A former president of Israel, Reuven Rivlin, remembered the late senator in 2018 as “a true supporter of Israel.” He and Ms. McCain’s daughter, Meghan McCain, asserted on X last week: “Stand with Israel yesterday, today, tomorrow, always. No cease-fire. Return the hostages. Bring them home.”

WFP staff members have been circulating two public petitions calling for Ms. McCain to “uphold humanitarian values” by harnessing the organization’s influence to call for a cease-fire. They implore her to “demonstrate neutrality,” arguing that her “political affiliation” and “personal views” have compromised her leadership abilities. For civil servants of the United Nations in this context, though, “neutrality” is political. 

The petitions also urge Ms. McCain to “align with the UN Secretary-General and other UN agencies in advocating for a humanitarian cease-fire and in paying tribute to our fallen colleagues.” She did not attend the moment of silence observed by UN agencies and their leaders at their headquarters for the more than 100 UN employees killed at Gaza last month, the highest number of staff members to die in a single crisis. 

Ms. McCain has, though, demonstrated a commitment to mitigating the food crisis at Gaza caused by Hamas’s war. In an interview on CBS last week, she said that the region was “on the brink of famine” and that it was “not just horrific but it will spread.” The WFP did not immediately respond to the Sun’s request for comment. 

Asked by the Sun for a comment on the growing turmoil at the WFP, the UN’s spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric, referred to his remarks to reporters on Friday. He said that Ms. McCain “has been doing an excellent job and obviously has the full backing of the secretary-general,” adding that “her statements against this conflict and her efforts to try to increase the access to food of those Palestinians who are under fire, I think, is clear and exemplary.”