Israel’s UN envoy has confirmed the country’s addition to a blacklist of parties suspected of sexual violence in conflict zones.
geneva: Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations said his country has been added to the UN blacklist for sexual violence in conflict zones with Hamas.
“This is a political decision! Detached from facts and reality!” Danny Danon said in a post on X, referring to a report soon to be published. A post on Twitter by the Israeli Mission to the United Nations said Danon was informed about it during a phone call with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
In Guterres’ annual report to the Security Council on conflict-related sexual violence, published last August, he put Israel and Russia “on notice” that they could be added this year to the list of parties “suspected of committing or being responsible for rape or other forms of sexual violence.”
The United Nations in Geneva and Hamas did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on Friday.
In a separate post on Thursday, Danon said comparing Israel to Hamas marked a “new low.” He said that Israel had responded in detail to each allegation and had invited United Nations representatives to visit and investigate the situation, but that they had decided not to do so.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry said late Thursday it would sever all ties with Guterres.
“Given that Antonio Guterres has decided to violate every standard of honesty, integrity and professionalism, Israel has decided to sever all relations with the Office of the Secretary-General and will wait until the appointment of a new UN Secretary-General,” the ministry posted on Twitter.
Asked about Danon’s comments at a regular briefing on Thursday, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said: “I can tell you from the secretary-general’s point of view, his door is open to Israeli representatives, just like the other 192 member states and the two observer states.”
Guterres’ warning in August was the result of “significant concerns about the patterns of certain forms of sexual violence that have been consistently documented by the United Nations.”
At the time, Dannon dismissed the concerns as unfounded.
In his warning to Israel, Guterres said he was gravely concerned about “credible information about violations by Israeli armed and security forces” against Palestinians in several prisons, a detention center and a military base.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas – whose October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel triggered the war in Gaza – was listed in the August report as a group “credibly suspected of being responsible for or committing rape or other forms of sexual violence” in the armed conflict. Hamas has vehemently rejected the allegations.
