Israel Severs Ties With UN Chief Guterres After the Jewish State’s Inclusion in a Rape Blacklist

In a drastic escalation of hostilities between Israel and the United Nations, Jerusalem’s ambassador to Turtle Bay, Danny Danon, announced on Thursday the severing of all ties with Secretary General Antonio Guterres. Earlier the ambassador was notified that Israel would be included in a UN “blacklist” of countries and entities accused of using sexual violence in war.“We are done with this secretary general,” Mr. Danon said in a video posting. “The decision to blacklist Israel and accuse us of using sexual violence as a weapon of war is an outrageous decision. The Secretary General and his team continue to spread lies against Israel to put us and Hamas terrorists on the same list. That’s unacceptable.”The list of countries and organizations accused of using sexual violence in war zones was ordered by the UN Security Council in 2010. It calls on the secretary general to periodically issue reports about top world abusers. Countries included in this list of shame are notified in advance of the UN’s transmission of its allegations to the council, as was Mr. Danon on Thursday. The UN’s allegations follow a New York Times column by Nicholas Kristof in which he accused Israel of systematic use of sexual violence, including rape by canines, against incarcerated Palestinians. The back and forth between the UN and Israel over inclusion in the blacklist, though, is older than last week’s column.The UN periodic report on conflict-related sexual violence identifies state and non-state actors suspected of committing or being complicit in sexual violence. Israel, a democracy, is outraged over its inclusion in a list alongside some of the world’s most reviled regimes and terror organizations, including countries like Russia, Syria, Afghanistan, and Somalia, as well as groups like Hamas and Al Qaeda. The list also contains countries that are not involved in direct conflict with outside adversaries, such as Haiti and Burma. The widening rift between Israel and Mr. Guterres, whose term as UN chief is scheduled to end on December 31, has been built up at least since October 7, 2023. The secretary general “doesn’t listen to his top advisers when it comes to Israel,” a Turtle Bay official told The New York Sun.The official cited Mr. Guterres’s all-out defense of the UN Relief and Works Agency in Gaza after some of that agency’s employees were documented as taking part in Hamas’s October 7 atrocities. The secretary general ignored advice to cooperate with Israel and instead attacked credible reporting on UNRWA’s complicity. Mr. Guterres’ special representative on sexual violence in conflict, Pramila Patten of Mauritius, visited Israel and Gaza in 2024. She was shown evidence that Hamas used rape and other forms of sexual violence on October 7 as part of its surprise attack on Israel. Following inclusion of the well-documented Hamas rape and other sexual horrors on October 7, anti-Israel groups and UN members pressured Ms. Patten to counter by including Israel’s prison services in the list. Last year Israel was warned that it might be included in the coming list of shame. Israel “undertook a series of concrete steps to maintain constructive engagement” with Ms. Patten’s office, a spokesman for Mr. Danon, Jonathan Harounoff, told the Sun. Israel’s foreign minister invited Ms. Patten for a visit in the country as well as in Gaza and Judea and Samaria, he said.“Two visits were scheduled, for February 9–20, 2026, and March 22–30, 2026,” Mr. Harounoff said. “Unfortunately, the first was postponed due to technical issues while the second was postponed due to significant disruptions to international air travel following Iranian strikes against Israel.” In addition, Israel supplied to the UN documentation and data to counter allegations of sexual violations in the prison system and elsewhere.The Israeli delegation says it will cease direct communications with the UN secretariat. For now, though, the UN’s offices at Jerusalem remain engaged with Israeli officials, Mr. Guterres’s spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, told reporters Thursday. “We very much hope it will continue, as it is critical for our mandated work there, including on the delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza,” he said. Mr. Guterres’s “door remains open to Israeli representatives,” Mr. Dujarric said. “Member states should engage and continue to engage not only with us but all the various mechanisms” of the UN. “I think engaging is always a better solution than disengagement.”Mr. Dujarric told the Sun he was not immediately able to explain why Ms. Patten failed to visit Israel and address its concerns before including the country in the blacklist.

Israel Severs Ties With UN Chief Guterres After the Jewish State’s Inclusion in a Rape Blacklist

Israel Severs Ties With UN Chief Guterres After the Jewish State’s Inclusion in a Rape Blacklist

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