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World
During a UN session on children in armed conflicts, Israeli envoy Dani Danon clashed with two UN officials over reports listing Israel for violations against children.
At a United Nations public session on children affected by armed conflicts held on Friday, an unusual verbal confrontation occurred between Israel's envoy to the UN and two UN officials. The dispute arose following UN reports that placed Israel on blacklists related to violations against children and sexual violence in conflict zones.
The meeting, convened in New York to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, saw Israeli envoy Dani Danon demand the resignation of Pramila Patten, who authored a report that included Israel on the blacklist for the first time due to such violations. Danon accused her of bias.
Addressing UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Danon stated, "You have succumbed to the Secretary-General’s obsession with targeting Israel."
Vanessa Frerzer, another UN official representing Guterres on children and armed conflict, who prepared a separate report also listing Israel on the blacklist, intervened by requesting a procedural point.
Frerzer urged Danon to refrain from "personal attacks," adding that she possesses "confirmed evidence."
Danon responded by telling Frerzer she should "be silent." He added, "We are a member state, and you work for the United Nations, and you will be silent now... you and your shameful report," as he put it.
Frerzer, a former Maltese envoy to the UN, released her report this week on behalf of Guterres, warning about the inclusion of Israeli settlers in a global blacklist for violations against children. At the same time, the UN Secretary-General expressed concern over what he described as a "staggering" rise in violations against Palestinian children.
Israel is already listed in the so-called "shame list annex" of that report due to these violations.
When Patten’s report was issued last month, Danon described it as "a new low," while the Israeli Foreign Ministry pledged to sever all relations with Guterres, who is set to leave his post after ten years by the end of the year.
In October 2024, Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz declared the UN Secretary-General "persona non grata," barring the Portuguese diplomat from entering Israel.
Guterres has repeatedly accused Israel of obstructing a two-state solution. In October 2023, he visited the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza to oversee UN agency efforts to deliver life-saving humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
