Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz slammed United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ decision to place Israel and the IDF together with the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist organizations on a blacklist of those who harm children in conflict.
UN Adds Israel with Hamas to BlackList of Those Who Harm Children in Conflict
“The shameful decision by the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to include the IDF in the blacklist is an act of villainy,” Katz wrote in a statement on the X social media platform on Saturday night.
“Guterres, who stood for a minute of silence in memory of Iran’s president who executed tens of thousands of innocents, will be remembered in history as an antisemitic Secretary-General who chose to ignore Hamas’s sexual crimes and Israel’s right to self-defense,” Katz wrote.
“The IDF is the most moral army in the world and no fictitious report will change that. This step will have consequences for Israel’s relations with the UN,” he warned.
In a release a few minutes earlier, the Foreign Ministry issued the following statement on behalf of the minister:
““Israel rejects with disgust the UN Secretary-General’s decision to include the IDF in the blacklist of countries and entities that harm children during conflict.
The decision to include the IDF in the list is entirely at the discretion of the Secretary-General and is further evidence of his hostility towards Israel and his deliberate disregard – and not for the first time – Hamas’ attack of October 7th and Israel’s right to self-defense. This is the same UN Secretary-General who chose to ignore Hamas’ sex crimes, despite the report written on the subject by UN Special Representative Patten.
Hamas is a terrorist organization that deliberately targets Israeli children and civilians and at the same time, deliberately endangers children and civilians in Gaza, turning them into human shields.
The inclusion of Israel in the list is a deplorable act that will strengthen the desire of terrorist organizations to cynically violate international law, while exploiting the civilian population, including with children and by operating from schools, hospitals and other essential facilities.
The Secretary-General’s report regarding Israel and the Palestinians is based on unverified and distorted data, part of an industry of biased and distorted reports by organizations such as OCHA, which just recently reduced the number of children and women killed in the war in Gaza by half in one day without any explanation and it relies on data from the Ministry of Health of Hamas. Israel will expose these distortions in these reports to the world.
The Secretary-General’s measure will have consequences for Israel’s relations with the UN.”
