The United Nations has included Israel in its ‘blacklist’ of countries that kill children in conflict
In a significant move, the United Nations has officially added Israel to its blacklist of countries accused of killing children. The United Nations is adding Israel to its so-called “blacklist” of countries that have committed abuses against children in armed conflict, an Israeli diplomat has confirmed, as thousands of Palestinian children have been killed in what now labelled as genocide and crimes against humanity.
In a social media post on Friday, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan said he received official notification of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s decision.
Israel Prime Minster Netanyahu says “the UN put itself on the blacklist of history today when it joined the supporters of the Hamas murderers. The IDF is the most moral army in the world and no delusional decision by the UN will change that.”
“This is simply outrageous and wrong,” Erdan wrote, alongside a video of him speaking into a telephone and condemning the move.
“I responded to the shameful decision and said that our army is the most moral in the world. The only one being blacklisted is the Secretary-General who incentivizes and encourages terrorism and is motivated by hatred towards Israel.”
Commenting on Erdan’s remarks later in the day, Guterres’s spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said a UN official had called the Israeli envoy as “a courtesy afforded to countries that are newly listed on the annexe” of the annual “Children in Armed Conflict” report.
“It is done to give those countries a heads-up and avoid leaks,” Dujarric told reporters, adding that the report is set to be presented to the UN Security Council on June 14 and then officially published a few days later.
“Ambassador Erdan’s video recording of that phone call, and the partial release of that recording on Twitter, is shocking and unacceptable – and frankly something I’ve never seen in my 24 years serving this organisation,” Dujarric said.
News of Israel’s inclusion on the list follows eight months of assault on Gaza, in which more than 15,000 children are estimated to be among the 36,500 people killed, and comes a day after the Israeli bombing of a UN school in central Gaza, which killed more than 40 Palestinians, some of them children.
According to human rights officials, Hamas is also named in the report for its killing and kidnapping of children in its 7 October alleged attack on Israel.
The report covers the killing, maiming, sexual abuse, abduction or recruitment of children, denial of aid access and targeting of schools and hospitals.
The report is compiled by the UN secretary general’s special representative for children and armed conflict, Virginia Gamba. The list attached to the report, is widely intended to name and shame parties to conflicts in the hope of deterring violence against children.
Millions of people have been displaced and uncounted amount under the rubble with no ending of the bombings in sight and no assurance of a Two State solution