By Olivia Le Poidevin
GENEVA, May 29 (Reuters) – Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations said his country had been added to a U.N. blacklist of sexual violence in conflict zones, alongside Hamas.
“This is a political decision! Disconnected from the facts and reality!” Danny Danon said in a post on X, referring to a report due to be published soon. Danon was informed about it during a phone call with the U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, a post on X by the Israeli mission to the U.N. said.
In Guterres’ annual report to the Security Council on conflict-related sexual violence, published in August last year, he put Israel and Russia “on notice” that they could this year be added to the list of parties “credibly suspected of committing or being responsible for patterns of rape or other forms of sexual violence.”
The U.N. in Geneva and Hamas did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment on Friday.
In a separate post on Thursday, Danon said equating Israel with Hamas marked a “new low”. He added that Israel had responded in detail to each allegation and had invited U.N. representatives to visit and examine the situation, but that they had chosen not to do so.
Israel’s foreign ministry said late on Thursday that it would sever all ties with Guterres.
“Given that Antonio Guterres has chosen to violate every standard of honesty, integrity and professionalism, Israel has decided to sever all ties with the Secretary-General’s Office and will wait until a new U.N. Secretary-General is appointed,” the ministry posted on X.
Asked about Danon’s comments at a regular briefing on Thursday, U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said: “I can tell you from the Secretary-General’s point of view, his door remains open to Israeli representatives, as to the other 192 member states and the two observer states.”
Guterres’ warning in August resulted from “significant concerns regarding patterns of certain forms of sexual violence that have been consistently documented by the United Nations.”
At the time, Danon dismissed the concerns as baseless.
In his warning to Israel, Guterres said he was “gravely concerned about credible information of violations by Israeli armed and security forces” against Palestinians in several prisons, a detention centre and a military base.
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 committing or being responsible for patterns of rape or other forms of sexual violence” in armed conflict. Hamas has categorically rejected the allegations.
(Reporting by Olivia Le Poidevin; additional reporting by Rami Ayyub in Jerusalem and David Brunnstrom in Washington; Editing by Ros Russell)
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