Israeli ambassador, UN official clash at hearing on children in armed conflict

A public exchange escalated into a heated altercation between Israel’s ambassador to the U.N. and the U.N. secretary-general’s special representative on children and armed conflict.

During a meeting in New York marking the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, Israel’s ambassador to the U.N., Danny Danon, called for the resignation of Pramila Patten. Patten authored a report that, for the first time, placed Israel on a blacklist over alleged violations. Danon accused her of bias.

’’You have succumbed to the secretary-general’s obsession with targeting Israel,’’ he said, referring to U.N. chief Antonio Guterres.

Another U.N. official, Vanessa Frazier, the secretary-general’s special representative for children and armed conflict and author of a separate report that also placed Israel on a blacklist, intervened on a point of order. She asked Danon to refrain from ‘’personal attacks’’ and said her findings were based on ‘’verified evidence.’’ Danon responded by ordering her to be quiet.

’’We are a member state, and you work for the U.N.; so you will be quiet now. You will be quiet ... you and your shameful report,’’ he said.

Frazier, a former Maltese ambassador to the United Nations, published her report this week on behalf of Antonio Guterres. It warned that Israeli settler groups could be added to a global blacklist for violations against children. The secretary-general also expressed concern over what he described as a ‘’staggering’’ increase in violations against Palestinian children.

Israel already appears in the report’s so-called ‘’list of shame’’ annexes for alleged violations.

When Patten’s report was released last month, Danon called it ‘’a new low,’’ while Israel’s Foreign Ministry pledged to sever all ties with Guterres, whose 10-year term as U.N. chief ends later this year.

Both reports also included Hamas on their blacklists.