Be quiet or get out: Israeli envoy in shouting match with UN official
Israel's UN envoy Danny Danon confronted senior UN officials at a public hearing over reports alleging abuses. The exchange highlighted Israel's escalating anger at UN scrutiny over the Gaza war.
A public hearing at the United Nations on Friday devolved into a shouting match between an Israeli diplomat and senior UN officials.
The clash erupted after Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon used the forum in New York to demand the resignation of Pramila Patten, the UN secretary-general’s special representative on sexual violence in conflict.
Patten recently authored a report that placed Israel on a UN blacklist for alleged conflict-related sexual violence violations for the first time. When both came face to face at the hearing marking the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, tempers flared.
"You caved to the secretary-general's obsession with targeting Israel," Danon said, referring to UN chief Antonio Guterres.
The remarks triggered an intervention from Vanessa Frazier, Guterres’ representative for children and armed conflict, who interrupted with a point of order and accused Danon of launching "personal attacks".
Frazier defended the findings of her office, saying they were based on verified evidence.
Danon responded sharply, telling the UN official to remain silent.
"We are a member state, and you work for the UN, and you will be quiet now. You will be quiet... you and your shameful report," the Israeli envoy said.
"We know why you took this position. We will not allow you to be part of this shameful campaign. I will finish my words," he continued as Frazier interjected and meeting organisers called for order.
"If you don’t want to listen, go out," he snapped.
The tense exchange and the break in diplomatic decorum underscored Tel Aviv’s growing anger over a series of UN reports alleging violations by Israeli forces during the war in Gaza.
Frazier’s report, released this week on behalf of Guterres, warned that Israeli settler groups could also be added to a global blacklist for grave violations against children. The report cited what the UN chief described as a “staggering” increase in violations against Palestinian children.
Israel is already included in the report’s so-called “list of shame” annexes for alleged violations against children.
Last month, after Patten’s report was released, Danon denounced the findings as politically motivated.
"This is a political decision! Disconnected from the facts and reality!" he wrote on X, calling the report "a new low".
Israel’s Foreign Ministry also vowed to sever ties with Guterres, whose second and final term as secretary-general ends later this year.
Both Patten’s report and Frazier’s report also list Hamas, the Palestinian militant group responsible for the October 7 attack on Israel that triggered the Gaza war.
Last August, in his annual report on conflict-related sexual violence to the UN Security Council, Guterres placed both Israel and Russia “on notice” that they could 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 UN chief said the warning was based on "significant concerns regarding patterns of certain forms of sexual violence that have been consistently documented" by the organisation.
Danon rejected the allegations at the time as unfounded.
A public hearing at the United Nations on Friday devolved into a shouting match between an Israeli diplomat and senior UN officials.
The clash erupted after Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon used the forum in New York to demand the resignation of Pramila Patten, the UN secretary-general’s special representative on sexual violence in conflict.
Patten recently authored a report that placed Israel on a UN blacklist for alleged conflict-related sexual violence violations for the first time. When both came face to face at the hearing marking the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, tempers flared.
"You caved to the secretary-general's obsession with targeting Israel," Danon said, referring to UN chief Antonio Guterres.
The remarks triggered an intervention from Vanessa Frazier, Guterres’ representative for children and armed conflict, who interrupted with a point of order and accused Danon of launching "personal attacks".
Frazier defended the findings of her office, saying they were based on verified evidence.
Danon responded sharply, telling the UN official to remain silent.
"We are a member state, and you work for the UN, and you will be quiet now. You will be quiet... you and your shameful report," the Israeli envoy said.
"We know why you took this position. We will not allow you to be part of this shameful campaign. I will finish my words," he continued as Frazier interjected and meeting organisers called for order.
"If you don’t want to listen, go out," he snapped.
The tense exchange and the break in diplomatic decorum underscored Tel Aviv’s growing anger over a series of UN reports alleging violations by Israeli forces during the war in Gaza.
Frazier’s report, released this week on behalf of Guterres, warned that Israeli settler groups could also be added to a global blacklist for grave violations against children. The report cited what the UN chief described as a “staggering” increase in violations against Palestinian children.
Israel is already included in the report’s so-called “list of shame” annexes for alleged violations against children.
Last month, after Patten’s report was released, Danon denounced the findings as politically motivated.
"This is a political decision! Disconnected from the facts and reality!" he wrote on X, calling the report "a new low".
Israel’s Foreign Ministry also vowed to sever ties with Guterres, whose second and final term as secretary-general ends later this year.
Both Patten’s report and Frazier’s report also list Hamas, the Palestinian militant group responsible for the October 7 attack on Israel that triggered the Gaza war.
Last August, in his annual report on conflict-related sexual violence to the UN Security Council, Guterres placed both Israel and Russia “on notice” that they could 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 UN chief said the warning was based on "significant concerns regarding patterns of certain forms of sexual violence that have been consistently documented" by the organisation.
Danon rejected the allegations at the time as unfounded.
