Israel is “done” with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, its UN envoy said, after Israeli entities were named on a blacklist of countries and groups that have committed sexual violence in conflict zones.
The Israeli military and security forces have been added to this year's list, along with Hamas.
“We are done with this UN Secretary General,” Danny Danon said. He added that Israel had appeared on the list alongside “the most depraved terrorist organisations in the world”.
The Israeli mission to the UN said it would have “no contact” with the Secretary General's office as long as Mr Guterres leads it.
“Over the past year, Israel's ambassador to the UN and the Israeli delegation held a series of meetings with UN representatives and provided documents, data, as well as a detailed response to all the allegations that were raised,” the mission said. “Despite this, the UN Secretary General chose to advance a political decision and include Israel alongside Hamas and terrorist organisations.”
In a document circulated among UN member states but not officially released, the Secretary General blacklisted several Israeli institutions including the military, prison service and the police counter-terrorism unit. "In addition, violations were perpetrated at checkpoints and during Israeli military operations in the occupied Palestinian territories," the document said.
Those breaches were sometimes recorded in photos or video, it added, corroborating evidence given by whistleblowers and former detainees who spoke to Israeli and Palestinian rights groups and the media.
Mr Guterres has criticised Israel's policies in the past. Last year, he wrote to Mr Danon to warn that Israel was "on notice" for a potential listing in the next UN report on sexual violence in armed conflict. Mr Guterres urged Israel to take a series of measures against such acts and to investigate "every credible complaint".
The latest document notes that, despite this, Israel "has not granted access to competent United Nations entities for monitoring".
