UN chief to place Israel on ‘list of shame’

(JNS) In a move certain to exacerbate tensions between Jerusalem and the United Nations, Secretary-General António Guterres will place Israel on its annual so-called list of shame.

Each year, Guterres compiles a list of countries and armed groups he deems to have committed grave violations against children during conflict, and delivers a report on the matter to the U.N. Security Council in mid-July.A senior Israeli diplomatic official confirmed to JNS an earlier media report that Guterres has informed Israel of his decision.

“Today the U.N. added itself to the black list of history when it joined those who support the Hamas murderers,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated, per an English translation that his office provided. “The IDF is the most moral army in the world; no delusional U.N. decision will change that.”

While the list carries no penalties, the fallout could be immensely damaging, with Israel at risk of decreased diplomatic standing and in jeopardy of sanctions, arms embargoes and other boycotts.

Sixty-six countries and groups, including Russia and the Myanmar military, appeared on last year’s list, as Guterres resisted pressure to add Israel. But, the high youth casualty toll Hamas claims Gazans have suffered from Israel’s counteroffensive following Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre, combined with the increasingly deteriorating relationship between Guterres and the Israeli government, appears to have factored into his decision.

Stéphane Dujarric, a spokesman for Guterres, refused to comment to JNS or confirm Guterres’s decision, other than to say, “We can expect the report to go to the Security Council on its due date.”

A spokesman for the Israeli mission to the United Nations also declined comment.

While it appears the Israeli government is planning a response to the report’s release following months of failed talks and pressure on the subject, the head of the Israeli opposition, Yesh Atid Party leader Yair Lapid, said in a statement that “putting the State of Israel on the blacklist is a serious and baseless political step by the U.N. secretary-general, who has long since lost all moral direction.”

While blaming the Netanyahu government that Lapid claims “has lost all ability to stop Israel’s political deterioration,” he pointed out Hamas’s murder of “over 1,400 innocent citizens, women and children” by terrorist wretches who still hold young women and old people captive.”