Israel opened a war front after Hamas’ attack on October 7, 2023, but also launched a diplomatic war against António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, the institution that was created to resolve armed conflicts and which is seen as incapable in its task.
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The clash has escalated in recent hours. Danny Danon, the Israeli ambassador to the UN, responded that his country will break relations with the Secretary-General of the organization and his office after the decision, announced this Thursday, to include Israel in an upcoming blacklist on sexual violence for alleged sexual abuses against Palestinian detainees.
The head of the Israeli mission explained that he had been officially informed by the Secretary-General’s office that Israel and its security services had received that communication, which appears in the annual report on sexual violence, due to the war in Palestine. According to his assessment, the UN’s decision “is disconnected from the facts and reality.”
This is the first time in fifteen years, since this report was created, that Israel appears on the list. In its 35 pages of the so-called blacklist, it names 77 governmental and non-governmental parties from a dozen countries. All are suspected of committing or being responsible for sexual violence in conflicts worldwide. The text indicates that the number of cases increased considerably in 2025 compared to 2024.
The Russian armed and security forces have also been included for the first time this year due to sexual violence against prisoners of war and detained civilians during the Ukraine conflict.
Although they are not alone, as Hamas militants also appear, this equivalence only exacerbated Israeli anger. “Guterres has put Israel on the same blacklist along with Hamas, ISIS, and the most depraved terrorist organizations in the world,” Danon denounced.
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The ambassador denied everything, accused Guterres of lying and refusing to investigate thoroughly. He maintained that Israel had provided documents, data, and detailed responses to the accusations raised in the UN report, in vain.
The report states that, in 2025, the UN was able to document “patterns of sexual violence” against Palestinians detained in Israel and in the occupied Palestinian territories, and verified multiple incidents of conflict-related sexual violence as a form of torture, inflicted on 14 men, seven women, nine boys, and one girl from Gaza and the West Bank. It specified that thirteen cases occurred in 2025 and 18 in 2023 and 2024.
According to the report, “the assaults consisted of rape, including with objects, gang rape, attempted rape, physical violence against the genitals, cases of shootings aimed at the genitals, touching of breasts and genitals, body and cavity searches carried out without apparent security justification, forced nudity, and threats of rape.”
Guterres ends his second and final term on December 31. Clashes with Israel have been common since October 7, 2023. Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs already declared Guterres persona non grata in 2024 for considering that he justified Hamas’ attack, which is completely false.
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