Minister of Foreign Affairs Israel Katz issued on Friday 7th June, the following response to the UN Secretary-General’s decision to include the IDF in the blacklist of countries and entities that harm children during conflict:

“Israel rejects with disgust the UN Secretary-General’s decision to include the IDF in the blacklist of countries and entities that harm children during conflict.
  
The decision to include the IDF in the list is entirely at the discretion of the Secretary-General and is further evidence of his hostility towards Israel, and his deliberate disregard – and not for the first time – Hamas’ attack of October 7th and Israel’s right to self-defense. This is the same UN Secretary-General who chose to ignore Hamas’ … crimes, despite the report on the subject by UN Special Representative Patten. 

Hamas is a terrorist organization that deliberately targets Israeli children and civilians and at the same time deliberately endangers children and civilians in Gaza, turning them into human shields. 

The inclusion of Israel in the list is a deplorable act that will strengthen the desire of terrorist organizations to cynically violate international law, while exploiting the civilian population, including children, by operating from schools, hospitals and other essential facilities.

The Secretary-General’s report regarding Israel and the Palestinians is based on unverified and distorted data, part of an industry of biased and distorted reports by organizations such as OCHA, which just recently reduced the number of children and women killed in the war in Gaza by half in one day without any explanation and it relies on data from the Ministry of Health of  Hamas. Israel will expose the distortions in these reports to the world. 

The Secretary-General’s measure will have consequences for Israel’s relations with the UN.”