Israel accuses UN of placing it on same sexual violence blacklist as Hamas terrorists, severs ties

Israeli officials blasted the United Nations after accusing the body of adding Israeli entities to a sexual violence blacklist that also includes the terrorist group Hamas.

"We are done with this UN Secretary-General. Guterres has put Israel on the same blacklist along with Hamas, ISIS and the most depraved terrorist organizations in the world. This is a moral disgrace that proves that Guterres has lost all credibility," Israel's ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon said in a statement shared with Fox News Digital.

Fox News has confirmed that the UN added three Israeli armed security force groups to an annex of the UN's annual Conflict-Related Sexual Violence report. 

The UN added the Israel Defense Forces, the Israel Prison Services and the country's border police Counter Terrorism Unit to the report's annex, Guterres informed Danon in a Thursday letter obtained by Fox News Digital. 

The inclusion came after the UN determined the groups to be "as a party credibly suspected of committing or being responsible for patterns of rape or other sexual violence," Guterres wrote.

A spokesperson for Danon said Israel was officially freezing relations with the secretary-general's office as long as Antonio Guterres holds the position.

"We are a strong democracy. We invited the representatives of the U.N. to come to Israel to check those ridiculous allegations. They chose not to come. They chose to continue with the campaign against Israel. We saw the lies in The New York Times, and now we see another lie coming from the U.N.," Danon said in a video shared with Fox News Digital.

"We are done with this Secretary-General," he concluded.

In the Thursday letter, Guterres explained his decision to include Israel's security groups.

"Over the past year, and as noted in the country section of this year’s report (S/2026/321), an increasing number of cases of rape and other forms of sexual violence against Palestinians detained in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and in Israel, perpetrated by Israel Defense Forces, Israel Prison Service and the border police Counter Terrorism Unit continued to be verified. This builds on United Nations reporting of similar patterns and trends of violations in previous years," Guterres wrote.

The U.N. did not respond to an inquiry from Fox News Digital.

The published an opinion piece from writer Nicholas Kristof accusing Israeli prison guards of conducting institutionalized sexual abuse of Palestinian prisoners. Kristof cited a most horrific sexual crimes committed by Hamas on October 7, and whose hostages were later subjected to further sexual abuse -— is portrayed as the guilty party," the Israel Foreign Ministry wrote in a post on X in response to the Times piece.

The New York Times pointed Fox News Digital towards a previously issued statement. 

"Nicholas Kristof’s deeply reported piece of opinion journalism starts with a proposition to readers: ‘Whatever our views of the Middle East conflict, we should be able to unite in condemning rape.’ He draws together on-the-record accounts and cites several analyses documenting the practice of sexual violence and abuse conducted by various parts of Israel’s security forces and settlers," the statement read.

"The accounts of the 14 men and women he interviewed were corroborated with other witnesses, whenever possible, and with people the victims confided in — that includes family members and lawyers. Details were extensively fact-checked, with accounts further cross-referenced with news reporting, independent research from human-rights groups, surveys and in one case, with U.N. testimony. Independent experts were consulted on the assertions in the piece throughout reporting and fact-checking," the statement concluded. 

The Israeli Foreign Ministry further commented Thursday on the reported U.N. blacklisting.

"Over the past year, Israel's Ambassador to the UN and the Israeli delegation held a series of meetings with U.N. representatives and provided documents, data, as well as a detailed response to all the allegations that were raised. Despite this, the U.N. Secretary-General chose to advance a political decision and include Israel alongside Hamas and terrorist organizations," the foreign ministry wrote in a statement shared with Fox News Digital.

"The shameful and absurd U.N. decision to include Israeli entities in the annex to the CRSV report is further proof of the UN’s true nature: a politicized and corrupt organization that has abandoned its founding principles and systematically targets Israel as its primary mission. This decision is yet another example of the UN’s long-standing, institutionalized hostility toward Israel. Today’s decision must be understood in its true context: an attempt to create a fake symmetry between Israel and the real sexual atrocities committed by Hamas. This is its sole motivation. The person behind this farce is Antonio Guterres," the statement continued.

"This is the same Guterres who sought to 'contextualize' the October 7 massacre, who covered up the involvement of UN employees in those atrocities, and who has dragged the UN to its lowest point. Guterres is now exploiting his final months as Secretary-General to fabricate baseless accusations against Israel, completely devoid of any factual merit. Israel has comprehensively, thoroughly, and unequivocally refuted these allegations. Given that António Guterres has chosen to violate every standard of honesty, integrity, and professionalism, Israel has decided to sever all ties with the Secretary-General’s Office and will wait until a new UN Secretary-General is appointed," the statement concluded.