June 19 (Reuters) – Diplomatic niceties broke down at the United Nations on Friday when Israel’s ambassador and the U.N. secretary-general’s special ‌representative for children and armed conflict became embroiled in a ‌furious shouting match at a public hearing.
At a meeting in New York to mark ​the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, the Israeli envoy, Danny Danon, demanded the resignation of Pramila Patten, who produced a report that blacklisted Israel for such alleged abuses for the first time, ‌accusing her of bias.
“You caved â to the secretary-general’s obsession with targeting Israel,” Danon said, referring to U.N. chief Antonio Guterres.
Another U.N. official, Vanessa â Frazier, Guterres’ representative for children and armed conflict and compiler of a separate report that also blacklists Israel, interjected by shouting a point of order. ​She demanded ​that Danon refrain from “personal attacks” and ​added that she had “verified evidence.”
Danon ‌said Frazier should be quiet.
“We are a member state, and you work for the U.N., and you will be quiet now. You will be quiet … you and your shameful report,” he said.
Frazier, Malta’s former U.N. ambassador, issued her report this week on behalf of Guterres warning that Israeli ‌settler groups could be added to a ​global blacklist for violations against children as ​the U.N. chief voiced alarm ​at what he called a “staggering” rise in violations against ‌Palestinian children.
Israel itself already features in ​that report’s so-called ​list of shame annexes for alleged violations.
When Patten’s report was issued last month, Danon called it “a new low” and Israel’s foreign ministry ​vowed to sever ‌all ties with Guterres, who leaves office after 10 years at ​the year-end.
Both reports also blacklist Israel’s arch enemy Hamas.
(Reporting by ​David Brunnstrom; Editing by Andrea Ricci )
