'You will be quiet': Israel and UN officials clash in fiery exchange over report on abuse of Palestinian children by Israeli settlers | WATCH
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "'You will be quiet': Israel and UN officials clash in fiery exchange over report on abuse of Palestinian children by Israeli settlers | WATCH")
Permanent Representative of Israel to the UN Danny Danon Photograph: (AFP)
Tempers flared at the United Nations after Israeli envoy Danny Danon interrupted a meeting to attack UN officials over reports on Palestinian children in conflict zones. The exchange escalated into a shouting match as officials defended findings they said were based on verified evidence.
UN meeting descends into shouting match as Israel envoy clashes with officials over Gaza reports | WATCH
A United Nations event meant to focus on victims of sexual violence in conflict took an unexpected turn on Friday (Jun 19) after a heated shouting match erupted between Israel's ambassador and senior UN officials over reports accusing Israeli settlers of violations against Palestinian children. The tense exchange unfolded during a meeting in New York marking the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict. Here's what happened:
Why Israeli envoy Danny Danon demanded a UN official's resignation
Israel's ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, used the forum to sharply criticise Pramila Patten, the UN secretary-general's special representative on sexual violence in conflict, and accused the organisation of unfairly targeting Israel.
Danon demanded Patten's resignation, claiming she had allowed political bias to influence a recent UN report that placed Israel on a blacklist linked to allegations of sexual violence and abuses in conflict zones.
"You caved to the secretary-general's obsession with targeting Israel," Danon said, referring to UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
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'You will be quiet': The moment tensions boiled over | Video
The confrontation quickly escalated when Vanessa Frazier, the secretary-general's representative for children and armed conflict, interrupted the Israeli envoy. Raising a point of order, she objected to what she described as "personal attacks" against UN officials and defended the findings of the organisation's reports. Frazier insisted that the conclusions were based on "verified evidence," prompting an angry response from Danon.
The Israeli diplomat told her to remain silent, arguing that UN officials were accountable to member states. "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.
Israeli settlers could be added to the UN's 'list of shame'
The dispute centres on a series of UN reports examining the impact of the conflict in Gaza and the wider Israeli-Palestinian crisis on children. This week, Frazier presented a report warning that Israeli settler groups could face inclusion in the so-called list of shame annexes for alleged violations, if violations against Palestinian children continue at current levels. The report cited a sharp rise in incidents involving children in the occupied Palestinian territories.
According to the UN's annual Children and Armed Conflict report, 38,558 grave violations against children were documented worldwide in 2025, affecting more than 24,000 children. The organisation described it as the highest number recorded since monitoring began in 1996.
Could Israeli settler groups be blacklisted?
The report attributed 9,465 grave violations to Israeli forces and 326 to Israeli settlers. It also listed Hamas among groups responsible for abuses. At the time, Guterres said he was "deeply alarmed" by what he called a "staggering" increase in violations affecting Palestinian children and warned that settler groups could be formally blacklisted if similar patterns continue next year.
Israel has strongly rejected the findings. After the release of a separate UN report last month, Israeli officials accused the organisation of institutional bias and announced plans to cut ties with Guterres' office for the remainder of his term.
