The United Nations’ decision to place Israel on a list of parties suspected of committing conflict-related sexual violence is the latest in a long series of politically motivated actions taken under the “morally bankrupt” leadership of U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, World Jewish Congress-Israel President Sylvan Adams told JNS on Thursday.
“It is in line with the U.N.’s attitude and obsession with Israel. It doesn’t matter whether people are being massacred in Sudan, or that Iran murdered 30,000 to 45,000 of its people over the course of two days—it receives almost no coverage and virtually no condemnation,” Adams said.
“When a poorly sourced, logically impossible and unsubstantiated article by lousy reporter Kristof is published in The New York Times, we end up on a list. It is cynical, pathetic, politically motivated and consistent with the U.N.’s constant Israel-bashing,” he added.
On May 11, the Times published a column by opinion writer Nicholas Kristof citing Palestinian allegations of “widespread Israeli sexual violence against men, women and even children—by soldiers, settlers, interrogators in the Shin Bet internal security agency and, above all, prison guards.”
Among the story’s most extraordinary allegations was a claim that Israeli personnel used dogs to sexually assault Palestinian detainees.
Adams pointed to the timing of the article, noting that it was published one day before the release of a report by the Civil Commission on Oct. 7 Crimes Against Women and Children documenting Hamas’s sexual violence during the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre. He described that report as thorough, well-documented and comprehensive—the “exact opposite” of the Times article.
“The timing is too obvious to be a coincidence. Instead of condemning the terrorists, they created this equivalence between the savagery of those terrorists and the sovereign State of Israel, which lives by the rule of law and punishes wrongdoing when it occurs,” he said. “This is heinous.”
Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon on Thursday condemned Guterres’s decision, calling the move “political” and “disconnected from reality.”
Danon said Jerusalem had submitted evidence and detailed responses to the allegations and had invited U.N. representatives to examine the situation on the ground, but they declined to do.
‘The Qataris are paying the bill’
The extensive scrutiny directed at a democratic country that abides by the rule of law, as opposed to dictatorships that completely disregard it, is likely funded and organized by Israel’s enemies, Adams said.
“The Qataris are paying the bill for the Muslim Brotherhood’s infiltration of the U.S. educational system. It’s not about investing in environmental science and technology, it’s about brainwashing. It’s about promoting radical professors who are also on the Qatari payroll. They bought politicians, mostly on the left and now also on the right. Is it such a stretch to imagine they own the U.N. as well, given this identically oriented focus and obsession with Israel?” he continued.
“I am accusing the Muslim Brotherhood, backed by the emir of Qatar, of manipulating the U.N., and that’s why we end up on a list,” he added.
The decision, Adams said, was yet another iteration of the “blood libel” in which Jews are falsely accused of committing terrible acts against Muslims, or historically, Christians.
“Hamas and their masters in Qatar are not only out to get the Jews, but to overthrow our way of life in Western civilization and the free world. The world has to wake up and deal with this problem. They have infiltrated many cities in the West and are taking over those countries,” he said.
“When will the West wake up and realize that we are the proverbial canary in the coal mine? If we go down, it will spell the end for the West,” he added.
Adams said Jerusalem’s decision to sever ties with Guterres was appropriate, arguing that the U.N. secretary-general has demonstrated a deep bias against Israel from the outset.
“For me, it is clear Guterres is an operative paid by nefarious forces. I say this maybe without forensic evidence, but based on his behavior. When he was first elected, he took quite a balanced approach and then something happened and he became one of Israel’s worst enemies, putting us on lists and calling us out in an unfair manner,” he said.
“Fortunately, his term is coming to an end this year. I am hoping the next person who comes in—whether a man or a woman, and several women are being considered, there is momentum for that—will be more objective,” he added.
While nothing positive for Israel can come out of the U.N., Adams said, he would likely still advise against a unilateral Israeli withdrawal.
“If the U.S. were to withdraw, we might be able to convince a coalition of countries to do so as well, then maybe President Trump’s Board of Peace could take over,” he said.
