Danny Danon, Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, told Pramila Patten, the global body’s special representative on sexual violence in conflict, that she betrayed the Jewish state’s trust by “caving” to pressure from the head of the United Nations to place Israel on a blacklist of sexual violence perpetrators.
“We all know what really happened here. Let’s admit it,” Danon said during the U.N. Security Council’s session on Wednesday, as a stonefaced Patten looked on.
“Hamas was finally and rightly placed on the secretary-general’s blacklist,” Danon said. “Immediately after that, in the name of balance, the anti-Israel forces inside the U.N. decided that Israel had to be added to to make a balance.”
Patten “gave in to” António Guterres, the U.N. secretary-general, “instead of standing up to that pressure,” the Israeli envoy said.
The U.N. special representative included Israel alongside Hamas, Islamic State and Boko Haram on the blacklist.
When Patten presented the report to the press, she admitted that she hadn’t seen evidence of Israel’s purported violations. “This is not my job,” she told reporters at the time. “It is not the responsibility of my office to do any verification.”
That makes her a “collaborator” rather than a bystander, Danon said on Wednesday.
The Israeli envoy said that the Jewish state cooperated with Patten’s office and invited her multiple times to visit Israel in order to carry out her mandate.
She scheduled and then canceled two trips. She visited Israel after Oct. 7, after which she put Hamas on the blacklist.
“You met everyone. You saw the evidence with your own eyes. You knew the issues,” Danon said. “We built trust with your team, and trust does not come easily to us in this building.”
“We really thought we developed a professional, working relationship,” he said. “Without presenting the specific cases to us, you blacklisted Israel anyway.”
There were 13 alleged cases brought against Israel in 2025, compared to 10,385 cases against the Central African Republic and 1,534 against Congo, Danon said.
“And still Israel, with 13 alleged cases—alleged—was fast-tracked onto the blacklist. No clear threshold. No consistent standard. No proof of a pattern. So today we have to ask why,” Danon said. “The answer is clear. It is because the secretary-general wanted Israel on that list, that is the answer.”
That made for the “perfect final chapter” for Guterres, whose U.N. secretary-general term ends in December, according to Danon.
“For years, he has tried to create false moral equivalence between Israel and the terrorists, who seek our destruction,” the Israeli envoy said. “Now, in these final months, he has done it again.”
“Your tenure ends in December,” he added. “You traded your integrity, your credibility, your reputation for a few more months on a U.N. salary.”
