Vanessa Frazier, special representative for children in armed conflict to U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, appeared to double down on Monday after she posted a photograph of victims of the Iranian regime that she cited as evidence that U.S. and Israeli airstrikes in the country killed children.
Frazier’s since-deleted post on Sunday apparently included a photo of men standing among dozens of black body bags.
“I am deeply alarmed by reports of attacks on Iranian schools leaving a large number of casualties, mostly children,” she wrote. “The United Nations Security Council has designated attacks on schools and hospitals as a grave violation against children. Schools must remain safe places for learning. Ceasefire now.”
The former Maltese envoy to the United Nations apparently deleted the social media post after critics noted that the victims in the photograph had been killed by the Iranian regime weeks prior, during the Iranian government’s violent crackdown on protesters.
On Sunday, Frazier shared almost the same text—minus “ceasefire now”—this time with a new photo, which came from a BBC article.
A social-media user with no bio and 18 followers wrote, “Well said, Vanessa. Genocide of innocent children. No ifs and buts by Zionists.”
Frazier appeared to double down on her original post in her response to the user. “If they are attacking the photo and not the message, then it is clear that my message was strong,” the U.N. official wrote. “Plus the photo was still representative of the result of the attack—bodies in bags—whether it was from that attack or not.”
Iran has said that at least 153 people, including children at a school, were killed after a building was struck in the southern part of the country. Israel has said it is unaware of its military operating in the area, and the U.S. military said that it is investigating the reports.
The school was located about 200 feet from a naval base operated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a U.S.-designated terror group.
“We know this is the U.N.,” Danny Danon, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, told reporters of the photo that Frazier posted. “Accusations first, facts later.”
