The National Jewish Assembly condemns in the strongest possible terms the reported decision by the United Nations to place Israeli entities on a blacklist relating to conflict related sexual violence alongside organisations such as Hamas and ISIS.
This is a grotesque and morally distorted equivalence.
To compare a democratic state operating under international law, judicial oversight, and democratic accountability with genocidal terrorist organisations responsible for systematic rape, torture, kidnapping, and mass murder is an affront to truth, justice, and the victims of genuine atrocities committed by Islamist terror groups.
Hamas’ atrocities on 7 October included widely documented allegations and testimonies of sexual violence carried out as instruments of terror and humiliation. Placing Israel in the same category as those responsible does not strengthen international law. It degrades it.
No democratic state is beyond scrutiny, and allegations of misconduct should always be properly investigated. However, serious concerns also arise when highly inflammatory claims are repeated or amplified without proper evidential standards, particularly given the long documented history of fabricated and sensationalised allegations emerging from extremist networks and propagandists seeking to demonise Israel. Recent outrageous claims, including grotesque and unsubstantiated allegations involving “rape dogs”, demonstrate the extent to which disinformation and atrocity propaganda have polluted discourse surrounding this conflict.
Under the leadership of United Nations Secretary General António Guterres, the UN has increasingly abandoned moral clarity in favour of politicised narratives regarding Israel. Many will recall Guterres’ widely condemned attempt to “contextualise” the 7 October massacres, remarks viewed across much of the democratic world as an effort to rationalise barbarism unprecedented in modern Israeli history.
The continued moral decline of parts of the UN under António Guterres’ leadership has dragged the organisation even deeper into the gutter. When the UN places the world’s only Jewish state alongside genocidal terror groups such as Hamas and ISIS, it does not uphold human rights or international law. It debases them.
The NJA stands firmly against all forms of sexual violence in conflict. But we will continue to oppose cynical and politically motivated attempts to weaponise international mechanisms in order to delegitimise Israel and blur the line between democracy and terrorism.
