By SCM Reporter
THE UNITED NATIONS has officially added Israeli military entities and security forces to its global blacklist of parties committing sexual violence in conflict zones.
The inclusion, confirmed by the UN during a high-stakes briefing, has triggered a furious diplomatic backlash from Jerusalem. In immediate retaliation, Israel has frozen all relations with the office of UN Secretary-General António Guterres, branding the international body’s decision a “moral disgrace.”
Harrowing Allegations Under Investigation
The blacklisting follows an annual UN report on conflict-related sexual violence that cited verified accounts of systematic abuse against Palestinian detainees.
Independent human rights groups and media watchdogs, including Middle East Eye, have previously published extensive investigations detailing the horrific conditions and sexual degradation suffered by Palestinians held within Israeli facilities.
According to verified witness testimonies and investigative findings, detainees have endured severe physical and psychological torture. The recorded abuses include:
Severe beatings and targeted physical violence.
Rape and sexual assault, frequently perpetrated through the forced use of foreign objects.
The deployment of trained military guard dogs to terrorise and sexually assault prisoners during interrogations.
The UN report emphasised that these severe violations were primarily carried out within military camps and interrogation hubs, describing a “systemic lack of accountability” that has fostered a culture of impunity.
The formal blacklisting was first leaked by the Jerusalem Post, igniting immediate outrage across the Israeli political spectrum.
The Israeli Prison Service (IPS) is explicitly named on the list, while several other prominent security and state authorities have been placed under a formal monitoring framework for potential inclusion later this year.
Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, hit back with a scathing statement, forcefully denying the allegations and claiming the move was engineered entirely to damage the country’s international standing.
”The decision is completely political and entirely detached from the facts and from reality,” Ambassador Danon stated. “Anyone who is able to include Israel on the same list as terrorists and rapists has no sense of morality.”
In response to the designation, the Israeli government announced a total freeze on diplomatic contact with the office of Secretary-General António Guterres.
Israeli officials declared that they will maintain a complete boycott of the Secretary-General’s office until Guterres’s term concludes at the end of December.
The Growing Background of Global Blacklists
The UN’s conflict-related sexual violence blacklist—informally known as the “list of shame”—carries severe reputational penalties and intensifies international diplomatic pressure on named governments.
The current diplomatic crisis is the culmination of a deeply fractured relationship between the United Nations and Israel.
The tension escalated sharply when the UN added Hamas to the same sexual violence blacklist following verified reports of atrocities committed during the attacks on southern Israel and against hostages held in Gaza.
With Israel’s addition to the 2026 registry, Israeli diplomats have accused the UN chief of attempting to create a “fake symmetry” between a sovereign democratic state and an outlawed terrorist group.
UN officials, however, maintain that the blacklist is an impartial accountability tool driven strictly by verified field data and testimonies.
While the designation does not automatically trigger direct economic sanctions, it exposes the blacklisted entities to potential international legal scrutiny and heavily complicates military assistance policies with Western allies.
To better understand the geopolitical context, the UN Blacklist Escalation Overview provides a concise breakdown of the diplomatic fallout and how this decision alters Israel’s standing within international bodies.
