Ramzy Baroud on Danny Danon and the mountain of evidence that cannot be shouted away about Israel’s systemic use of sexual violence and other abuses against Palestinians.
Danny Danon, Israel’s U.N. ambassador, addressing the Security Council last month. (UN Photo/Manuel Elías)
By Ramzy Baroud
Z Network
Whether Israelis will ever comprehend the irreparable damage inflicted upon their country’s reputation by their U.N. ambassador, Danny Danon, is a moot point. The damage Israel has done to itself through its barbaric practices in occupied Palestine is simply impossible to overcome.
Danon, however, utilizes a peculiar approach to defending Israel within international institutions: he relies on bullying, intimidation, and an overt attempt to silence anyone who dares to challenge the official Israeli narrative — particularly women leaders. Yet, what makes his behavior most outrageous is his deployment of these abrasive tactics to suppress an issue that demands the utmost sensitivity: the systemic use of sexual violence and human rights abuses against Palestinians.
The confrontation took place last month during a U.N. General Assembly session convened to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict. Senior U.N. officials were presenting harrowing findings documenting sexual violence against Palestinian detainees.
True to form, Danon refused to engage with the substance of the reports. For Israeli diplomacy, the enemy is never merely the armed adversary; it is the judge, the independent human rights observer, and the U.N. investigator whose sole mandate is to document violations of international law.
The immediate target of Danon’s wrath was Pramila Patten, the U.N. secretary-general’s special representative on sexual violence in conflict. Instead of reflecting on the grim findings, Danon demanded Patten’s resignation. He accused her and the broader international community of harboring an “obsession” with targeting Israel.
When Vanessa Frazier, the secretary-general’s special representative for children and armed conflict, attempted to intervene on a point of order per established protocol, Danon unleashed a vitriolic verbal assault. Refusing to yield, he shouted over her, ordering her to “be quiet” and drowning out the chamber with his outbursts. “Shame on you. You are part of this obsession,” Danon bellowed.
While such unruly behavior should have resulted in Danon’s immediate removal from the chamber, the diplomatic asymmetry of the U.N. prevailed. It was Frazier who found herself trying to de-escalate, politely clarifying that her procedural request was “not personal.” Danon shot back with typical defiance: “You will not be allowed to bully us.”
Children Deliberately Targeted and Killed
Herein lies the supreme irony of Israel’s diplomatic relationship with the U.N. and international law. Israel stands as one of the most egregious, serial violators of international law in modern history — a decades-long pattern of behavior left unpunished by Western vetoes, which ultimately emboldened it to carry out an ongoing genocide in Gaza.
Yet, Israeli officials persistently claim the mantle of the ultimate victim, alleging they are the targets of anti-semitism, unfair bias, and now, “bullying” by the very institutions they defy.
But the mountain of evidence cannot be shouted away. According to an extensive report issued by Patten’s office, there are verified patterns of systemic abuse, sexual degradation, and psychological torture weaponized against Palestinian men, women, and children in Israeli detention like Sde Teiman.
Patten with Secretary-General António Guterres in April. (UN Photo/Manuel Elías)
The weight of this evidence reached such an undeniable threshold that the U.N. secretary-general’s office formally added Israel to the global ‘List of Shame’ — the blacklist of states committing grave violations against children in armed conflict.
None of this exposure is enough to convince Danon or the broader Israeli political establishment that Israel does not possess a sovereign right to violate international law. In their view, merely pointing out these crimes constitutes an act of aggression.
This systemic denial extends to every facet of the conflict. A comprehensive U.N. investigation recently concluded that Israel has deliberately targeted Palestinian children in Gaza as a core component of its military campaign. It is staggering: Between Oct. 7, 2023, and Oct. 7, 2025, an estimated 20,179 Palestinian children were killed — about 30 percent of all Palestinian deaths.
Injured Palestinians children at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital after Israeli airstrike of the Nuseirat refugee camp, Gaza Strip, Nov. 1, 2023. (Ashraf Amra /UNRWA: United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, Wikimedia Commons /CC BY-SA 4.0)
Commission chair Srinivasan Muralidhar, noting that Israeli authorities have systematically continued to commit the crime of genocide, said:
“The evidence shows that Palestinian children have been deliberately targeted and killed by the Israeli security forces.”
While these findings provide another layer of ironclad legal proof regarding genocidal intent, the true significance of the report lies in its exposure of the rationale behind targeting youth.
Typically, the disproportionate slaughter of children and women is dismissed by Western apologists as “collateral damage.” The U.N. inquiry shattered this defense, offering a far more consequential conclusion: the targeting of Gaza’s children is part of a calculated strategy to destroy the biological continuity and future existence of the Palestinian people in Gaza.
As Muralidhar bluntly summarized:
“By targeting children, Israel is attacking the very capacity of the Palestinian people to exist.”
It remains a profound disappointment that the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice — often swift to indict war crimes committed elsewhere — continue to move at a glacial pace regarding Israel. Tragically, the catastrophe continues unabated because there is still no meaningful international mechanism willing to enforce sanctions or employ genuine pressure to halt it.
This is precisely why Danon wants the world to be quiet. His outbursts are not merely directed at U.N. diplomats; they are directed at global civil society, ordinary citizens, and anyone refusing to look away. Israel demands absolute silence while Palestinians are starved, raped, and murdered.
According to its twisted logic, committing these atrocities is an inherent right, and objecting to them is an act of malice.
Dr. Ramzy Baroud is a widely published and translated author, an internationally syndicated columnist and editor of The Palestine Chronicle. His latest book is The Last Earth: A Palestinian Story (Pluto Press, 2018). He earned a Ph.D. in Palestine Studies from the University of Exeter (2015), and was a non-resident scholar at Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies, UCSB. Visit his website.
This article is from Z Network, is funded solely through the generosity of its readers.
Views expressed in this article and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
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