Once again the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, has ignored the call from numerous human rights groups and refused to add Israel’s occupation army to the ‘list of shame’ of forces endangering children in ‘armed conflict’, the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) National Committee (BNC) said today. In 2022, at least 42 Palestinian children were killed and 933 injured by Israeli forces, marking a 15-year-high in Israeli killings of Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank. This year, Russia was placed on the ‘list of shame’ for the first time, yet apartheid Israel, despite routinely crossing the threshold as one of the worst violators against children for decades, has again been left out, it said in a statement. BNC, the largest coalition in Palestinian civil society organizations, condemned in the strongest terms what it described ‘this blatant colonial hypocrisy.’ It said, ‘Apartheid Israel’s occupation forces have murdered at least 31 Palestinian children so far this year. How many more will Israel kill with impunity before the UN ends its racist double standards and holds Israel accountable? We reiterate our call for lawful targeted sanctions on Israel, including an immediate and comprehensive military embargo.’

Source: Palestine news & Information Agency – WAFA