The Biden administration rebuffed Israeli appeals to pressure the United Nations to remove it from a blacklist of countries and armed groups that have maimed, abducted, or killed children during war, marking a new limit on Washington’s willingness to protect a close military ally for excesses in its war against Hamas.
In recent weeks, Israel has sought Washington’s support to dissuade U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres from signaling it out in its annual Children and Armed Conflict report, which was released June 3 and which provides a global survey of abuses by governments and armed groups of children in war. But the U.S. has been unwilling to do so, according to four diplomatic sources.
Instead, United States officials have simply counseled Guterres and his advisers to be mindful of the risk that Israel might retaliate diplomatically against the U.N. They also urged the U.N. leadership to ensure that any characterization of crimes against children in the report makes clear that Hamas holds the moral low ground in the conflict.