XUNICEF News and Views

The Genocide Report that Followed Four Days Later Robert Cohen wrote to several of us on Saturday morning asking if we could locate the video of a confrontation that had erupted the previous day (Friday) at the UN meeting marking the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict. Robert included a link to a Reuters report but wanted the visual record. The video from UN Web TV is worth watching (below or here ). At the meeting, Israel's ambassador Danny Danon launched a furious public attack on Pramila Patten, the Secretary-General's Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, demanding her resignation after her office blacklisted Israel for alleged sexual abuses for the first time. "You caved to the secretary-general's obsession with targeting Israel," Danon told her. Vanessa Frazier — Malta's former UN ambassador and now the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, who had herself com...

Title: Israeli envoy and UN official clash at hearing on children in conflict Author: Reuters (uncredited staff report) Publication: Reuters Date: 19 June 2026

This updates our earlier reports of 5, 7 and 9 March on the crisis for children in Lebanon. The death toll in Lebanon has risen to 687 since March 2, including 98 children and 52 women,

Rescue workers and residents search through the rubble after strike on a girls' elementary school in Iran. Overall Casualty figures from the US-Israeli assault on Iran and the Iranian response remain deeply uncertain and are rising by the hour.  Preliminary figures are 555 dead in Iran, at least 10 in Israel, five civilians killed in Gulf states. In addition, four US soldiers were killed in Kuwait.  Iran Iran's Health Ministry now reports approximately 180 children killed in the strike on Shajarah Tayyebeh girls' elementary school in Minab, where girls aged seven to twelve were in class when the missile hit. A second school in Tehran's Narmak district was also struck, killing two more students. Overall deaths across Iran have reached at least 555, with casualty figures from two   hospital strikes in Tehran still unconfirmed as rescue operations continue. Israel In Israel, an Iranian ballistic missile struck residential buildings and a synagogue shelter in Beit Sh...

  In this interview with Amy Goodman at the United Nations, Professor Noam Chomsky discusses the role of the United States in the Israel-Palestine conflict and the legal and tactical avenues for change.

New Israeli Barrier Will Slice Through Precious West Bank Farmland Julian Borger and Quique Kierszenbaum The Guardian December 13, 2025 Click here for the article :  Palestinian farmers in Atouf village received eviction notices on December 4 giving them seven days to vacate their land for construction of a military road and barrier, the first section of Israel's new 5.5bn-shekel "Crimson Thread" barrier that will eventually run 300 miles from the Golan Heights to the Red Sea.  Almost 85% of the 1,000 dunams (100 hectares) initially targeted are privately owned fertile farmland that Palestinian families have worked for generations, with up to 40 families facing separation from their village and water supply.  Israel's defence ministry says the barrier will "strengthen national security and strategic control of the eastern border," but human rights activists argue the real motive is land seizure and ethnic cleansing, noting that settlements are being bui...

Daniella Weiss, Nachala leader Yesterday's announcement by Israel's army chief , Eyal Zamir, that 'the yellow line' dividing Gaza is now Israel's new border should ring alarm bells for those opposing ethnic cleansing.   As the podcast below indicates, the Israeli settler movement is preparing for the day that they can move in to occupy northern Gaza, even going so far as to marketing "pre-sale" of residence plots along the Mediterranean coast. The blueprint for occupation copies the process followed by the settler movement in the West Bank.  Settler groups call for 'an open door' for millions of Palestinians to leave for other countries.

Continuing criticism of the Security Council's resolution on the US plan for Gaza focusses rightly on how it undercuts Palestinian rights and role in its own future. Tom By Endorsing the U.S. Gaza Plan, the UN Security Council Elevates "Rule by Law" Over Rule of Law Author: Zaha Hassan Publication: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Date: December 5, 2025 Click here for the article Summary: UN Security Council Resolution 2803, adopted 13-0 with China and Russia abstaining, endorsed Trump's Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict despite contradicting International Court of Justice rulings and international law.

Over 200 cultural figures call for the release of Marwan Barghouti “We express our grave concern at the continuing imprisonment of Marwan Barghouti, his violent mistreatment and denial of legal rights whilst imprisoned. We call upon the United Nations and the Governments of the World to actively seek the release of Marwan Barghouti from Israeli prison.”

A few images say more than any text presented. This photo of a Lebanese mother carrying the body of her daughter killed in an Israeli air strike shrieks horror.

Post on Linkedin by Mark Kersten Three countries - the United States, Israel, and Argentina - vote against a UN General Assembly resolution aimed at preventing and ending this use of torture. These resolutions used to be adopted unanimously. What does it say when these states oppose any opposition to torture?

This plan seems to be the latest effort of Israel and the US to vett and segregate Palestinians.  It reflects similar thinking to earlier attempts to limit aid to 'approved Gazans' via the GHF distribution points . In the new plan only those determined to be 'safe and reliable' would be on one side of the yellow line; while the others would remain in a sort of 'no man's land'. It is easy to guess which side would receive aid and support for construction of housing.   Tom

Kindly share this shocking article in the next newsletter. Thank you and best wishes, Ellen van Kalmthout Israel targets UNICEF in Gaza as part of a systematic campaign against international organisations

Gaza Mother in rubble: “This is a truce! What truce is this?” President Trump in Air Force One: “You have to understand. Hamas is a very small part of the Middle East. They have to behave.” John Gilmartin Israeli Strikes in Gaza Kill at Least 100, Local Health Officials Say By Liam Stack and Bilal Shbair The New York Times

One of the best,to date.   I always questioned whether it was right for the US to be left as the sole broker for the conflict.curiously the authors don’t talk about AIPAC and others who affected the narrative re the support for one side of the issue.  Still,a profound analysis , but which leaves us confused as to the end game, especially with the new dimension provided by the unpredictable Trump admin. Fouad How Washington’s Israel–Palestine Peace Process Theology Failed Again and Again Khaled Elgindy, Foreign Policy Click here for the original article in FP  or click here for text only Author :   Khaled Elgindy is a  Visiting Scholar at Georgetown University’s Center for Contemporary Arab Studies and author of Blind Spot: America and the Palestinians, from Balfour to Trump . Summary Khaled Elgindy reviews Robert Malley and Hussein Agha’s Tomorrow Is Yesterday: Life, Death, and the Pursuit of Peace in Israel/Palestine , arguing that the U.S.–led peace p...

Depopulation,’ ‘Kill Zone,’ and ‘Second Nakba’: The Lexicon of Brutality Exposes How Israelis Talk About the War By Sheren Falah Saab,  Haaretz,  May 4, 2025 Click here for the article Summary Haaretz reporter Sheren Falah Saab reviews A Lexicon of Brutality, a new Hebrew-language book by historian Adam Raz and sociologist Assaf Bondy that dissects how militarized, dehumanizing language has shaped Israeli public discourse around Gaza.

A good read. She is one of the more enlightened writers and intellectuals who criticize the government regularly. Fouad Will Israelis One Day Say of Their Country’s Atrocities in Gaza, “I Was Always Against It”? By Amira Hass – Haaretz Click here for the article Summary Veteran Israeli journalist Amira Hass reflects on whether future generations of Israelis will one day confront their nation’s actions in Gaza with the same remorse that Germans expressed after the Holocaust. She imagines a time when the magnitude of the atrocities— over 20,000 Palestinian children killed and 44,000 wounded —can no longer be dismissed or justified by the events of October 7.

A heart-warming human interest story which falls right into Co-Peace territory. Makes one wonder about humans’ logic…their govt. pulverized Gaza and killed thousands of children and their parents, and here some Israelis donate to build a village for the poor orphaned kids…go understand the anomaly ! Fouad Sponsored by Israeli Donations, a Village Is Built for Gaza’s Orphaned Children Hilo Glazer – Haaretz  October 9, 2025  Click here for the article Summary This deeply reported feature describes how an extraordinary grassroots partnership of Israelis, Palestinians, and international volunteers has created the Academy of Hope — a new orphan village in Deir al-Balah, Gaza — to care for children who lost their parents in the war. The initiative, led by Palestinian-American neurosurgeon Dr. David Hasan of Duke University and Israeli labor activist Asi Garbarz , provides food, education, and medical and psychological care to hundreds of Gaza’s orphans. The project, initially co...

  We Must Welcome International Intervention Into the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Gideon Levy – *Haaretz* October 12, 2025  Click here for the article Summary Gideon Levy argues that the time has come for decisive international intervention in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, asserting that Israel’s occupation and control of Palestinian life have long ceased to be domestic matters. The recent Gaza ceasefire and hostage release agreement, initiated under U.S. President Donald Trump, may mark the start of a long-overdue internationalization of the conflict. Levy welcomes reports that the U.S. and Arab nations are planning a summit without Israel’s participation to discuss Gaza’s future, calling it a hopeful sign that outside actors may finally curb Israel’s impunity. Levy maintains that internal Israeli politics are incapable of producing moral change or ending the occupation. Real progress, he insists, can come only through global pressure—governments, public opinion, and p...