XUNICEF News and Views

We must never become comfortably numb!

One year ago, a group of staff members came together and decided they could no longer remain passive in the face of Israel’s crimes in Gaza. Few if any events in the history of the United Nations have been so repugnant to the spirit and letter of the Charter: a Member State waging a campaign of genocide, with total impunity, while much of the rest of the international community continues providing the weapons, financing and political cover that make this possible.

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...

Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Statement, Revoke planned international NGO ban, humanitarian leaders urge Israeli authorities 02 January 2026 UNICEF NEW YORK, 31 December 2025 We urge the Israeli authorities to reconsider their plan to ban many of the international NGOs operating in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT).

  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...

Canadian Museum for Human Rights Nakba Exhibit Should be Supported Author: Alex Neve Publication: Alex Neve: Moving Rights Along (personal blog) Date: December 2, 2025 Click here for the article Summary: Alex Neve, former Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada (2000-2020) and current professor of international human rights law at University of Ottawa and Dalhousie University, wrote an open letter to Canadian Minister of Identity and Culture Marc Miller urging support for the Canadian Museum for Human Rights' planned 2026 exhibit "Palestine Uprooted: Nakba Past and Present."  Neve, who delivered the 2025 CBC Massey Lectures on "Universal: Renewing Human Rights in a Fractured World," argues the exhibit addresses a glaring exclusion of Palestinian rights from global human rights conversations. He contends that critics attempting to derail the exhibit demonstrate a double standard and underlying racist sentiment that Palestinian rights matter les...

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.”

Me:  Non violence succeeded led by Gandhi and Martin Luther King. Why is it not working for Palestinians?  ChatGPT said: There’s a hard truth here, and I’ll walk you through it with the same clarity I’d offer a friend seeking to understand a painful, complicated reality.

Statement to Third Committee   Mr Chair. Excellencies. Colleagues. Good morning. • 7 October 2025 marked two years since the brutal attack by Palestinian militants that killed 1200 Israelis and foreigners in southern Israel, it also marks the date when the most ruthless, prolonged and widespread attack against the Palestinian people in history was launched by Israel. • While the ceasefire and release of hostages and prisoners, offer hope, they cannot undo the devastation that has already occurred. Tens of thousands of lives have been lost, entire families erased. The Gaza Strip lies in ruins, rendered nearly uninhabitable. The psychological scars to the Palestinian people, and to the Israeli people, will echo through generations. We must also not lose sight of a painful truth: over the past two years, the actions of the Israeli government have consistently pointed toward a singular, harrowing objective—the systematic destruction of Palestinian life in Gaza. Excellencies, • Last ...

  A bit too long but fascinating to hear the daughter of Edward Said, probably the most prominent Palestinian in the Western world. Her story is interesting in the sense that she represents the newer generation of Palestinians who grew up away from the MidEast and took on citizenships in many western countries. PS. It is a shame that she uses the "um" so much in her talk..it distracts from the message and her story. For an actress her phonetics are not so great. Fouad

 

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...

  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...

  We Are Elated by the Gaza Ceasefire News. Now, the World Must Hold Israel to Account for 2 Years of Genocide By Diana Buttu — Zeteo Click here for the article Summary In this deeply personal essay, former Palestinian peace negotiator Diana Buttu reflects on the emotional relief brought by the Gaza ceasefire, juxtaposed with profound grief and lingering fear. She writes that Palestinians are “elated and relieved” that the bombing has stopped after two years of relentless assault but emphasizes that the suffering, loss, and trauma are immeasurable. Buttu describes how Palestinians endured continuous bombardment, displacement, and global indifference, forced to “shield one another from unending gaslighting and dehumanization.”

Professor Ben Saul, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms while Countering Terrorism & Chris Sidoti, human rights lawyer, advocate and investigator, Addressed the National Press Club of Australia.

Revealed: US 21-point plan for ending Gaza war, creating pathway to Palestinian state Jacob Magid Times of Israel Click here for the article Summary A leaked U.S. proposal lays out a 21-point framework to end the Gaza war, secure hostage releases, oversee reconstruction, and set a path toward Palestinian statehood.