Sympathy for Israel has long been in short supply at the United Nations, but the world body has outdone itself this time.

That’s really saying something, considering its disgraceful treatment of Israel over the past eight months. After the October 7 terrorist attacks by Hamas resulted in over 1,100 deaths and hundreds raped and taken hostage, Israel rightly declared its intent to destroy those responsible and rescue the hostages. Yet virtually every day since, the U.N. seemingly has done everything possible to protect Hamas from the consequences of its barbaric acts.

Now U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres has listed “Israeli armed and security forces” alongside repressive governments and terrorist groups guilty of “grave violations affecting children” in conflict in 2023.

Yes, in the immediate aftermath of October 7, the United Nations condemned the attack in the “strongest terms.” But before the calendar turned to November, the secretary-general was saying the attacks didn’t happen in a “vacuum,” U.N. experts were voicing alarm at the plight of ordinary Palestinians in Gaza, and the General Assembly passed a resolution calling for a “sustained humanitarian truce.”

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After that came U.N. accusations that Israel was causing starvation, accusations of war crimes, giving the Palestinians elevated privileges in the General Assembly, echoing Hamas’s false casualty data, and a U.S.-sponsored Security Council resolution designed to pressure Israel into supporting a cease-fire that would ensure the survival of Hamas.

Through this process, the U.N. member states refused to adopt resolutions condemning Hamas for its terrorism. Over and over, U.N. officials have neglected to properly place blame for the conflict and suffering on Hamas. For instance, a U.N. commission of inquiry report just declared that both Israel and Hamas have committed war crimes since October 7, but that Israel also committed crimes against humanity against the civilian population in Gaza.

Ignored is the fact that Hamas instigated the conflict, uses Palestinian civilians as human shields, steals aid meant to relieve suffering, and perpetuates the fighting by refusing to release the hostages. The report from a U.N. commission of inquiry even outrageously blames Israel for not stopping the October 7 attack and protecting its citizens.

While the death toll in Gaza is tragic, it is the intent of Hamas to place civilians in harm’s way. Hamas military leader Yahya Sinwar recently stated his belief that more civilian casualties help Hamas undermine Israel internationally and considers them “necessary sacrifices.” Where is the U.N. condemnation of this callous disregard for Palestinian civilians?

Indeed, Israel can do nothing right in the eyes of the U.N. Even rescuing hostages from Hamas is deemed lamentable. Just see the reaction of U.N. Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese to the June 8 rescue of four hostages. She said that the rescue “should not have come at the expense of at least 200 Palestinians, including children, killed and over 400 injured by Israel and allegedly foreign soldiers, while perfidiously hiding in an aid truck.”

And now we have the latest insult, with Guterres, for the first time, listing Israeli armed and security forces alongside the armed forces of Burma, Russia, Syria, Sudan, and Yemen, and terrorist groups like al-Qaeda, al-Shabaab, Boko Haram, the Lord’s Resistance Army, and the Taliban as parties that “commit grave violations affecting children in situations of armed conflict.”

The report was compiled by the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, established in 1996 to raise awareness of the plight of such children and assess progress achieved in addressing the problem. The special representative reports annually to the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council. Since 1999, the Security Council has requested that the secretary-general submit an annual report on the topic.

The 2024 report unprecedentedly lists Israel as a state offender. Specifically, the report states that, from January to December 2023, “the conflict in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory presents an unprecedented scale and intensity of grave violations against children.” According to the report, it has “verified 8,009 grave violations against 4,360 children,” of which over 70 percent were attributed to Israel.

Of course, since the U.N. defines a child as anyone under 18, and Hamas is known to recruit and use children in its attacks, it is unclear how many of these verified violations involved combatants. Israel was also criticized for damaging infrastructure, schools, hospitals, and other facilities.

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The report also puts Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad on the list for killing, injuring, and abducting children. Of course, these terrorist groups deliberately embrace tactics that place children at risk, including indiscriminate rocket attacks on civilian areas in Israel, launching attacks near civilian buildings, and storing weapons in schools and hospitals, including U.N. facilities.

Israel, by contrast, does none of this. It goes to unprecedented lengths to protect children and civilians from harm, including forewarning civilians before its forces enter an area, sharing maps of safe areas, and “roof knocking” on targets with non-explosive bombs so that civilians have time to flee before an attack. According to John Spencer, chairman of Urban Warfare Studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point, “Israel has taken more steps to avoid harming civilians than any other military in history.”

Equating Hamas and Israel in this way is reprehensible. Quite simply, Hamas deliberately places children in danger while Israel goes to great lengths to minimize civilian casualties.

The U.N., however, won’t let reality intrude on its narrative that Israel is in the wrong and must be condemned. One can only conclude that, as the U.N. sees it, the drumbeat of attacks on Israel must be incessant, even if it erodes the credibility of its reports or the organization itself.

The U.S. has long criticized rampant anti-Israel bias in the U.N., but the time has come to hold the organization accountable. Congress has withheld funding for the Palestinian relief agency UNRWA for its complicity with Hamas. It is past time for the U.S. to take similar action for other parts of the organization.