[Source: Reuters]

Diplomatic niceties broke down at the United Nations when Israel’s ambassador and the U.N. secretary-general’s special representative for children ​and armed conflict became embroiled in a furious shouting ‌match at a public hearing.

At a meeting in New York to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, the Israeli envoy, ​Danny Danon, demanded the resignation of Pramila Patten, who produced ​a report that blacklisted Israel for such alleged abuses for ⁠the first time, accusing her of bias.

“You caved to the secretary-general’s ​obsession with targeting Israel,” Danon said, referring to U.N. chief Antonio Guterres.

Another ​U.N. official, Vanessa Frazier, Guterres’ representative for children and armed conflict and compiler of a separate report that also blacklists Israel, interjected by shouting a point of ​order. She demanded that Danon refrain from “personal attacks” and added that ​she had “verified evidence.”

Danon said Frazier should be quiet.

“We are a member state, and ‌you ⁠work for the U.N., and you will be quiet now. You will be quiet … you and your shameful report,” he said.

Frazier, Malta’s former U.N. ambassador, issued her report this week on behalf of Guterres warning ​that Israeli settler ​groups could be ⁠added to a global blacklist for violations against children as the U.N. chief voiced alarm at what ​he called a “staggering” rise in violations against Palestinian children.

Israel ​itself ⁠already features in that report’s so-called list of shame annexes for alleged violations.

When Patten’s report was issued last month, Danon called it “a new low” ⁠and ​Israel’s foreign ministry vowed to sever all ​ties with Guterres, who leaves office after 10 years at the year-end.

Both reports also ​blacklist Israel’s arch enemy Hamas.