UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Photo: Alchetron.

JNS.org – United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres distanced himself from a new UN report that accuses Israel of implementing “an apartheid regime.”

Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon and US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley both condemned the controversial report — released by the world body’s Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) — which states that “available evidence establishes beyond a reasonable doubt that Israel is guilty of policies and practices that constitute the crime of apartheid.”

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement on behalf of Guterres that the report was written without the leader’s prior consultation and “does not reflect the views of the secretary-general.”

Danon slammed the “biased and deceitful report,” calling it “a blatant lie” and an “attempt to smear and falsely label the only true democracy in the Middle East.” The Israeli ambassador added that it “comes as no surprise” that the Beirut-based council comprised of 18 Arab nations, including Syria, Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and “Palestine,” would publish such a report authored by Richard Falk.

Falk, a discredited former UN special rapporteur for human rights, has an extensive record of virulently anti-Israel rhetoric. He has previously praised the Palestinian terror organization Hamas, likening the terror group to the French resistance of World War II.

Haley expressed “outrage” at the ESCWA report and called on Guterres to withdraw it. Leaders of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations also called on the secretary-general to reject the report, saying, “This latest outrage perpetrated against Israel by a UN body must not be allowed to stand.”