Israeli Disability Leader Confronts UN After Israel Blacklisting, Accuses Assembly of ‘Total Collapse of Moral Clarity’

When the United Nations placed Israel on its conflict-related sexual-violence blacklist, Beit Issie Shapiro made a choice, boycott in protest, or walk into the room and defend Israel’s place at the table. They showed up.

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At the UN’s disability-rights conference in New York, Ahmir Lerner, CEO of Beit Issie Shapiro, took the General Assembly floor and delivered a blistering three-minute rebuke of the institution’s treatment of Israel. Speaking as the head of one of Israel’s leading disability organizations, Lerner accused the UN of creating a dangerous false equivalence between Israel and terrorist groups like Hamas.

Beit Issie came to the conference to speak about inclusion, emergency preparedness and protecting people with disabilities during war. But Lerner used the moment to make a wider point, human rights language becomes empty when the world cannot distinguish between a democratic country defending its citizens and terrorists who deliberately target civilians.

He described what Israel’s values have looked like under fire, rehabilitation centers kept open, therapy sessions moved into shelters, children with complex disabilities continuing to receive care and professionals showing up even as the country remains at war.

“This is not rhetoric. It is action,” Lerner said.

Then he turned directly to the UN’s blacklist decision. Hamas terrorists carried out the October 7 massacre, including documented sexual violence and attacks on vulnerable civilians. To place Israel on the same moral line, Lerner said, was not nuance. It was “a total collapse of moral clarity.”

The message carried extra force because it did not come from a politician. Lerner was speaking as the head of an Israeli NGO whose daily work is disability care, rehabilitation, dignity and equal access.

“You cannot claim to protect the vulnerable while failing to distinguish between those who target civilians and those who protect them,” he told the room.

Beit Issie also hosted a side event with Israel’s Mission to the UN and Israel’s Commission for Equal Rights of Persons with Disabilities, focusing on how countries can protect people with disabilities in emergencies through accessible communication, trained teams and continuity of care.