United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres stands by Vanessa Frazier, his Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, following her repost of an unverified social media claim that accused Israel of using explosive devices disguised as children's toys. The UN official, Frazier, has since deleted the post, but the incident has drawn criticism and calls for an investigation into her conduct.
Frazier reposted a message on X, formerly Twitter, on June 18, originally published by Sarah Wilkinson. Wilkinson claimed that the objects were cluster munitions "disguised as children’s toys" that Israelis had been "strategically dropping" over Lebanon. Frazier's repost stated, "If this is true it means that there is a deliberate, premeditated intent to kill children."
An Israeli spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) categorically rejected the allegation as "baseless and unfounded" and "fake news."
Wilkinson, the original poster, is facing charges in the United Kingdom related to incitement to terror and expressing support for Hamas. According to reports, she is set to stand trial in January on charges including encouragement of terrorism on social media and expressing support for a proscribed organization.
Danny Danon, Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations, expressed "grave concerns regarding conduct that appears inconsistent with the neutrality, professionalism, and impartiality expected of a senior United Nations official." In a letter to the UN Security Council president, Danon highlighted Frazier's social media activity as a "troubling pattern of engagement with unverified, disputed, or misleading material, alongside content raising concerns about antisemitic framing and extremist rhetoric."
Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Guterres, told Fox News Digital that Frazier's repost "was deleted a while ago and, as you know, [the] retweet in no way implies an endorsement of the person who posted the original tweet." He added that the Secretary-General "has full confidence in Vanessa Frazier and her work."
Dujarric stated that Frazier's focus is on protecting children globally and that her mandate does not involve "blacklisting" Member States. He asserted that the UN's Annual Report on Children and Armed Conflict aims to improve the behavior of parties to conflict to better protect children, and that Frazier has been effective in this role. He also defended the report as the product of a "rigorous United Nations (U.N.) monitoring and verification process."
Frazier defended her actions, stating that her social media activities were intended to highlight the Secretary-General's concerns regarding the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, which raises humanitarian issues. She added that her mandate is carried out through established UN monitoring and verification methodologies that apply the same standards to all parties to conflict. Frazier also maintained that she has "no bias against the State of Israel or against any Member States of the United Nations."
This is not the first time Frazier has faced scrutiny for her social media posts. In March, she removed a post that included images of black body bags after it became apparent the photo depicted victims of the Iranian regime's crackdown on protesters. She later reissued a similar post with an updated photograph.
Andrew Fox, a senior fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, criticized the incident, calling it "farcical that a U.N. official should be so gullible" and suggesting it reflected a "toxic atmosphere that nearly three years of lies have created around Israel."
Frazier's tenure has also seen other contentious moments, including an exchange with Ambassador Danon during a UN side event, which Reuters described as a "furious shouting match." Frazier characterized her intervention as procedural, aimed at maintaining UN forum standards, while Danon described it as an "abrupt interruption" and a disregard for procedural norms.