The Israeli delegation at the UN in Geneva today strongly condemned the Palestinian Authority (PA) delegation for lying about a photograph of an Israeli child killed in a Hamas rocket attack as a Palestinian child slain by Israeli forces.

At the heart of the controversy is a photo of Ido Avigal, a five-year-old Jewish boy tragically killed in a 2021 Hamas rocket strike on Sderot. The photograph was featured in a PA exhibition at the UN, which purported to show children allegedly killed by the IDF.

The Israeli delegation issued a statement saying, “Hamas killed Ido. But today, the Palestinian Delegation presented an exhibition at UN Geneva, which included Ido as a Palestinian child supposedly killed by Israel in Gaza. This is despicable.”

Further action was sought by the Israeli representatives, who urged UN Geneva Director-General Tatiana Valovaya to remove the exhibition, labeling it as a source of misinformation and a tool for propaganda.

This incident is not the first time Ido Avigal’s image has been misused. In September, MK Ahmad Tibi (Hadash-Ta’al) included a photograph of Ido in a collection purporting to show children affected by IDF actions.

Ido’s mother, Shani Avigal, expressed her shock and dismay upon seeing her son’s image used in such a misleading context. Addressing Ahmad Tibi in a post on X, she wrote, “It’s totally fine to take all sorts of kids, put them in one photo, and tell the world that the IDF killed them, but is there a chance that you could take the photo of my child off there? I am pretty sure Hamas killed him, and injured my daughter, and my nephews, and myself.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)