UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moonReuters

Gershon Horowitz, a longtime Likud functionary and retired army major who writes in leftist newspaper Haaretz, proclaimed Tuesday that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is a "war criminal."

Horowitz relied on the newly published Amnesty International report, which confirmed Israel's longstanding accusation that some of the rockets Hamas fired at Israel in the 2014 Gaza war were launched from UN-controlled facilities.

The UN should have known that its facilities were being used for war crimes, he argued, and noted that ammunition, too, was stored in UN schools.

When Ban told Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu that he insists that the UN investigate suspicions of Israeli war crimes, he was simply going on offense because that is the best defense, Horowitz surmised.

"As the head of the organization that allowed rockets to be fired on peaceful civilians from its facilities, Ban Ki-moon must stand trial as a war criminal," he stated.

Horowitz added:

"As the head of the organization that allowed terror organizations' weapons and ammunition to be stored in its facilities, Ban Ki-moon must stand trial as a war criminal.

"As the head of the organization that allowed civilians who found refuge in its facilities to be used as human shields for terrorists who attack civilians, Ban Ki-moon must stand trial as a war criminal.

"As the head of the organization that paid salaries – and is still paying them – to terrorists, Ban Ki-moon must stand trial.

"The argument that the head of the murderous organization, the UN, did not know what was happening inside his own facilities is unreasonable. It is obvious that he should have known, and even if he did not, through a dereliction of his duty, he must stand trial for this criminal negligence."

Ban Ki-moon could not have been surprised that UN facilities were used for terrorism, Horowitz added, because he has been paying salaries through UNRWA to Hamas terrorists, whose charter calls for destroying Israel. What is more, he noted, Hamas already used UNRWA facilities to fire at IDF soldiers in Operation Cast Lead in 2008-9.