DSN Report: Senior UN Official Shared Confidential Documents with “Israel”
By Staff, Agencies
A senior United Nations official who currently heads UNICEF’s Washington office secretly shared confidential UN documents and internal deliberations with “Israeli” diplomats while serving at the UN Population Fund [UNFPA], according to an investigation published by Drop Site News.
The report is based on a hacked archive of emails belonging to Ron Prosor, the former permanent representative of “Israel” to the United Nations. According to the outlet, the emails were obtained by the Iranian hacking group Handala and later published by the whistleblower platform Distributed Denial of Secrets.
The correspondence, covering the years 2014 and 2015, shows Yahav Lichner repeatedly providing confidential reports, unpublished documents, and internal accounts of meetings involving senior UN officials, including then-Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
Lichner previously worked at the “Israeli” mission to the United Nations before joining UNFPA in 2014. He has served as the head of UNICEF’s Washington office since January 2025. Prosor was “Israel’s” ambassador to the UN from 2011 to 2015 and currently serves as ambassador to Germany.
According to Drop Site News, Lichner, Prosor, former US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power, and UNICEF did not respond to requests for comment.
The investigation reveals that the flow of confidential information increased during the 2014 “Israeli” war on Gaza, when “Israel” was facing an independent UN Human Rights Council investigation into its military conduct.
One day after the military operation began, Lichner sent officials at the “Israeli” mission a letter from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to Ban Ki-moon, along with an unpublished draft of the Secretary General’s response. The report claims Lichner said he was working with an internal UN contact to modify the draft by adding language concerning rocket fire from Gaza that would be more favorable to “Israel.”
The investigation also cites a February 2015 email in which Lichner disclosed the confidential release date of the UN commission of inquiry’s report on the Gaza conflict before it was intended to be made public.
In another instance, Lichner shared an internal summary of meetings held in Washington by then-UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein during discussions related to the Gaza inquiry. According to the report, the summary indicated concern within Al Hussein’s office that criticism from the US Congress could jeopardize funding for the human rights office and suggested the High Commissioner was attempting to distance himself from the inquiry.
Drop Site News further revealed that Lichner supplied advance information regarding UN human rights deliberations following the killing of two Palestinian teenagers in the occupied West Bank in May 2014. The report says he informed “Israeli” diplomats that the UN human rights office was considering issuing a statement on the use of excessive force and provided suggested arguments for “Israeli” officials to counter calls for an independent investigation.
The leaked archive also includes internal UN communications concerning a Guardian investigation into allegations that “Israeli” pressure influenced discussions over whether “Israeli” forces should be listed among parties responsible for grave violations against children in armed conflict.
According to the report, Prosor personally supported Lichner’s appointment at UNFPA in 2014, asking then-US Ambassador Samantha Power to raise his candidacy with the agency’s executive director and later submitting a formal recommendation on his behalf.
The investigation also cites a 2015 email in which Lichner drafted talking points for Prosor to use in support of his application for a position at the UN Development Program. In those materials, Lichner described himself as an intelligence officer in training, although the report notes that no additional evidence in the email archive corroborates such a background.
Former senior UN official Charles Petrie told Drop Site News that UN employees are obligated to serve the organization rather than individual member states. He argued that while such obligations exist, the United Nations lacks effective mechanisms to hold staff accountable for breaches, particularly at senior levels.
The report states that the available email archive contains no evidence indicating whether Lichner continued sharing confidential information after 2015 or whether UNICEF was aware of the alleged conduct before appointing him to lead its Washington office.
According to the investigation, Lichner has since worked on humanitarian coordination related to Gaza, including engagement with US officials on aid access, placing him in roles directly connected to many of the issues referenced in the leaked correspondence.
