The Israeli Foreign Minister on Wednesday declared the Secretary General of the United Nations “persona non grata” in Israel.
The country criticizes him for not having condemned on Tuesday “unequivocally the heinous attack by Iran”.
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Israel and Hamas at war
He is now “persona non grata” and Israel (new window). The Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, is no longer welcome in Israel, as Israel Katz, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Jewish state, announced, accusing him of not having condemned Iran by name for his massive attack on Israel on Tuesday evening.
“Anyone who cannot unequivocally condemn Iran’s heinous attack on Israel does not deserve to set foot on Israeli soil. We are dealing with an anti-Israeli secretary general who supports terrorists, rapists and murderers.”Israel Katz said this Wednesday in a press release.
A ceasefire demanded by the United Nations
After the attack on Iran (new window) who fired nearly 200 missiles towards Israel on Tuesday evening, Antonio Guterres condemned “the widening conflict in the Middle East”deploring “climb after climb”. “This must stop. We absolutely need a ceasefire”he added, without further details. However, speaking before the UN Security Council on Wednesday, the Secretary General said “strongly condemn Iran’s massive missile attack on Israel”.
Asked about the Israeli decision, the spokesperson for the American State Department, Matthew Miller, for his part judged that this measure was not “really not helpful in any way”. The notoriously difficult relationship between Israel and the United Nations has sunk to its lowest point since October 7, the date of Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Israel, which sparked the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.
Israel calls for Antonio Guterres to resign
Israeli calls for Antonio Guterres’ resignation began soon after the start of the war, when he stressed that the Hamas attack had not been “not produced in a vacuum” and that “the Palestinian people (had) been subjected to 56 years of stifling occupation”. The secretary general has repeatedly called for a ceasefire (new window) to put an end to the fighting in Gaza and Lebanon, where Israel has been in full military escalation against Hezbollah for several weeks.
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