2024-10-03 23:24:12
Tel Aviv: Israel on Wednesday declared UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres persona non grata. Along with this, Israel banned him from entering the country for failing to clearly condemn Iran’s missile attack. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz announced on Wednesday afternoon that “Today, I have declared UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres persona non grata in Israel and have banned him from entering the country. Anyone who is responsible for the attacks on Israel by Iran cannot unequivocally condemn the heinous attack, as almost every country in the world has done, does not deserve to set foot on Israeli soil.”
Why did the Israeli Foreign Minister criticize the UN Chief?
Just days before the first anniversary of a 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, Katz criticized the UN chief for failing to take action against terrorist organizations. “This is a secretary general who has not condemned the massacres and sexual atrocities committed by the killers of Hamas on October 7, nor has he made any effort to declare them a terrorist organization,” Israel’s foreign minister wrote on Twitter.
Israel gave strict warning to UN
The Israeli Foreign Minister further said, “A Secretary-General who supports the terrorists, rapists and murderers of Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and now Iran, the mother of global terror, will be remembered as a stain on the history of the United Nations.” He said Israel would continue to protect its citizens and “uphold its national dignity, with or without Antonio Guterres.”
What did the UN Secretary General say?
The UN Secretary General said on Tuesday that he was extremely concerned by the escalation of the conflict in Lebanon and appealed for an immediate ceasefire. Guterres said that a broader war in Lebanon should be avoided at all costs, and that Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity should be respected. He posted another message on X a few hours later after Iran attacked Israel with about 200 missiles on Tuesday night. Guterres said, “I condemn the escalating conflict in the Middle East, which continues to escalate. It must stop. We definitely need a ceasefire.”