Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, and Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen have called for the resignation of António Guterres, the organization’s secretary general, after he said on Tuesday that Hamas’ attacks were not coming “out of nowhere.” but only after that The Palestinians were “subjected to oppressive occupation for 56 years.” Guterres opened the Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East on Tuesday evening with a speech in which he condemned Hamas’ attacks but also alluded to the roots of the conflict.
The UN’s top official added in his speech: “[los palestinos] They have seen their land continually consumed by settlement and ravaged by violence; its economy is suffocating; its people were displaced and its homes were destroyed. Their hopes for a political solution to their plight have faded.”
Following Guterres’ words, the Israeli ambassador circulated a message on the social network X, formerly known as Twitter, demanding: “I ask for your immediate resignation.” who show understanding for the most terrible acts committed against the citizens of Israel, and certainly not by a declared terrorist organization (…). “It is truly sad that the head of an organization that emerged after the Holocaust expresses such terrible views.”
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The Israeli authorities also announced this Wednesday that they will refuse to issue visas to UN representatives in retaliation for Guterres’ words. Israel’s permanent representative to the body remarked: “Because of his words [en referencia a Guterres]“We will not issue visas to UN representatives.” Erdan confirmed that the visa denial had already been implemented together with the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Martin Griffiths. “It’s time to teach them a lesson,” the Israeli diplomat stressed.
Israel, which emerged as a state precisely from a United Nations decision – the partition of Palestine under the British mandate in 1947 – rarely abides by Security Council resolutions affecting it, where the United States’ veto usually protects it from almost unanimous consequences international condemnations. Israel’s scathing response, which called for the resignation of the Portuguese secretary-general and restricted the issuance of visas to UN officials, has left Israel’s political class accustomed to pointing to the United Nations when looking for an external culprit to seek out like wildfire.
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Israel’s representative to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, one of the most extreme leaders of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, has often taken an undiplomatic approach to UN decisions, particularly those of its secretary general. In addition to Erdan, Israel’s foreign minister refused to meet with him and the families of hostages held by Hamas. Former Defense Minister Benny Gantz of Jerusalem, who joined the wartime national unity government out of opposition, described his words as an “apology for terrorism.”
In his speech, Guterres recalled the presence of the elephant of the “oppressive occupation for 56 years” in the space of the century-old conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. “Hours later, faced with the growing tide of abuse from Israel, Guterres clarified the social network of the Palestinian people (with the complete blockade and bombing of the Gaza Strip).”
Previously, last Tuesday, Guterres published in “Nothing can justify Hamas’ killing, wounding and kidnapping of civilians,” Guterres stressed. The words that triggered Israel’s rejection were spoken at the beginning of the session. As in section
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