Israel’s permanent representative to the UN, Gilad Erdan, said that his country intends to refuse visas to UN representatives after statements by Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
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Israel’s Foreign Ministry previously called for Guterres’ resignation after he said the Hamas attack “did not come out of nowhere.” A representative of the department stated that in this way the UN Secretary General came forward to justify terrorism, reports the Times of Israel.
In connection with his statements, we will refuse to issue visas to UN representatives,” Gilad Erdan said in an interview with Army Radio. “We have already denied a visa to the Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, Martin Griffiths. It’s time to teach them a lesson.
Meanwhile, the Israeli Foreign Minister canceled a meeting with the UN Secretary General after his statements about the Hamas attack. Let us recall that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, speaking at a meeting of the World Security Council, spoke about Israel’s 56-year “repressive occupation” of the Palestinian territories.
Condemning the Hamas terrorist attack on the Jewish state on October 7, he stated:
It is important to recognize that Hamas attacks did not happen in a vacuum.” He also believes that Hamas attacks cannot justify further “collective punishment of the Palestinian people.
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen then canceled a planned meeting with Guterres.
I will not meet with the UN Secretary General. There will be no room for a balanced position after October 7th,” Cohen wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Tell me: what is your proportionate response to the murder of babies, the rape and burning of women and the beheading of a child? How can you agree to a truce with someone who has sworn to kill you and destroy your existence? Cohen added.
Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan then accused Guterres of justifying terrorism and murder. Guterres has a “distorted and immoral idea” about the massacre carried out by Hamas terrorists and should resign, Erdan said.
Erdan criticized the UN secretary general’s “stunning” speech, which “convincingly proved beyond any doubt that the secretary general is completely out of touch with the reality in our region and that he views the mass murder committed by the Nazi terrorists Hamas in a distorted and immoral way.”
Guterres responded that he was not trying to justify Hamas’s invasion of Israel, but that Israel should not punish the entire Palestinian people.
The grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the horrific attacks by Hamas. These horrific attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people,” he wrote in X.
Source: Racurs
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.