Israeli officials were angered on Wednesday by remarks by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that Hamas’ deadly attacks in southern Israel “did not happen in a vacuum” and that they justified terrorism. Foreign Minister Eli Cohen canceled a planned meeting with Guterres, while Yad Vashem said the UN chief “failed the test”.
“I will not meet with the Secretary-General of the United Nations. After the massacre of October 7, there is no place for a balanced approach. Hamas must disappear from the face of the earth!” Cohen said on the social platform X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday release.
Israel’s special envoy to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, called for his resignation, saying Israel must reconsider its relationship with the United Nations.
“We will deny a visa to a UN representative. We have already denied one to Martin Griffiths, the under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs,” Erdan told Army Radio, accusing Guterres of justifying the massacre. “It’s time to teach them a lesson.”
Israel has historically had tense relations with the United Nations, which it accuses of being biased against it.
On Tuesday, Guterres addressed a special meeting of the Security Council on the war between Israel and Hamas. The war was sparked by an attack by the militant group on October 7 that left at least 1,400 Israelis dead and more than 220 taken hostage.
Israeli airstrikes destroyed large swaths of the Gaza enclave, killing at least 6,500 Palestinians, including more than 2,700 children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. The UN chief told the Security Council that he “unequivocally condemns the shocking and unprecedented act of terror committed by Hamas in Israel on 7 October”. “Nothing can justify the deliberate killing, injury and kidnapping of civilians, or the firing of rockets at civilian targets,” he said.
But his description of the context of the attack caused an uproar in Israel. Guterres said it was important to acknowledge that “Hamas’ attacks do not happen in a vacuum.”
“The Palestinian people have suffered 56 years of suffocating occupation. They have seen their land steadily eaten up by settlements and plagued by violence. Their economies have been suppressed; their people have been displaced and their homes demolished. They are facing Hope for a political solution to the dilemma has disappeared,” he said.
On Wednesday, Guterres sought to walk back those remarks, writing on Twitter: “The grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify Hamas’ terrorist attacks. These horrific attacks cannot justify collective punishment of the Palestinian people. “
But Israel was not calmed down.
“Hamas’ massacre of the Jews on October 7 was genocidal in intent and extremely cruel in form,” Yad Vashem president Dani Dayan said in a statement.
He said it tested the sincerity of world leaders who came to Yad Vashem and pledged “never again”.
“Those who seek ‘understanding’, who seek justification, who do not condemn the perpetrators, who do not call for the immediate and unconditional release of the abductees – have failed the test. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has failed the test.”
Svlook
