Criticism of attacks in Gaza
Israel outraged at UN Secretary General and calls for resignation
October 24, 2023, 7:08 p.m
At a meeting of the UN Security Council, the Secretary General delivers a speech in which he condemns both the Hamas attack and Tel Aviv’s response. Guterres added that the massacres did not take place in a vacuum. Israel demands his immediate resignation, Foreign Minister Cohen cancels a meeting.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has clearly criticized Israel for its attacks on the Gaza Strip. “Protecting civilians does not mean ordering more than a million people to evacuate to the south, where there is no shelter, no food, no water, no medicine and no fuel, and then continuing to bomb the south itself,” said Guterres at a meeting of the UN Security Council in New York. Apparently addressed to Hamas fighters, the UN chief also condemned the use of bystanders as human shields.
“I am deeply concerned about the clear violations of international humanitarian law that we are witnessing in Gaza,” said Guterres. No party to the conflict is above international humanitarian law. Guterres once again strongly condemned the attacks on Israel by the Islamist Hamas, saying there was no justification for them. But he also said: “It is important to recognize that Hamas’ attacks did not take place in a vacuum.” The Palestinian people have been subjected to oppressive occupation for 56 years. It has seen its country decimated by settlements and ravaged by violence, said Guterres. The Hamas attacks cannot justify the “collective punishment of the Palestinian people,” said Guterres.
“Distorted and immoral view of October 7th”
Israel’s UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan strongly condemned Guterres’ comments. Erdan Guterres accused the statement that “the murderous terrorist attack by Nazi Hamas did not take place in a vacuum” as a justification for terror and murder. “It’s really sad that a person with such scary views is at the head of the organization that was set up after the Holocaust. A tragedy.”
The UN Secretary General’s “shocking speech” during rocket attacks on Israel proves conclusively that he is “completely disconnected from the reality in our region.” Guterres has a “distorted and immoral view” of the massacre carried out by Hamas terrorists in Israel on October 7, Erdan wrote in an X-Post. In another tweet, he called for Guterres’ immediate resignation. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock will also take part in the debate of the most powerful UN body. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, among others, also announced his presence.
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen canceled a meeting with Guterres planned in New York. A spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem confirmed the cancellation. Cohen wrote in an X-Post: “I will not meet the UN Secretary General. After October 7th there will be no room for a balanced position.” The Islamist Palestinian organization Hamas, which was responsible for the massacre, must be “wiped from the face of the earth.”