United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres told reporters this morning that he is “shocked by the misinterpretations by some of my statement yesterday in the Security Council—as if I was justifying acts of terror by Hamas. This is false. It was the opposite.”
“Some” referred to Israeli officials, who have been on a warpath since Guterres made a truthful reference yesterday in his speech to the UN Security Council, to 56 years of Israeli occupation of Palestine and its violation of humanitarian law in its siege of Gaza. Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan called for Guterres to resign. Foreign Minister Eli Cohen announced he would no longer meet with Guterres; “he must retract his words, engage in deep personal soul- searching and apologize for his statement,” the Foreign Ministry said. Defense Minister Benny Gantz labeled him a “terror apologist.” Ambassador Erdan told Israel’s Army Radio this morning that Israel had denied a visa to UN Under Secretary-General Martin Griffiths, who heads the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and “will refuse to issue visas to UN representatives…. The time has come to teach them a lesson.” OCHA obviously plays a crucial role in relief for Gaza in particular, and Palestine in general.
The U.K. has jumped in on the side of Israel. Home Office Minister for Immigration Robert Jenrick told Sky News today that the U.K. government does not agree with Guterres that Israel has engaged in “clear violations of international humanitarian law” in its response to the Hamas attack.
In denying the calumny of supporting Hamas’ terrorism, Guterres today quoted his “unequivocal” condemnation of Hamas’ Oct. 7 acts of terror in his speech. “Indeed, I spoke of the grievances of the Palestinian people, and in doing so, but I also clearly stated, and I quote: `But the grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the appalling attacks by Hamas.’”
What he said in his Security Council address as regards the Palestinian question was clear:
“It is important to also recognize the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum. The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation....
