Israel will refuse to grant visas to United Nations officials, according to its ambassador, after comments by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, which were seen as carrying water for Hamas.
“Due to his [Guterres’s] remarks, we will refuse to issue visas to U.N. representatives,” Gilad Erdan told Army Radio.
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“We have already refused a visa for Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths. The time has come to teach them a lesson,” Gilad Erdan said.
Erdan also accused agencies aligned with the U.N. of creating a “false picture” of what is going on in Gaza, threatening to expel “hostile U.N. officials” from Israel.
On Tuesday, Erdan accused Guterres of committing a “blood libel” against Israel and called on him to resign.
“The SG is blaming the victim. You are blaming Israel,” he said on Tuesday. “This is a pure blood libel, and I think that the secretary-general must resign … unless he apologizes immediately today.”
Israel’s fury was provoked after Guterres told the U.N. Security Council that the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas “did not happen in a vacuum.”
Guterres “condemned unequivocally” the Hamas attack but argued they arose out of opposition to Israeli policy toward Palestinians.
“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,” Guterres said. “But the grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the appalling attacks by Hamas. And those appalling attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.”
Following the backlash, Guterres pushed back on the criticism on Wednesday.
“I am 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,” Guterres said, according to the Times of Israel.
“In the beginning of my intervention yesterday, I clearly stated — and I quote: ‘I have condemned unequivocally the horrifying and unprecedented 7 October acts of terror by Hamas in Israel. Nothing can justify the deliberate killing, injuring, and kidnapping of civilians — or the launching of rockets against civilian targets.’”
“Indeed, I spoke of the grievances of the Palestinian people, and in doing so, I also clearly stated, and I quote: ‘But the grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the appalling attacks by Hamas.’”
“And then I went on with my intervention referring to all my positions on all aspects of the Middle East crisis.”
“I believe it was necessary to set the record straight — especially out of respect to the victims and to their families.”
The grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the horrific attacks by Hamas.
Those horrendous attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.
— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) October 25, 2023
United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday showed his support for Israel at the Security Council but floated the idea of “humanitarian pauses” to protect civilians, taking care not to use the word “ceasefire.”
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Blinken’s comments about “humanitarian pauses” were elaborated on by National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, who said it was different from a ceasefire.
Kirby clarified Tuesday that what differentiates a ceasefire and “humanitarian pause” is “a question of duration and scope and size and that kind of thing.”
