Israel declares Guterres persona non grata and bans his entry into the country

The Israeli Foreign Minister, Israel Katz, announced this Wednesday that he has decided to declare the Secretary General of the Organization of Nations (UN), António Guterres, persona ‘non grata’, and prohibit his entry into the country, since he considers that he did not condemn “unequivocally” the Iranian attack on Tuesday.

“Anyone who cannot unequivocally condemn Iran’s atrocious attack against Israel does not deserve to set foot on Israeli soil. This is an anti-Israel secretary general who supports terrorists, rapists and murderers,” Katz warned in a statement in which made the announcement.

Last night, minutes after the end of the attack, Guterres condemned “the growth of the conflict in the Middle East with one escalation after another” and reiterated the need for a ceasefire.

a necessity

“This has to stop. We absolutely need a ceasefire,” he wrote without directly mentioning Iran.

Minister Katz also accused the UN leader of not having denounced the atrocities of Hamas during the multiple attack on October 7 and “the sexual atrocities committed” by its militiamen.

A report from the UN Office for Human Rights, on February 23, found that the Islamist group Hamas, and other Palestinian armed groups, committed large-scale violations of International Law on October 7 and 8, between them abuse, sexual assault or torture.

Likewise, on October 24, 2023, Guterres in a session of the UN Security Council condemned the attack by the Palestinian group that left 1,200 dead and 251 kidnapped, but clarified that these actions did not come from nowhere but after decades of occupation.

Statements

Those statements, at the time, also caused indignation among the Israeli Government which, even then, declared the UN persona non grata.

“We will refuse to issue visas to UN representatives,” Israel’s ambassador to the organization, Gilad Erdan, said in retaliation.

This is not the first time that the Foreign Minister has taken action against political leaders who criticize Israeli policies. Last February, Brazilian President Lula da Silva was also declared persona non grata after describing the war in Gaza as a genocide comparable to the Nazi Holocaust.

Tel-Aviv / EFE