Escalation of Conflict Between Israeli Officials and the United Nations
Following Antonio Guterres’ remarks at the Security Council, various Israeli officials strongly criticized him.
On Tuesday, Mr. Guterres stated in a Security Council meeting that the October 7th attack by Hamas on Israel, which resulted in the death of over 1,400 Israelis, did not happen in a vacuum but had a context, referring to 56 years of occupation of Palestinian territories by Israel.
Mr. Guterres’ comments angered Israel’s Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, who emphasized that there is no justification for such a massacre and asked Mr. Guterres, ‘In what world do you live?’ Mr. Cohen also canceled his scheduled meeting with Mr. Guterres.
Now, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations has announced that his country has decided to refrain from issuing visas to UN officials, confirming that the visa request of Martin Griffiths, the UN’s Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, has been denied.