UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres speaks to delegates during a United Nations Security Council— (EPA)
Israel has said it is time to “teach the UN a lesson” amid an escalating row over the UN secretary-general’s remarks about the country’s ongoing conflict with Hamas.
“Due to his remarks we will refuse to issue visas to UN representatives. We have already refused a visa for under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs Martin Griffiths. The time has come to teach them a lesson,” Israeli ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan said.
UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres had said Hamas’s attacks, which killed 1,400 Israelis, did not happen “in a vaccum” and it was “important to recognise” Palestinians had been subject to 56 years of “suffocating occupation”.
He added that the grievances Palestinians people cannot justify "the horrifying and unprecedentedacts of terror" by Hamas in Israel but that "those appalling attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people."
Israel immediately called for called for his resignation over the “shocking” and “horrible” remarks.
“The UN Secretary-General, who shows understanding for the campaign of mass murder of children, women, and the elderly, is not fit to lead the UN. I call on him to resign immediately,” Mr Erdan said.
