UN chief Guterres angered Israel’s foreign minister for not clearly condemning Iran. His warning to the parties to the conflict to exercise moderation earned him an entry ban.
Israel has declared UN Secretary-General António Guterres a “person undesirable.” “Anyone who is unable to unequivocally condemn Iran for its treacherous attack on Israel (…) does not deserve to set foot on Israeli soil,” Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz wrote on Platform X.
Guterres also did not condemn the Hamas massacre in southern Israel on October 7 last year and made no effort to declare Hamas a terrorist organization, Katz claimed. A country’s declaration of an “undesirable person” means that the person cannot enter that country.
Iran attacked Israel with around 180 rockets on Tuesday. Tehran described this as retaliation for Israel’s killing of key allies and its own generals. After the rocket attack, Guterres warned the conflicting parties to show restraint: “This has to stop. We absolutely need a ceasefire,” Guterres wrote on X.
A spokesman for the Foreign Office in Berlin described Israel’s approach as “not particularly helpful, because in the end we need more conversations and not fewer conversations.” He added: “We should not deprive ourselves of channels of conversation that could potentially help bring about a solution.” In this sense, we will also express ourselves to the Israeli side.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
