Israel Bars UN Secretary General, Guterres, From Country
Israel’s foreign minister, Israel Katz, on Wednesday, announced that Israel has barred United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres from entering the country for failing to ”unequivocally” condemn Iran’s missile attack on Israel.
Guterres had on Tuesday issued a brief statement after the missile attack condemning “the broadening of the Middle East conflict, with escalation after escalation.”
Following Guterres’ assertion, Israeli foreign minister, Israel Katz said Guterres’ failure to call out Iran made him persona non grata in Israel.
“Anyone who cannot unequivocally condemn Iran’s heinous attack on Israel, as nearly all the countries of the world have done, does not deserve to set foot on Israeli soil.
“Israel will continue to defend its citizens and uphold its national dignity, with or without Antonio Guterres,” Katz said.
Asked to react to the development, U.S. State Department spokesperson, Matthew Miller said: “Steps like these are not productive to (Israel) improving its standing in the world.”
“The U.N. does incredibly important work in Gaza. It does incredibly important work in the region. And the U.N., when it’s acting at its best, can play an important role for security and stability,” Miller added.
U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric described the announcement as political and “just one more attack, so to speak, on U.N. staff that we’ve seen from the government of Israel.”
He said the U.N. traditionally does not recognise the concept of persona non grata as applying to U.N. staff.
Meanwhile, during a security council meeting on Wednesday, Guterres said: “As I did in relation to the Iranian attack in April – and as should have been obvious yesterday in the context of the condemnation I expressed – I again strongly condemn yesterday’s massive missile attack by Iran on Israel.”
World leaders called on Iran and Israel to step back from the brink after Tehran fired a barrage of rockets at its arch-rival.
Israeli forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters on Wednesday engaged in fighting on the ground in southern Lebanon, after Iran launched its largest-ever attack on Israel Tuesday.
The Israeli military said eight soldiers were killed in combat on Wednesday, according to CNN.