Victor Ezeja
The United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres has reacted to a call by Israel’s U.N. Ambassador, Gilad Erdan to resign over his comment on the ongoing crisis between Israel and Hamas militant group in Gaza Strip.
Guterres explained that he did not in any way mean to justify acts of terror by Hamas.
Guterres had during Tuesday’s UN Security Council meeting on the Israel-Hamas war spoken in condemnation of Hamas’s terrorist attacks on Oct. 7 that started the conflict and demanded that all hostages taken that day be released.
He, however, asserted that the attack on Israel had not occurred “in a vacuum” and mentioned that Israel had oppressed the Palestinian people for more than five decades.
This comment, however, drew criticisms from Israeli officials.
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Ambassador Erdan in a tweet, accused him of showing compassion for “terrible atrocities committed against the citizens of Israel and the Jewish people,” and therefore not feat to lead the UN, hence the need for him to resign.
“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. There is no justification or point in talking to those who show compassion for the most terrible atrocities committed against the citizens of Israel and the Jewish people. There are simply no words,” Erdan wrote on X formerly known as Twitter shortly after Guterres’s comment.
He further stated that Guterres’s statement that, ‘the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum,’ “expressed an understanding for terrorism and murder. It’s really unfathomable. It’s truly sad that the head of an organization that arose after the Holocaust holds such horrible views. A tragedy!”
During the UN Security Council meeting, there were calls for a cease-fire, with emphasis on increasing number of Palestinian civilians killed and the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Israel’s foreign minister, Eli Cohen, abruptly called off a meeting with the secretary general and vehemently resisted the idea of a cease-fire.
Reacting to criticisms from Israeli officials, Guterres in an short address on Wednesday, said he was shocked that some of his comments during the UN Security Council meeting were being misrepresented.
“I am shocked by the misrepresentations by some of my statement yesterday in the Security Council as if I was justifying acts of terror by Hamas. This is false. It was the opposite,” Guterres stated.
“In the beginning of my intervention yesterday I clearly stated and I quote, ‘I have condemned unequivocally the horrifying and unprecedented 7 October acts of terror by Hamas in Israel. Nothing can justify the deliberate killing or injuring and kidnapping of civilians, or the launching of rockets against civilian targets.’ End of quote. Indeed, as spoke of the grievances of the Palestinian people.
“And in doing so, I also clearly stated and I quote, ‘but the grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the appalling attacks by a mass’ end of quote and then I went on, with my intervention, referring all my positions on all aspects of the Middle East crisis.
“I believe it was necessary to set the record straight, especially out of respect to the victims and to their families.”
But the Israel Ambassador to the UN in his address later, insisted that the Secretary General should apologise or resign, adding that there is no justification for condoning atrocities.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
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