Hyderabad/New York: The Israeli ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan called on the UN Secretary-General António Guterres to "resign immediately" and Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said won't be meeting with the UN chief today for a scheduled bilateral.
Erdan put out a post in X to this effect and reiterated it at the stakeout outside the Security Council.
'Hamas attacks did not happen in a vacuum'- Addressing the Security council, Guterres said the situation in the Middle East is growing more dire by the hour and the war in Gaza is raging and risks spiralling throughout the region.
Guterres said it is "important to also recognise the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum. The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation".
"They have seen their land steadily devoured by settlements and plagued by violence; their economy stifled; their people displaced and their homes demolished. Their hopes for a political solution to their plight have been vanishing, Guterres said.
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“I reiterate my appeal for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza” - @antonioguterres at the @UN Security Council meeting on #MiddleEast, including the #Palestinian question.@UN_Spokesperson pic.twitter.com/R9CF92Y1Di
— UN Web TV (@UNWebTV) October 24, 2023 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
">“I reiterate my appeal for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza” - @antonioguterres at the @UN Security Council meeting on #MiddleEast, including the #Palestinian question.@UN_Spokesperson pic.twitter.com/R9CF92Y1Di
— UN Web TV (@UNWebTV) October 24, 2023“I reiterate my appeal for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza” - @antonioguterres at the @UN Security Council meeting on #MiddleEast, including the #Palestinian question.@UN_Spokesperson pic.twitter.com/R9CF92Y1Di
— UN Web TV (@UNWebTV) October 24, 2023
But the grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the appalling attacks by Hamas. And those appalling attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people, the UN chief said.
The meeting was also addressed by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Israel's seeks UN chief's resignation- The Ambassador took exception to Guterres' remarks in the Security Council that the Hamas attacks "did not happen in a vacuum". He accused the UN chief of "justifying terrorism".
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, he wrote in X.
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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.
— Ambassador Gilad Erdan גלעד ארדן (@giladerdan1) October 24, 2023 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
I call on him to resign immediately.
There is no justification or point in talking to those who show compassion for the most…
">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.
— Ambassador Gilad Erdan גלעד ארדן (@giladerdan1) October 24, 2023
I call on him to resign immediately.
There is no justification or point in talking to those who show compassion for the most…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.
— Ambassador Gilad Erdan גלעד ארדן (@giladerdan1) October 24, 2023
I call on him to resign immediately.
There is no justification or point in talking to those who show compassion for the most…
UN's response to Israel- Taking questions on the Israeli Foreign Minister's post in X, the UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said that the Secretary-General will meet family representatives of hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza. He said the team would be accompanied by a representative of the Israeli Permanent Mission to the UN.
Cohen who held up a collage of those kidnapped by Hamas, said the hostage situation is a “living nightmare”. Recalling the October 7 attack by Hamas, the Israeli Minister said the day “will go down in history as a brutal massacre” and a “wake-up call” against extremism and terrorism.
“Hamas are the new Nazis,” he said, calling for immediate access to hostages and their unconditional release.
Qatar could facilitate hostage release- “You, members of the international community, should demand Qatar to do just that,” he said. “The meeting should conclude with a clear message: bring them home.”
Israel has a right and duty to defend itself, he said. “It’s not just Israel’s war. It’s the war of the free world.”
The proportional response to the 7 October massacre is “a matter of survival,” he said, thanking nations for supporting Israel.
UN will have no moral justification to exist- “We are going to win because this war is for life; this war must be your war as well,” he said. Right now, the world faces a “clear choice of moral clarity”.
“One can be part of the civilized world or surrounded by evil and barbarity,” he said. “There is no middle ground.”
If all nations do not stand decisively by Israel’s mission to “eliminate the monsters from the face of the Earth”, he said this will be “the darkest hour of the UN” which will “have no moral justification to exist”.
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