Israel denies visas to UN representatives after statements by its secretary general

The Israeli ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdán, affirmed today that Israel will refuse visas to United Nations representatives following the statements of its secretary general, Antonio Guterres, who assured that the Hamas attack on October 7 “does not come from nowhere.” , but of 56 years of occupation.”

According to Erdán, Israel has already begun to apply this rule, by denying a visa to the UN Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, Martin Griffiths.

“It is time to teach a lesson” to senior UN officials, the diplomat said today in an interview with Israeli Army radio.

Guterres’ comments yesterday before the UN Security Council also drew condemnation from Dani Dayan, president of the Jerusalem Holocaust Museum, Yad Vashem, who argued that “the massacre of Jews by Hamas on October 7 was genocidal in its intentions and immensely brutal in its form.”

For Dayán, the assault on Israel by the Palestinian Islamist group, in which more than 1,400 people died, has tested “the sincerity of world leaders, intellectuals and influential people” at an international level such as Guterres and the UN Secretary General. , “Did not pass the test”.

The Foreign Minister calls for Guterres to resign

The controversy broke out yesterday before the UN General Council, when Guterres “unequivocally condemned the horrible and unprecedented terrorist acts” of Hamas, although he clarified that what happened has its roots in long decades of conflict with the Palestinians.

“Hamas attacks do not occur in a vacuum. “The Palestinian people have been subject to 56 years of suffocating occupation,” said Guterres.

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen unilaterally canceled a meeting with UN Secretary General António Guterres and called for his resignation over Guterres’ words in the Security Council.

The request for resignation was first made by his ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, in a message on

“Aren’t you ashamed?” Cohen told reporters.

“Guterres does not represent the important members of the UN”

He then downplayed Guterres’ role as secretary general: “He does not represent the most important members of the UN, certainly not the US, Germany, France or Britain, which have supported Israel,” he argued.

Ambassador Erdan, who appeared alongside the minister and several relatives of the hostages captured by Hamas, added: “Obviously, we are going to have to reconsider our entire relationship with the United Nations.”

“We have been complaining for some time about how the UN and its representatives act in Israel, distorting reality. They do not report what is really happening, they take things out of context, they refuse to verify our reports of terrorist attacks (…) and they take the words of Hamas as if they were the word of God,” Erdan explained.

Guterres had planned a meeting with Cohen and the hostages’ relatives, which he is holding for the moment, even without Cohen’s presence, said his spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric.

Israel cries out against Qatar

On the other hand, Cohen charged against the State of Qatar for its alleged responsibility in the Hamas attack and the hostage taking on October 7 (alluding to the fact that the political leadership of the movement resides in the oil emirate).

“Hamas is Qatar. They have financed them for decades, they shelter all their leaders. It is up to him to act immediately and free the hostages. Today, that is the responsibility of the emir of Qatar,” said Cohen.

Qatar has been mediating in the latest hostage releases that the Islamist group Hamas has carried out in recent days. With EFE

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