Israel’s representative to the United Nations Gilad Erdan called for the resignation of the Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres.
The Israeli request came to protest a speech made by the Secretary-General on Tuesday before the Security Council, in which he noted that the Palestinian attack on Israel on October 7 did not come out of nowhere – publicly acknowledging the suffering the Palestinians have been experiencing for 56 years.
Israel’s representative to the United Nations accused Guterres of not being qualified for his position and slammed the statements as “shocking.”
In a speech during a UN Security Council meeting, Guterres expressed his concern about the clear violations of international humanitarian law seen in the Gaza Strip, noting that no party to an armed conflict is above international humanitarian law.
“It is also important to recognize that the Hamas attack did not happen in a vacuum. The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of stifling occupation. They have seen their lands steadily eaten up by settlements and plagued by violence. Their economies have been strangled, their people displaced, and their homes demolished, and their hopes of reaching a political solution to their plight have vanished.”
Guterres stressed that nothing can justify the intentional killing, wounding and kidnapping of civilians, or the launching of missiles at civilian targets, and that all hostages must be treated humanely and released immediately and unconditionally.
