Status: 24.10.2023, 19:16 PM
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António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, speaks at a press conference at the United Nations headquarters about the situation in Israel following the Hamas attack. © Craig Ruttle/AP/dpa
Israeli Foreign Minister Cohen has cancelled a face-to-face meeting out of anger over a speech by UN Secretary-General Guterres. Guterres speaks of 56 years of "crushing occupation."
New York/Tel Aviv - At a meeting of the UN Security Council, there has been a scandal between Israel and UN Secretary-General António Guterres. At the meeting in New York on Tuesday, Guterres once again strongly condemned the attacks on Israel by terrorists on behalf of the Islamist Hamas. He also said, referring to Israel's 56-year "crushing occupation," "It is important to recognize that Hamas' attacks did not take place in a vacuum."
Guterres criticized Israel's attacks on the Gaza Strip. "Protecting civilians does not mean ordering more than a million people to evacuate to the south, where there is no shelter, no food, no water, no medicine and no fuel, and then continuing to bomb the south itself," Guterres said.
Israel's Foreign Minister Eli Cohen canceled a meeting with Guterres in light of the remarks, writing on X (formerly Twitter): "I will not meet the UN Secretary-General. After October 7, there is no room for a balanced position." A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem confirmed the cancellation.
Rejection only on X
A UN spokesman said at the request of the German Press Agency that the cancellation of the meeting could not be confirmed. All we saw was Cohen's message on Platform X. The spokesman did not want to comment further on the situation.
According to diplomatic sources, some Arab delegations had left the room during Cohen's speech, including those from Algeria and Libya. However, representatives of Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates remained seated.
UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan also strongly condemned Guterres' remarks. The statement that "the murderous terror attack of the Nazi Hamas did not take place in a vacuum" is a justification of terror and murder, Erdan Guterres charged. Guterres has a "distorted and immoral view" of the October 7 massacre perpetrated by Hamas terrorists in Israel, Erdan wrote in an X-Post. Israel lamented more than 1400,<> deaths after the attack.
Guterres said the Palestinian people had seen their land decimated by settlements and ravaged by violence. The Hamas attacks could not justify the "collective punishment of the Palestinian people," he said.
Ceasefire drastically rejected
Israel's foreign minister rejected a ceasefire in drastic terms. "Tell me: What is your proportionate response to the killing of babies, the rape and burning of women, and the beheading of a child? How can you agree to a truce with someone who has sworn to kill you and destroy your own existence?" shouted Cohen. "We didn't choose this war, but we have no doubt that we will win." Hamas is "the new Nazis."
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The U.S. backed Israel. "We must reaffirm the right of every nation to defend itself and prevent such damage from happening again," said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. "No member of this council, no nation in this entire body could or would tolerate the slaughter of its people."
Blinken emphasized that Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people. Palestinian civilians cannot be blamed for Hamas' carnage and must be protected. "There is no hierarchy when it comes to protecting civilian life. A civilian is a civilian regardless of nationality, ethnicity, age, gender or creed," Blinken said.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock will also take part in the debate of the UN's most powerful body. Dpa