Israel Bans UN Chief From Entering Country

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres speaks during the 79th session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York City on Sept. 10, 2024. AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura

Israel has declared U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres persona non grata, effectively banning him from entering the country.

Announcing the decision on Oct. 2, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said Guterres failed to “unequivocally” condemn Iran for its unprecedented missile attack on Oct. 1, which targeted military and civilian sites across Israel and forced 10 million people into bomb shelters.

Guterres condemned the “broadening of the Middle East conflict with escalation after escalation” without specifically mentioning Tehran, a stance that drew sharp criticism from Israel’s top diplomat.

“Anyone who cannot unequivocally condemn Iran’s heinous attack on Israel, as almost every country in the world has done, does not deserve to step foot on Israeli soil,” Katz wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Guterres on Oct. 2 told the U.N. Security Council that he strongly condemned Iran’s attack on Israel, according to Reuters.

Katz also criticized the U.N. chief for not condemning the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack by Hamas, in which 1,200 Israeli civilians were killed and 250 were taken hostage, as well as for not pushing to designate Hamas as a terrorist organization.

Gilad Erdan, who leads Israel’s mission to the U.N., echoed these criticisms and called for Guterres to resign.

Relations between Israel and the U.N. have worsened throughout the ongoing Middle East war, which reignited after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks and is about to enter its second year. While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expands his war objectives beyond eliminating Hamas in Gaza to include defeating Hezbollah in Lebanon, Guterres has persistently called for a cease-fire.

Guterres has also been pressing for international pressure on Israel to embrace a two-state solution that envisions a Palestinian state existing alongside Israel—an idea Netanyahu firmly opposes.

As the war spread into Lebanon late last month with Israel pounding Hezbollah’s stronghold in the southern suburbs of Beirut in targeted airstrikes, Guterres said he was “gravely alarmed” by the escalating situation and “the large number of civilian casualties.”

Following the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli airstrike on Sept. 27, Guterres urged all sides to “step back from the brink,” warning that the region “cannot afford an all-out war.”

Katz took issue with the U.N.’s repeated call for a cease-fire as Israel achieves military successes on all fronts. In the Oct. 2 post, he accused Guterres of backing Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Iran, which Katz called “the mothership of global terror.”

Iran, which has been designated by the U.S. government as a state sponsor of terrorism, on Oct. 1 fired more than 180 missiles toward Israel in response to the deaths of Hezbollah and Hamas leaders.

Although expected to be deadlier than Iran’s missile-and-drone strike on Israel on April 13, the latest barrage reportedly caused zero casualties, despite involving twice as many missiles.

According to the Pentagon, Israel was able to intercept the majority of incoming missiles with the help of two U.S. Navy destroyers, and the rest that did land caused “minimal damage on the ground.”

Israel vowed swift retaliation following the attack.

“We are on high alert both defensively and offensively,” Israel Defense Forces spokesman Daniel Hagari said on Oct. 1 in a TV broadcast. “We will defend the citizens of the state of Israel. This attack will have consequences. We have plans and will operate at the place and time we decide.”

Netanyahu similarly warned that Iran “made a grave mistake” and will “pay for” the assault.

The U.N. Security Council has called an emergency meeting for Oct. 2 to address the escalating conflict.