On Thursday, the UN Security Council affirmed Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s unwavering support, following Israel’s declaration that he was “persona non grata” for delaying the denunciation of Iran’s ballistic missile assault.
Without identifying Israel, the council’s five permanent members — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — and the 10 non-permanent members “underscored the need for all member states to have a productive and effective relationship with the secretary-general.”
Additionally, the Council requested that member states “avoid taking any actions that compromise his work and that of his office.”
“Any decision not to engage with the UN secretary-general or the United Nations is counterproductive, especially in the context of escalating tensions in the Middle East,” it said.
Relations between the UN and Israel — a state created by a UN resolution in 1947 — have been difficult since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, which sparked the war in Gaza.
On Wednesday, Guterres was declared persona non grata by Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz, who called him an “anti-Israel secretary-general who lends support to terrorists, rapists, and murderers.”
“Anyone who cannot unequivocally condemn Iran’s heinous attack on Israel does not deserve to step foot on Israeli soil,” Katz said in a statement.
The UN envoys from Iran and Israel were present in the chambers for a tense emergency Security Council meeting on the escalating tensions in the Middle East on the same day that Guterres declared: “I again strongly condemn yesterday’s massive missile attacks by Iran on Israel.”
He did, however, issue a call to action for all parties involved to put an end to the “sickening cycle of escalation” of violence, stating that it was pushing the area “straight over the cliff.”In order to stop the fighting in Gaza and Lebanon, Guterres has consistently called for a ceasefire.
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