Linking Hamas Attacks to Occupation, Israeli Diplomat Calls on UN Secretary General to Resign and Cancels Meeting

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen during a UN DK meeting on the situation in Gaza. (Twitter/@elicoh1)

JAKARTA - Israeli officials were angry, canceled meetings and even called for Antonio Guterres' resignation from his post, after the UN Secretary General linked Hamas attacks to the decades-long occupation at a UN Security Council meeting.

In his speech, the UN Secretary General said that the attack by the Hamas militant group on October 7 did not occur in a 'vacuum', linking it to the occupation of the Palestinian territories.

"It is also important to realize that Hamas attacks do not occur in a vacuum. The Palestinian people have been subjected to a suffocating occupation for 56 years," said Secretary General Guterres, quoted by CNN, October 25.

"The Palestinian people have seen their land continually ravaged by settlements and plagued by violence," he added.

Nevertheless, he underlined, the complaints of the Palestinian people cannot justify the attacks carried out by Hamas. On the other hand, the attack should not subject Palestinians to collective punishment.

Guterres said all parties to the conflict must "continue to be careful in carrying out military operations to rescue civilians" as well as "respect and protect hospitals" and respect the inviolability of UN facilities.

He also said that Israel's intensive attacks on Gaza were very worrying, along with the continued increase in civilian casualties and environmental destruction.

Guterres also said "clear violations of international humanitarian law occurred in Gaza, exemplifying Israel's order for more than one million people to be evacuated.

It is known that as of Tuesday, the total number of victims killed in Gaza reached 5,791 people, including 2,360 children, 1,421 women and 295 elderly people, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, quoted by CNN. The ministry said there were also 16,297 reports of injuries of varying severity and 1,550 reports of missing people, with 870 of them being children.

The @UN Secretary-General, who shows understanding for the campaign of mass murder of children, women, and the elderly, is not fit to lead the UN.

I call on him to resign immediately.

There is no justification or point in speaking to those who show compassion for the most…

— Ambassador Gilad Erdan גלעד ארדן (@giladerdan1) October 24, 2023

Responding to this, Israel's UN Envoy Gilad Erdan called this "shocking" and demanded that the UN Secretary General resign. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Eli Cohen canceled a meeting with Guterres.

"The UN Secretary General, who demonstrated his understanding of the campaign of mass murder of children, women and the elderly, is not fit to lead the UN. I call on him to resign immediately," Erdan wrote in X, citing The Times of Israel.

"There is no justification or point in speaking to those who show mercy for the most horrific atrocities committed against Israeli citizens and the Jewish people. There are no words," he continued.

Ambassador Erdan said the statement was "appalling and completely inconsistent with the reality of our region."

"It is very sad that a person with such views is the leader of an organization that emerged after the Holocaust. This is truly unexpected," he continued.

Meanwhile Israel's top diplomat Cohen, who had traveled to New York to take part in the meeting, wrote in X, deciding to cancel the meeting with Guterres.

"After what happened on October 7, there is no place for a fair approach. Hamas needs to be wiped off the face of the earth," Cohen wrote.