Head Of Humanitarian Aid Can't Get Visa Following UN Secretary General's Statement, Israel: Time To Teach

JAKARTA - Senior UN officials were unable to obtain Israeli visas, after the country decided not to issue visas for the agency's officials, after the UN Secretary-General angered them.

Israel's ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan said Israel would reject a visa application submitted by UN officials after Secretary-General Antonio Guterres made offensive comments regarding the Palestinian conflict with Israel.

"Because of his statement (Guterres), we will refuse to issue visas to UN representatives," Erdan told Galei Zahal or Army Radio.

"We have rejected visas for Deputy Secretary General of Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths," Erdan continued. Griffiths himself is the Head of UN Humanitarian Aid. "Time has come to teach them a lesson," said Erdan.

As previously reported, the Secretary-General of the United Nations linked the Hamas attack on October 7 which sparked the latest crisis in Gaza, with the occupation of Israel, during a speech at a UN Security Council meeting.

"It is also important to realize that the Hamas attack 'does not occur in vacuum'. The Palestinian people have been subjected to an electrifying occupation for 56 years," Secretary General Guterres said, quoted by CNN.

"The Palestinian people have seen their land being constantly damaged by settlements and plagued by violence," he added.

Nevertheless, he underlined, the Palestinian people's complaints could not justify the attacks carried out by Hamas. On the other hand, the attack should not have made Palestinians collectively punished.

That angered Israel. Erdan called it "surprising" and demanded that the Secretary General of the United Nations resign. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Eli Cohen canceled the meeting with Guterres.

"The Secretary-General of the United Nations, who demonstrated his understanding of the campaign to mass killing of children, women and parents, is not suitable for leading the United Nations. I call on him to resign immediately," Erdan wrote in X, citing The Times of Israel.

"There is no justification or point in speaking with those who show mercy for the horrific atrocities committed against Israelis and Jews. There are no words," he continued.

Ambassador Erdan said the statement was "terrible and completely incompatible with the reality in our territory."

"It's sad that people with such views are the leaders of an organization that appears after the Holocaust. This is really unexpected," he continued.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Cohen, who traveled to New York to take part in the meeting, wrote on X, decided to cancel the meeting with Guterres.

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