Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, said that António Guterres, the secretary-general of the organization, should resign after he said that the “horrific attacks” committed by Hamas against Israel on October 7 cannot justify the “collective punishment of the Palestinian people “, calling the speech “shocking”, reports CNN and The Guardian.
The UN Secretary General also said that the attack on Israel did not take place “in a vacuum”, but followed “56 years of suffocating occupation” for the Palestinian people by Israel. Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, said that the UN leader is not suitable to lead the organization, because this speech shows that he is “completely disconnected from the reality in the region and looks at the massacre committed by the Nazi terrorists in Hamas in a distorted and immoral”.
Israel also announced it had denied visas to UN officials after Guterres appeared to justify the Hamas attack. “Because of his remarks, we will refuse to issue visas to UN representatives,” Erdan said on Army Radio. “We have already refused a visa for the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Martin Griffiths,” Erdan said. “It’s time to teach them a lesson.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, who was at the UN on Tuesday, also said that he refuses to meet with Guterres and that “there is no room for a balanced approach”.
Emotions ran high in the UN Security Council on Tuesday after Secretary-General António Guterres called for “an immediate ceasefire for humanitarian reasons”, saying that there were “clear violations of international humanitarian law” in Gaza. Guterres warned that the situation in the Middle East is becoming more and more serious. In remarks made on Tuesday, in New York, during the UN Security Council meeting, Guterres called for an immediate ceasefire and warned that this conflict could spread to other parts of the region.
“It is also important to recognize that the attacks by Hamas did not take place in a vacuum. The Palestinian people have been subjected for 56 years to a suffocating occupation,” Guterres said, adding that the Palestinians “have seen their the land constantly devoured by colonies and affected by violence”.
At the same time, the UN Secretary General stated that “the grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the terrible attacks of Hamas”. He added, on the other hand, that the Palestinian people should not be punished collectively for Hamas attacks either. Therefore, according to Guterres, all parties involved in the conflict should “take constant care in the conduct of military operations to spare civilians” and asked them to “respect and protect hospitals and respect the inviolability of UN installations that shelter over 600,000 Palestinians”.
Hamas is not a terrorist organization, it is a liberation group
Turkish President Recep Erdogan said on Wednesday that the Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas, which launched an attack against Israel on October 7 and killed more than 1,400 people, “is not a terrorist organization” but a “group of liberation fighters”. .
Turkish President Recep Erdogan said on Wednesday that the Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas, which launched an attack against Israel on October 7 and killed more than 1,400 people, “is not a terrorist organization” but a “group of liberation fighters”.
“The whole West considers Hamas a terrorist organization. From here I tell you: Israel, it could be you; the West owes you a lot. But Turkey owes you nothing. Hamas is not a terrorist organization. It is a group of freedom fighters who fight to protect their land and citizens,” Erdogan said in front of members of his party in the Ankara parliament, reports EFE.
According to the Jerusalem Post, Erdogan accused Israel of taking advantage of Turkey’s good intentions and that he will no longer travel to Israel as planned, despite a recent rapprochement between the two countries. “We were planning to go to Israel, but we canceled. We will not go again,” said Erdogan, who met for the first time in September, in New York, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“I shook this man’s hand, I had good intentions, but he took advantage. (…) Relations could have been different, but unfortunately this will not happen again,” Erdogan insisted, in a virulent speech , as described by AFP. “There is no other state where the army acts so inhumanely,” he added, referring to Israel’s retaliation in Gaza after the bloody attack launched by Hamas on October 7.
The leaders of Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad-secret meeting in Beirut
The head of Lebanon’s pro-Iranian Shiite group Hezbollah met on Wednesday with the main leaders of the Palestinian militant factions Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip, with whom he agreed to maintain “coordination” and study next steps in their response to Israel.
The meeting was attended by the head of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the deputy commander of Hamas, Saleh al-Arouri, and the head of Islamic Jihad, Ziad al-Nakhala, reported Hezbollah’s television station, Al-Manar, according to Reuters and EFE.
.“The meeting… assessed the positions assumed at the international level and what the Axis of Resistance should do,” Al-Manar captioned, referring to the alliance that brings together Iran, Palestinian militant groups, Syria, Lebanese Hezbollah and other factions.
“We agreed to continue coordination and follow developments daily and permanently,” Hezbollah said in a statement released after the meeting.
Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari attacks the left’s “indifference” to the atrocities committed by Hamas
Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari attacks the “indifference” of American and European progressives to the atrocities committed by Hamas, accusing the Western left of “extreme moral insensitivity” and betrayal, writes The Guardian. Harari, the author of best-selling books including Sapiens and Homo Deus, joined 90 signatories to a statement expressing dismay at “elements of the global left… until now, our political partners” who occasionally they “justified the actions.
The historian, who has become increasingly active in Israeli political debate by opposing the right-wing populist coalition led by Benjamin Netanyahu and its plan to weaken the judiciary, told The Guardian he took the stand after speaking with activists for peace in his home country who were “completely devastated” and “felt abandoned and betrayed by those they considered allies” in peace efforts, after Western academics, artists and intellectuals signed letters that did not condemn Hamas.
Harari’s aunt and uncle lived in one of the kibbutzim targeted by Hamas in the attacks that killed more than 1,400 people and took more than 220 people hostage. They survived by hiding while armed terrorists went from house to house killing their neighbors.
Speaking about the reaction from parts of the left in the US and Europe during a visit to London, Harari said it was “shocking to hear some of the reactions that not only did not condemn Hamas but put all the responsibility on Israel” and to see “the lack of solidarity regarding the horrific attacks on Israeli civilians”.
Romanian President Iohannis: “The shocking terrorist attack against the State of Israel risks completely destabilizing the Middle East”
The President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, declared on Wednesday, on the occasion of the Romanian Army Day, that, currently, “Europe is facing an unprecedented crisis after the Second World War, as a result of the brutal and illegal military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, while the shocking and reprehensible terrorist attack of October 7 against the State of Israel risks completely destabilizing the Middle East in the long term”, adding that “in this difficult context, the role of the Romanian Army in ensuring national security and collective defense on NATO’s Eastern Flank.”
“Europe is facing an unprecedented crisis since World War II as a result of the Russian Federation’s brutal and illegal military aggression against Ukraine, while the shocking and reprehensible terrorist attack of October 7 against the State of Israel risks completely destabilizing Middle East in the long run. In this difficult context, the role of the Romanian Army in ensuring national security and collective defense on NATO’s Eastern Flank is all the more relevant. The Romanian military, together with the allies present on the territory of our country, to whom I also thank on this occasion, are key elements in maintaining NATO’s deterrence and defense posture in the Black Sea region, an area of strategic importance for the Euro-Atlantic space“, Iohannis stated.