{"id":116232,"date":"2024-10-04T17:05:32","date_gmt":"2024-10-04T15:05:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=116232"},"modified":"2024-10-03T10:56:04","modified_gmt":"2024-10-03T08:56:04","slug":"09-05-109","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=116232","title":{"rendered":"Israel declares Guterres persona non grata on Rosh Hashanah eve"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>Israel declares Guterres persona non grata on Rosh Hashanah eve<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

Mike Wagenheim<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cAnyone who cannot unequivocally condemn Iran\u2019s heinous attack on Israel, as almost every country in the world has done, does not deserve to step foot on Israeli soil,\u201d the Israeli foreign minister said.<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n

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\nDanny Danon, Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, briefs reporters ahead of the Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East on Oct. 2, 2024. Credit: Mark Garten\/U.N. Photo.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz declared Ant\u00f3nio Guterres, the U.N. secretary-general, persona non grata in the Jewish state on Wednesday morning, hours before Rosh Hashanah begins.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone who cannot unequivocally condemn Iran\u2019s heinous attack on Israel, as almost every country in the world has done, does not deserve to step foot on Israeli soil,\u201d Katz\u00a0stated<\/a>. \u201cThis is a secretary-general, who has yet to denounce the massacre and sexual atrocities committed by Hamas murderers on Oct. 7, nor has he led any efforts to declare them a terrorist organization.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIsrael will continue to defend its citizens and uphold its national dignity, with or without Ant\u00f3nio Guterres,\u201d added Katz, referring to the secretary-general as \u201ca stain on the history of the United Nations.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Hours after Katz\u2019s announcement, Guterres continued to blame the Jewish state for recent escalations in the Middle East and for being attacked in Iran\u2019s ballistic missile barrage on Tuesday.<\/span><\/p>\n

Addressing an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday morning, Guterres chastised Israel for balking at last week\u2019s proposal by the United States and France, which called for a three-week ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIsrael refused that proposal and stepped up its strikes, including bombing the Hezbollah headquarters where its leader was killed,\u201d Guterres said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The secretary-general said that he issued warnings last week about growing tensions along the Israel-Lebanon border, but a JNS search of his public statements and social media accounts suggests that Guterres has barely mentioned Hezbollah as the terror group has launched some 9,000 rockets at Israel since Oct. 8, the day after Hamas\u2019s massacre. When Guterres did mention Hezbollah, JNS found, it was in a statement that also blamed Israel.<\/span><\/p>\n

Guterres shared Iran\u2019s reasoning for its ballistic missile attack on Israel with attendees of the Wednesday meeting, which included Israeli, Lebanese, Iranian, Iraqi and Syrian representatives.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt stated it was in response to the killings of Hassan Nasrallah and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp commander Abbas Nilforoushan last week, as well as that of the Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July,\u201d Guterres said.<\/span><\/p>\n

He clarified a statement he issued on Tuesday, for which he was widely criticized,\u00a0stati<\/a>ng: \u201cI condemn the broadening of the Middle East conflict with escalation after escalation. This must stop. We absolutely need a ceasefire.\u201d At the Wednesday meeting, Guterres said that he condemned Iran\u2019s attack.<\/span><\/p>\n

St\u00e9phane Dujarric, Guterres\u2019s spokesman, told reporters on Wednesday afternoon that the United Nations regards Katz\u2019s declaration \u201cas a political statement by the foreign minister\u201d that has no practical impact. Guterres can only come to Israel at the Jewish state\u2019s invitation, which was unlikely anyway given the tension between the global body\u2019s head and Israel.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe continue our contacts with Israel at the operational level and other levels because we need to,\u201d Dujarric said.<\/span><\/p>\n

JNS asked Dujarric at the press conference about a lack of\u00a0 clarity in multiple Guterres statements about Israel, including his condemnation initially of Hamas\u2019s Oct. 7 terror attack, which he followed by a lengthy attempt to\u00a0justify<\/a>\u00a0the attack.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dujarric told JNS that Guterres was clear at Wednesday\u2019s Security Council meeting when he condemned Iran\u2019s attack. The secretary-general\u2019s statement on Tuesday was \u201cwithin the context of what everybody knew and what the news was,\u201d Dujarric said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Danny Danon, Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, addresses the Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East on Oct. 2, 2024. Credit: Loey Felipe\/U.N. Photo.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018Flag still flies\u2019<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Guterres stated during Wednesday\u2019s meeting that Israel had requested that U.N. Interim Force In Lebanon peacekeeping troops relocate within Southern Lebanon, ostensibly for their safety as Israel carries out ground operations to further degrade Hezbollah\u2019s capabilities.<\/span><\/p>\n

Guterres said that the \u201cU.N. flag still flies\u201d in UNIFIL\u2019s area of operation, suggesting that the troops won\u2019t heed Israel\u2019s request.<\/span><\/p>\n

JNS sought further clarification from Dujarric, who said that Jerusalem requested \u201cUNIFIL to leave several positions near the Blue Line,\u201d but the decision was made \u201coperationally and politically to stay.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Dujarric added that the United Nations \u201cwill continue to stay while at the same time assessing our posture and the security of the peacekeepers, I would say, on an hourly basis.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Guterres also told the Security Council on Wednesday that \u201cI wonder what remains of the framework\u201d on Security Council Resolution 1701, which was passed in 2006 and was supposed to lead to the disarmament of the Lebanese Armed Forces and folding of Hezbollah. It was also meant to reestablish Lebanese government sovereignty in Southern Lebanon.<\/span><\/p>\n

Asked on Wednesday which party to the resolution\u2014Israel or Lebanon\u2014ought to enforce it, given that Lebanon has not done so in 18 years, Dujarric said that \u201cdiplomacy takes time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to see the gun silenced, and we want to see a return to diplomacy,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Danny Danon, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, told the Security Council that calls to \u201cboth sides\u201d to stop escalating the conflict is \u201can absurd comparison between the one who causes destruction and the one who defends himself.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The conflict between Israel and Iran \u201cis a struggle between a sovereign state fighting for its right to exist and a regime that desires nothing but the destruction of Israel,\u201d Danon said.<\/span><\/p>\n

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