Israel declares UN chief ‘persona non grata’

Israel has declared UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres persona non grata after he called for a ceasefire following Iran’s attack on the Jewish state and condemned the widening of the conflict in the Middle East. 

On Tuesday, Tehran launched several salvos of missiles in what the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) called a response to the recent Israeli killings of the heads of Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as of an Iranian general who was in Lebanon. 

In a statement on X on Wednesday, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz announced that Guterres is no longer allowed to enter the country and accused the UN chief of failing to denounce Iran’s “abhorrent attack.” 

“Anyone who cannot unequivocally condemn Iran’s heinous attack on Israel, as almost every country in the world has done, does not deserve to step foot on Israeli soil,” the minister wrote. Guterres also has “yet to denounce the massacre and sexual atrocities committed by Hamas murderers on October 7” and has not made any effort to declare the Palestinian militant group a terrorist organization, the Israeli diplomat added.  

The minister went on to claim that Guterres “will be remembered as a stain on the history of the UN” for giving “backing to terrorists, rapists and murderers from Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and now Iran.” 

Following Iran’s attack on Israel, Guterres said in a post on X that he was “extremely concerned with the escalation of the conflict in Lebanon” and condemned the overall broadening of the Middle East conflict with “escalation after escalation.”  

“This must stop,” the secretary-general wrote, stressing that “we absolutely need a ceasefire.” 

While Guterres has not yet commented on Israel’s decision to ban him from entering the country, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that the move effectively excludes the UN from regulating the conflict. 

“In essence, we see the Israeli point of view, which says that Israel does not allow any role for the UN. Indeed, the situation is extremely tense in the region, we call on everyone to exercise restraint,” Peskov said.