UN Secretary General under attack for suggesting Israel stop attacks on Gaza.
Get into a discussion with a supporter of Israel’s war on Gaza and the West Bank and you will inevitably receive a demand that you condemn Hamas first.
Even if you succumb to the demand it will do you no good.
This is what happened to United Nations general-secretary António Guterres.
On Tuesday in New York, having said no injustice to the Palestinians could justify the appalling attacks by Hamas, the UN chief continued: “It is important to … recognise the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum. The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation.”
The UN secretary general had created fury in Israel and among some Republicans in the US by describing Israel’s bombardment and blockade of the Gaza Strip as the “collective punishment of the Palestinian people” and “clear violations of international humanitarian law”
In spite of Guterres condemnation of Hamas’ attack on Israel and then placing it in its historical context, he was immediately the target of condemnation by Israeli leaders and Israeli supporters.
They demanded his resignation, which isn’t going to happen.
And they banned the UN general-secretary from Israel.
Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, said on army radio: “Due to his remarks we will refuse to issue visas to UN representatives. We have already refused a visa for undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs, Martin Griffiths. The time has come to teach them a lesson.”
Erdan has already demanded Guterres’ resignation and described his remarks as blood libel. The response reflects a long-running Israeli belief that UN agencies, especially the UN human rights council, have an anti-Israeli agenda.
It is not clear how far the visa ban extends within the UN hierarchy. A large number of UN workers, for instance, are employed by UNRWA, the UN relief and works agency for Palestinian people.
Other UN members, even those who generally support Israel, came to the general-secretary’s defense, including Portugal, Germany and Spain.
But the first you must condemn Hamas demand is clearly a rhetorical trick bag, a litmus test that will never be enough for those who want a clear path to destroying Gaza and its residents.