Israel bars U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres from country over response to Iran attack

UPI: Oct. 2 (UPI) -- Israel Wednesday banned U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres from entering the country, citing his comments immediately following Iran's attack on Tel Aviv..

"I decided today to declare U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres an undesirable personality in Israel and to ban his entry into Israel," Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on X. "Anyone who is unable to unequivocally condemn Iran's criminal attack on Israel, as almost all the countries of the world have done, does not deserve to set foot on Israel's soil."

Tuesday Guterres said in a statement after Iran's ballistic missile attack on Israel, "I condemn the broadening of the Middle East conflict, with escalation after escalation. This must stop. We absolutely need a cease-fire."

Guterres added, "An all-out war must be avoided in Lebanon at all costs, and the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Lebanon must be respected."

Katz alleged that Guterres "has not yet denounced the massacre and sexual crimes committed by the murderers of Hamas on October 7, and has not led to decisions to declare them a terrorist organization."

In October 2023 in remarks at the U.N. Security Council, Guterres said, "I have condemned unequivocally the horrifying and unprecedented Oct. 7 acts of terror by Hamas in Israel."

"Nothing can justify the deliberate killing, injuring and kidnapping of civilians - or the launching of rockets against civilian targets," he said at the time.

In his October 2023 remarks, Guterres cited Israeli occupation in the West Bank.

"It is important to also recognize the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum," he said. "The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation."

In remarks before the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday, Guterres said the "deadly cycle of tit-for-tat violence must stop."

"The events of the past week, the past month and indeed nearly the past year make it clear: It is high time for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza, with the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, the effective delivery of humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza and irreversible progress to a two-state solution," he said. "It is high time for a cessation of hostilities in Lebanon, real action towards full implementation of Security Council resolutions 1559 and 1701, paving the way for diplomatic efforts for sustainable peace."

"It is high time to stop the sickening cycle of escalation after escalation that is leading the people of the Middle East straight over the cliff. Each escalation has served as a pretext for the next."

Guterres told Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati Tuesday that the entire United Nations system in Lebanon is mobilized to assist all those in need in the country as Israel continued it military attacks on Hezbollah.

As it attacked Hezbollah, Israel has also killed civilians with its attacks and has forced dislocation of civilian residents in the country.

Guterres said the U.N. will continue efforts to de-escalate the situation.

Katz said in his statement Wednesday that the global terrorism of Iran will be remembered as a "forever blot in the history of the United Nations."

Guterres maintains that the United Nations must demand that all parties uphold and respect obligations under international law, including how warfare and occupation are conducted.

Katz' X statement Wednesday said, "Israel will continue to protect its citizens and maintain its position and national honor with or without Antonio Guterres."

Israel and the U.N. have clashed over the role of UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian humanitarian relief. Israel accused several of the agency's staff of being involved in the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.

That surprise attack killed hundreds of Israelis, including civilians as well as military personnel, when Hamas gunmen crossed into Israel from Gaza, kidnapping hostages as they left.

Israel attacked Gaza in response to the Oct. 7 attacks.

Guterres has not yet publicly responded to being banned from Israel.