The UN played a vital role in the creation of the State of Israel in 1948. With the increase in Jewish immigration after the end of World War II, an international organization began to create a Jewish state and a separate Palestinian state with an international zone around Jerusalem. 75 years after the birth of Israel, Palestine remains a chimera. In the midst of an escalating conflict, Israeli diplomacy declared war on who was its main benefactor.

The rapid succession of events and inflammatory statements from its diplomats have marked the last two weeks since Hamas launched attacks that killed 1,400 people and Israel responded by bombing the besieged Gaza Strip, killing nearly 6,000 people. The latest clash means Israel will refuse to issue visas to UN officials, Israel’s UN ambassador said. Gilad Erdan.

The Hamas attacks did not happen in a vacuum. The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of stifling occupation.

ANTONIO GUTERRES, UN SECRETARY-GENERAL

This was a response to statements by the UN Secretary General. Antonio Guterres, provided the necessary context for understanding the conflict, which is not new and has its roots precisely in the creation of Israel. “It is also important to recognize that Hamas attacks did not occur in a vacuum. The Palestinian people have been subjected to a suffocating occupation for 56 years. They saw their land endlessly consumed by settlements and devastated by violence; its stifling economy; its population was displaced and its houses demolished. Their hopes for a political solution to their plight are fading. But the grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify Hamas’s heinous attacks. And these brutal attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people,” Guterres told the UN Security Council.

In a statement this Wednesday, Guterres admitted without question that he was “surprised” by the distortion of some of his words. “I am surprised by the erroneous interpretations of my statement yesterday in the Security Council as if I were justifying Hamas’ terrorist acts. It’s a lie. It was just the opposite,” he said, before repeating some excerpts from his speech. “I think there was a need for clarity, especially out of respect for the victims and their families,” he concluded.

Israel calls on Guterres to resign

The statements, based on historical events, have infuriated the Israeli government, buoyed by a parade of world leaders such as Joe Biden and Rishi Sunak, and what they see as an endorsement of their military operation, in the midst of preparations for a ground offensive against Gaza and criticism of violations of international rights related to the imposition of a complete blockade on the civilian population of Gaza, about 2.2 million people. Israel’s ambassador to the UN announced that Israel had already begun to enforce this policy and that it had denied a visa to UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths, a veteran UN diplomat known for his courageous mediation in the conflict. Yemen.

‘It’s time to teach a lesson’ to senior UN officials

“It’s time to teach a lesson” to senior U.N. officials, Erdan said in an interview with Israeli Army Radio on Tuesday. Guterres’ comments yesterday also drew condemnation from Dani Dayan, president of Jerusalem’s Yad Vashem Holocaust museum, who said Hamas’s “massacre of Jews on October 7 was genocidal in intent and extremely cruel in its form.” “Part of the reason this is different from the Holocaust is because Jews today have a state and an army. We are not defenseless or at the mercy of others,” the senior Yad Vashem official added, in line with the usual practice of Israeli authorities. use anti-Semitism as a weapon, including against sections of its own population that criticize local policies.

Following the attack on Israel by the Palestinian Islamist group, Dayan said, “the sincerity of world leaders, intellectuals and influential people” at the international level, such as Guterres, is now being tested. Given this, the UN Secretary General, according to Dayan, “failed the test.” Despite Israeli rhetoric, Guterres “unequivocally condemned the horrific and unprecedented terrorist attacks” of Hamas, although he explained that what happened was rooted in decades of conflict with the Palestinians.

Some of the words that have motivated Israeli politicians, representatives of a government that has made conflicting statements in recent weeks regarding its military operation in Gaza – from the defense minister’s statement “We are fighting human animals” to his proposal to send bombs only to territory, not water or electricity . “Shame on you?” – said Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, who was present at the UN session and suspended the planned meeting with the Secretary General.

In a statement released this Wednesday, Israel’s Foreign Ministry said Guterres’ statements “caused anger and confusion and tarnished both himself and the organization he leads.” “They reflect a biased and distorted attitude towards Israel on the part of the UN and especially on the part of the Secretary-General himself.” “The UN Secretary-General must retract his words, undertake deep personal soul-searching and apologize for his statement, which upset millions of Israelis who continue to suffer the consequences of the bloody terrorist attack on October 7,” he adds.

Against the World Health Organization

These are not the only incidents in which Israeli diplomats have been involved in recent days. Last week, the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s X (formerly Twitter) account retweeted a comment by one of its officials in which he attacked World Health Organization Secretary-General Tedros Adhanom for a social media post in which he insisted that “Bullets and bombs are not a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli situation.” “War will bring nothing but destruction and horror and will not make the region safer; In fact, quite the opposite. The only solution and the only hope is dialogue, understanding and peace,” Adhanom said.

“Who should we talk to? With those who kidnapped 200 of our people? With those who raped women, tortured our children and burned families? By not condemning Hamas for its brutal terror against Israel, WHO continues to play on its propaganda. “Deeply disappointed,” the Israeli diplomat responded angrily, with the approval of the Foreign Ministry.

The X-account of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is a repository of comments by the minister and his team to various UN agencies.

Since then, the ministry’s X account has become a repository of comments by the minister and his team against various UN agencies, which they accuse of participating in exercises rarely seen in international relations. They question, for example, the humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip, condemned by the UN, and the urgent call to allow the import of fuel so that hospitals can continue to operate amid the power outages plaguing the strip due to Israeli actions. solution.

“Hamas has been preparing for this war for months, they have supply reserves for months. They have a million liters of fuel in reserve. Hamas does not share this with needy Gazans or UNRWA [la agencia de la ONU para los refugiados palestinos] “But he is using it for terror,” another diplomat responded to a UN request, without providing evidence of the alleged fuel supply and consistent with his government’s violation of international humanitarian law.