Israel bans UN chief in row over Iran

TEL AVIV — The Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, has been banned from entering Israel over his response to Iran’s ballistic missile bombardment.

In a statement, Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz called Guterres an “anti-Israel secretary-general who lends support to terrorists”.

Writing on social media site X, formerly Twitter, after Iran fired about 180 missiles into Israel, Guterres said he condemned “the broadening of the Middle East conflict with escalation after escalation” and said these “must stop”.

He said the region “absolutely” needed a ceasefire, but did not specifically mention the Iran attack.

In a statement on Wednesday, Katz declared the UN secretary general persona non grata, saying that anyone who “cannot unequivocally condemn Iran’s heinous attack on Israel does not deserve to step foot on Israeli soil”.

He specifically criticized Guterres for “his anti-Israel policy since the beginning of the war”.

Tuesday’s attack by Iran is the latest in a series of escalations, starting almost a year ago with attacks on Israel by Hamas, and recently involving increased fighting between Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel.

Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to the unprecedented attack on southern Israel on 7 October by Hamas gunmen, during which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage.

Since the attack, a military campaign in Gaza has now killed a total of 41,689 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Over the course of the conflict, there have been a number of clashes between Israel and the United Nations about the situation in Gaza and the West Bank.

There has also been friction between Israel and the UN over the role of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.

In January, Israel alleged that a number of the agency’s staff members had been involved in the 7 October attacks.

In response to this, the agency launched an investigation – with a number of its international funders withdrawing support for it, before later reinstating it. In August, nine staff members were dismissed over potential involvement in the attacks.

During the conflict, UNRWA has criticized Israel for air strikes in Gaza which have killed its staff members. — BBC