Israel declares Guterres persona non grata

Israel has announced that it has decided to ban United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres from entering the country.

According to Reuters, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz stated in a statement today that he had imposed an entry ban on Guterres on the grounds that he did not 'unequivocally condemn' Iran's missile attack on Israel.

Minister Katz, in a post he made in Hebrew on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), said, "Today, I have decided to declare UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres persona non grata in Israel and to ban him from entering Israel. Anyone who cannot unequivocally condemn Iran's heinous attack on Israel, as almost all countries in the world have done, does not deserve to set foot on Israeli soil."

WHAT HAPPENED?

In a written statement issued yesterday evening, Antonio Guterres condemned the expansion of the conflict in the Middle East and called for an immediate ceasefire. Stating that he "condemns the expansion of the conflict in the Middle East," the Secretary-General noted that one escalation follows another. In his statement, Guterres said, "This must stop. We absolutely need a ceasefire."

The UN Spokesperson's Office also issued a written statement a day earlier regarding the rising tensions following Israel's attacks on Lebanon, reporting that Guterres had held a phone call with Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati and that the Secretary-General had conveyed the message to the Prime Minister that "the entire UN system is ready to support Lebanon." The statement noted that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was deeply concerned about the rising tensions in Lebanon and called for urgent restraint.