Jawad Iqbal Jawad Iqbal

Is the UN’s leader trying to alienate Israel?

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (Credit: Getty images)

The Secretary General of the United Nations is conventionally thought of as the world’s most high-profile diplomat, charged with the responsibility of bringing calm and astute leadership to bear at times of war and international crisis. This is a core purpose and mission that appears to have escaped the attention of Antonio Guterres, the UN’s current chief.

Addressing a meeting of the UN Security Council in New York on Tuesday, Guterres said the situation in the Middle East was growing more dire by the hour and urged all parties to respect and protect civilians. Fair enough and exactly the kind of thing that UN leaders are expected to say. It is what came next that has prompted an almighty diplomatic row.

Guterres said he condemned unequivocally the deadly attacks by Hamas gunmen in Israel two weeks ago but that it was important to recognise that they ‘did not happen in a vacuum’, adding: ‘The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation.’

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