Israel declares UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres persona non grata

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres was declared persona non grata in Israel. Guterres was also banned from entering the country, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said.

Photo: commons.wikimedia.org by Олаф Косинский, CC BY-SA 3.0

"Anyone who cannot unequivocally condemn Iran's abhorrent attack on Israel, as almost every country in the world has done, does not deserve to set foot on Israeli soil," Katz said.

According to Katz, Guterres has never condemned the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, nor has he made any effort to declare Hamas a terrorist organization.

The day before, after Iran launched a large-scale missile strike on Israel, the UN Secretary-General wrote on social media that he "condemned the escalation of the Middle East conflict." Guterres did not mention either Iran or Israel.