The UN Secretary General appeared before the press this Wednesday to “make things clear” after his speech before the Security Council, after which Israel asked for his resignation.
“I am surprised by the misrepresentation that some have made of my statement yesterday in the Security Council, as if I were justifying Hamas' acts of terror,” said António Guterres, before asserting: “This is false. "It was the complete opposite."
Next, the head of the UN recalled: “At the beginning of my speech yesterday (in the Security Council), I clearly stated – and I quote: I have unequivocally condemned the horrific acts of terror unprecedented attacks perpetrated by Hamas on October 7 in Israel. Nothing can justify the deliberate killing, wounding and kidnapping of civilians, or the firing of rockets at civilian targets«.
Guterres indicated that he also spoke about the grievances of the Palestinian people and, in doing so, also clearly stated: "But the grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify Hamas's heinous attacks."
Make things clear
El Secretary General He indicated that he was making the statement because “it was necessary to make things clear, especially because respect for the victims and their families".
In his speech yesterday before the Security Council, after “unequivocally” condemning the Hamas attacks, António Guterres explained to the highest international security body that these attacks “did not occur in a vacuum” and that “The Palestinian people have been subjected to a suffocating occupation for 56 years".
He also described what that occupation consisted of, indicating that the Palestinian people “have seen their land devoured by settlements and ravaged by violence; how its economy was suffocating; how its population was displaced and their homes demolished.”
And after noting that “the grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the atrocious attacks by Hamas,” he declared that “these atrocious attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people,” adding that the protection of civilians “must be paramount.”
Outside the Security Council chamber, Israeli ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan called on the UN Secretary-General to "resign immediately", alleging that the UN chief was "justifying terrorism", referring to the statements that the Hamas attacks "did not occur in a vacuum."