Israel will deny visas to U.N. officials over United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks, according to Israel’s U.N. ambassador.
On Wednesday, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres attempted to walk back remarks made a day earlier that appeared to justify Hamas’s October 7th murder rampage in the western Negev.
“The grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the horrific attacks by Hamas. Those horrendous attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people,” he tweeted Wednesday.
Guterres told the U.N. Security Council during a meeting Tuesday, addressing the Israel-Hamas war, “It is important to also recognize the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum,” adding, “The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation.”
Hamas terrorists murdered at least 1,400 Israelis and wounded more than 5,000 in a massive offensive launched from Gaza on October 7th which included the firing of thousands of rockets at Israel, the infiltration of the Jewish state by terrorist forces and the abduction of 222 hostages.
Israel’s ambassador to the U.N. Gilad Erdan said Wednesday that U.N. officials would be denied entry visas to the Jewish state after Guterres’ remarks.