Tel Aviv [Israel], October 24 (ANI/TPS): UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' comments during a special session of the UN Security Council on the war in Gaza against the terrorist group Hamas were met with shock and disappointment by Israel's delegation.
Guterres only made perfunctory condemnations of the Hamas attack while taking the opportunity to repeat what can only be called Hamas propaganda.
"It is important to also recognise that the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum," he said.
"The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation. They have seen their land steadily devoured by settlements and plagued by violence; their economy stifled; their people displaced; and their homes demolished. Their hopes for a political solution to their plight have been vanishing."
He did acknowledge, however, that family members of the more than 200 Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza were in attendance and called for the release of all of the hostages.
Israel's Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan wasted no time criticising Guterres' words. He posted a statement on Twitter saying, "The shocking speech by the UN Secretary-General at the Security Council meeting, while rockets are being fired at all of Israel, proved conclusively, beyond any doubt, that the Secretary-General is completely disconnected from the reality in our region and that he views the massacre committed by Nazi Hamas terrorists in a distorted and immoral manner."
The Secretary General's statement that, "the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum," said Ambassador Erdan, "expressed an understanding for terrorism and murder. It's really unfathomable. It's truly sad that the head of an organisation that arose after the Holocaust holds such horrible views. A tragedy!" (ANI/TPS)
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