UN calls Israel's ban on its top leader a political statement in long-running rift

The United Nations on Wednesday called Israel’s ban on Secretary-General Antonio Guterres entering the country a political statement by its foreign minister.

The United Nations on Wednesday called Israel’s ban on Secretary-General Antonio Guterres entering the country a political statement by its foreign minister and stressed that the world body’s contacts with Israel will continue “because they have to.”

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters that Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz deeming the U.N. chief “persona non grata” is also “one more attack on the United Nations staff that we’ve seen from the government of Israel.”

Israel’s accusations of U.N. bias and antisemitism date back decades, but the rift has intensified since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks in the country’s south killed about 1,200 people and launched the war in Gaza. Israel’s offensive against the militant group has killed over 41,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say how many were fighters but that a little more than half were women and children.

An Israeli ground incursion in Lebanon and other attacks against Hezbollah, a Lebanese militant group also backed by Iran, and an Iranian missile strike against Israel on Tuesday have threatened to plunge the Middle East into all-out war. The U.N. Security Council held an emergency meeting Wednesday on the Middle East.

Guterres didn't respond to a question about the ban as he headed to the meeting, where he demanded a halt to the escalation of “tit-for-tat violence” that he warned is leading people in the Middle East “straight over the cliff.”

Earlier in the day, Katz accused Guterres of being biased against Israel and claimed the U.N. chief never condemned the Hamas attacks and sexual violence committed by its fighters.

Dujarric strongly disagreed, saying Guterres has condemned “over and over again the terror attacks, the acts of sexual violence and other horrors that we’ve seen.”