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Chris Irvine, Managing Editor


NextImg:Israel to refuse visas for UN officials as 'blood libel' outrage grows

Israel will refuse to grant visas to United Nations officials, according to its ambassador, after comments by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, which were seen as carrying water for Hamas.

“Due to his [Guterres’s] remarks, we will refuse to issue visas to U.N. representatives,” Gilad Erdan told Army Radio.

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“We have already refused a visa for Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths. The time has come to teach them a lesson," Gilad Erdan said.

Erdan also accused agencies aligned with the U.N. of creating a “false picture” of what is going on in Gaza, threatening to expel “hostile U.N. officials” from Israel.

On Tuesday, Erdan accused Guterres of committing a “blood libel” against Israel and called on him to resign.

Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan speaks about Israeli hostages being held by Hamas in front of United Nations headquarters in New York, Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2023.

“The SG is blaming the victim. You are blaming Israel,” he said on Tuesday. “This is a pure blood libel, and I think that the secretary-general must resign ... unless he apologizes immediately today.”

Israel’s fury was provoked after Guterres told the U.N. Security Council that the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas “did not happen in a vacuum.”

Guterres “condemned unequivocally” the Hamas attack but argued they arose out of opposition to Israeli policy toward Palestinians.

“It is important to also recognize the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum. The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation,” Guterres said. “But the grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the appalling attacks by Hamas. And those appalling attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.”

Following the backlash, Guterres later posted a part of his speech on X, formerly Twitter, in an attempt to show he had criticized both sides.

“The grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the horrific attacks by Hamas,” he wrote. “Those horrendous attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.”

United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday showed his support for Israel at the Security Council but floated the idea of "humanitarian pauses" to protect civilians, taking care not to use the word “ceasefire.”

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Blinken's comments about "humanitarian pauses" were elaborated on by National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, who said it was different from a ceasefire.

Kirby clarified Tuesday that what differentiates a ceasefire and "humanitarian pause" is "a question of duration and scope and size and that kind of thing."