Israel Ambassador to United Nations(UN) Gilad Erdan has revealed that the country will
refuse visas to United Nations officials.
The statement was coming on the heels of UN Secretary General Antonio Gueterres statement at the Security Council the previous day continues.
Guterres indirectly criticised Israel for ordering the evacuation of civilians from the north to the south of the Gaza Strip in his speech.
He also believes that Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7 did not happen “in a vacuum” as the Palestinians have been “subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation”.
The statement had consequently irked Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, who was at the debate and would later cancel a meeting that was supposed to happen with Guterres on Tuesday afternoon
Erdan told Army Radio “Due to his [Guterres’s] remarks, we will refuse to issue visas to UN representatives,”
“We have already refused a visa for Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths. The time has come to teach them a lesson.” he added.
Erdan further said on X, formerly Twitter, that the UN chief has “expressed an understanding for terrorism and murder” with his speech.
Meanwhile, Guterres would later posted some part of his speech on X in a bid to show he has criticised both Hamas and Israel for the crisis in Gaza.