clear

Creating new perspectives since 2009

UN chief slammed for equating Israel with Lebanon

August 9, 2021 at 3:12 pm

UN Ambassador to Israel Gilad Erdan in Jerusalem on 11 December 2018 [AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP/Getty Images]

Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan yesterday slammed UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for equating Israel with Lebanon when he called for maintaining calm on the Israeli-Lebanese border.

In a statement, Guterres expressed his “deep concern about the recent escalation between Lebanon and Israel across the Blue Line, including rocket fire into Israel and return airstrikes and artillery fire into Lebanon.”

“The Secretary-General calls on all parties to exercise utmost restraint and to actively engage with UNIFIL’s liaison and coordination mechanisms,” the statement on the secretary-general’s behalf read.

The Israeli envoy was angered because Guterres did not blame Hezbollah for carrying out “terror attacks” on the “democratic” state of Israel, adding that he had turned a “blind eye to Hezbollah’s war crimes and acts of terror.”

Erdan said it was “unfortunate that the UN Secretary-General repeatedly chooses to draw a moral equivalency between attacks perpetuated by designated terrorist organisations and the law-abiding, democratic State of Israel, which is a member of the UN.”

He added: “It is inconceivable that the rocket fire for which Hezbollah itself explicitly took responsibility has not been attributed by the Secretary-General to that terrorist organisation.”

Erdan continued: “The UN continues to willfully turn a blind eye to Hezbollah’s war crimes and acts of terror and its effective control of Lebanese territory. These actions by Hezbollah will ultimately lead to the destruction of Lebanon.”

Meanwhile, he said: “We expect more from the UN, which should serve as a voice of moral clarity before it’s too late for the people of Lebanon and the region as a whole.”

Israel: MP has to apologise for saying government unable to carry out military ops