United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres. Photo

On Wednesday, October 2nd, Israel declared UN chief Antonio Guterres “persona non grata”, accusing him of not explicitly condemning Iran’s missile attack on the country, Al Arabiya News reports on October 2nd.

Read more: Iran Fires a Barrage of Ballistic Missiles at Israel

Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a statement:

Anyone who cannot unequivocally condemn Iran’s heinous attack on Israel does not deserve to step foot on Israeli soil.

Katz stated that Guterres, whom he accused of supporting “the murderers of Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and now Iran, the mothership of global terror, will be remembered as a stain on the history of the UN for generations to come”.

After Iran launched a missile attack on Israel late Tuesday, October 2nd, Guterres criticized the “growing conflict in the Middle East”. He denounced the “continuing escalation” in the region:

This must stop. We absolutely need a ceasefire.

Israel’s criticism of the UN has intensified, especially following the October 7 th Hamas attacks, further straining relations between the two. Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General António Guterres has repeatedly called for a ceasefire to halt the violence in both Gaza and Lebanon.

Al Arabiya News and agencies