Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz has reiterated his decision to declare UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres persona non grata, citing the UN chief's alleged failure to condemn Iran's missile attack and his antisemitic and anti-Israel conduct. On October 2, Katz announced that Guterres would be barred from entering Israel. In a post on X on Sunday, Katz stated, "Guterres can continue seeking support from UN member states, but the decision will not change."
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric described Katz's initial announcement on October 2 as political and "just one more attack, so to speak, on UN staff that we've seen from the government of Israel." Dujarric added that the UN traditionally does not recognize the concept of persona non grata as applying to UN staff. When asked to comment on Katz's remarks on Sunday, a UN spokesperson referred back to Dujarric's earlier statements.
Dujarric also mentioned last week that the UN had not received any formal communication from Israel regarding the matter. On October 3, the UN Security Council expressed its full support for Guterres, stating that "any decision not to engage with the UN Secretary-General or the United Nations is counterproductive, especially in the context of escalating tensions in the Middle East."
When asked last week if Guterres had been made persona non grata by Israel, Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon told reporters, "There was a statement made ... we will evaluate the relationship. We are here at the UN, we work with the UN agencies, but we were disappointed."
Iran launched more than 180 ballistic missiles at Israel on October 1, amid heightened hostilities between Israel and its proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah. While many of the missiles were intercepted, some managed to penetrate Israel's missile defenses. Guterres condemned the missile attack and "the broadening of the Middle East conflict, with escalation after escalation." Earlier the same day, Israel had deployed troops into southern Lebanon.
During a Security Council meeting the following day, Guterres stated, "As I did in relation to the Iranian attack in April - and as should have been obvious yesterday in the context of the condemnation I expressed - I again strongly condemn yesterday’s massive missile attack by Iran on Israel."
