By: Peter Marko Tase
The Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, has repeatedly called on UN Secretary-General António Guterres to resign. Earlier this month, the Israeli Ambassador stated, “You have lost your moral compass and cannot remain Secretary-General for another minute.”
Many observers in the international community may reflexively dismiss Erdan’s proposal as overly dramatic and imagined. However, in reality, his stance is far from hyperbolic.
In the early 1930s and throughout the final stages of World War II, Adolf Hitler’s Holocaust against innocent European Jewish civilians and the complete destruction of their communities were met with an inexplicable sense of appeasement from the Ural Mountains to Washington.
The spirit of Neville Chamberlain continues to haunt us. More than 80 years later, the inexplicable appeasement of perpetrators is vivid in the halls of the United Nations. While the chronic bias of the global body against Israel is not a new phenomenon, the cover-up of Hamas’s massacre on October 7th further compounds the injustice.
October 7th was much more than an attack on Israel. It was an attack on the world, which is all the more reason for the UN to appropriately condemn it. Among the victims of the terrorist slaughter of more than 1,200 innocent civilians and the abduction of more than 240 were citizens of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Thailand, Nepal, Russia, Ukraine, Cambodia, Germany, the Philippines, Chile, Brazil, Italy, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, and Ireland.
Despite this, the brutality of Hamas has somehow not moved Guterres. Recently, he lamented “unparalleled and unprecedented” civilian deaths in the Gaza area, describing Gaza as a “graveyard for children”. He has repeatedly called for an immediate ceasefire and cited “epic suffering” in Gaza following Israeli airstrikes on Hamas positions.
In the past, Guterres has honoured the victims of the Holocaust and pledged to combat anti-Semitism. Now, after the deadliest day in Jewish history since the Holocaust, we must ask whether it was anything more than mere words.
The lack of solidarity from the UN leader regarding the horrific attacks on Israeli civilians seems as painful as the beheading of a poor farmer from Thailand working on a farm in southern Israel to support his family. Given that the world is at a turning point, the UN’s perspective on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has never seemed so far from reality.
Guterres seemingly justified Hamas attacks, stating, “It is also important to recognise that Hamas attacks did not happen in a vacuum… The Palestinian people have been subjected to a stifling occupation for 56 years. They have seen their land steadily swallowed up by settlements and clenched by violence; their economy stifled.” The Secretary-General either fails to understand or conveys that every Palestinian living in Gaza bears some responsibility for not condemning Hamas, while pipes for fresh water were belatedly installed in rockets and launching pads destined for Israel. This vile practice has been ongoing for the past 15 years, and neither the UN nor any of its members outside Israel has taken it seriously.
UN bureaucrats refuse to acknowledge that Hamas and its terror targets will be the sole benefactor of humanitarian aid delivered to Gaza, while ordinary Palestinians continue to suffer from Iranian-backed terrorism. They also fail to point out that the Palestinians lack the capacity to build a state and are taking pachydermic, hypocritical steps to try to solve their endemic problems. Israel’s decision to root out Hamas and thoroughly clean up the Gaza Strip is the most successful option and initiative for the region – especially for decent Palestinians who hope for a normal life in their communities.
There can be no excuse for showing sympathy for the worst atrocities committed against the citizens of Israel and Jews after the Holocaust. This was stated by Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen on October 24th when he told Guterres: “As we meet here today, infants, children are being held in Gaza. This surpasses imagination. A living nightmare. Mr. Secretary-General, in which world do you live? Certainly not ours.” Guterres has exposed the moral bankruptcy of the UN and their betrayal of all those who advocate economic progress and peaceful coexistence. Gilad Erdan is right: it is time for the Secretary-General to resign.
Author Peter Marko Tase is the author of ten books on international politics; he has written various white papers and over 600 articles published in multiple languages, covering topics in Middle Eastern studies, Latin American politics, and European affairs.