Guterres must go! Israel wants UN chief out
Top Israeli official demands secretary-general take
responsibility after UNRWA-Hamas claims.
JANUARY 30,
2024 7:37 PM CET
BY PAUL
RONZHEIMER AND SEJLA AHMATOVIC
https://www.politico.eu/article/antonio-guterres-must-go-israel-want-un-chief-out/
Paul
Ronzheimer is the deputy editor-in-chief of BILD and a senior journalist
reporting for Axel Springer, the parent company of POLITICO.
António
Guterres should resign as United Nations secretary-general, Israel’s Foreign
Minister Israel Katz said Tuesday.
The demand
comes following Israel’s allegations that 12 employees of the United Nations
Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) were involved in Hamas’
violent attack on October 7.
“Of course
he is responsible as U.N. secretary-general,” Katz said in an interview with
Axel Springer, POLITICO’s parent company.
“Guterres must resign” or “the U.N. must replace him.”
Israel has
been at loggerheads with the U.N. for months, after Guterres said in October
that Hamas’ attack “did not happen in a vacuum,” and accused Israel of carrying
out “56 years of suffocating occupation.”
On Friday —
after the International Court of Justice reproached Israel over its ongoing
retaliatory bombardment of Gaza but stopped short of calling for a cease-fire —
Israel accused a dozen U.N. employees of having participated in Hamas’ assault.
The United
States, Germany and Italy, among others, responded by pausing funding to the
relief agency. “The countries acted correctly even though it was a humanitarian
organization,” said Katz.
The UNRWA
denies that it knowingly aided Hamas or any other militant group. It says that
it thoroughly investigates allegations and holds staff accountable: On Friday,
the U.N. fired nine of the accused employees. One is reportedly dead, the U.N.
said, with two still being identified.
“The
abhorrent alleged acts of these staff members must have consequences,” Guterres
said in a statement Sunday. “Two million civilians in Gaza depend on critical
aid from UNRWA for daily survival.”
Israel has
not yet publicly provided evidence for its allegations. U.S. top diplomat
Antony Blinken said Monday that the accusations are “highly credible,” although
U.S. officials “haven’t had the ability to investigate [the allegations]
ourselves.”
“We will
collect this evidence and send it to all other countries such as the USA and
Germany,” Katz told Axel Springer. “Guterres had ignored many complaints and
information regarding the behavior of the aid organization as well as
indications of cooperation with Hamas.”
According
to Katz, “UNRWA is not part of the solution, it is part of the problem.” A new
agency should be developed for the reconstruction of Gaza, he said, one “in
which the Arab states should be more involved than before.”
“We are not
talking about individuals,” Katz said. Instead, Israel claims that UNRWA is
“almost fully cooperating with Hamas.”
UNRWA runs
schools, health clinics and aid programs in refugee camps in Gaza, the West
Bank, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. It has 13,000 employees
in Gaza alone.
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