Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan speaks during a meeting of the UN Security Council at UN, headquarters in New York City, US April 25, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo

Israel on Tuesday excoriated UN Secretary-General António Guterres, with one top official calling for the UN leader to resign after he seemingly blamed the Jewish state for Hamas’ invasion of the country and massacre of Israeli civilians earlier this month.

“It is important to also recognize the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum,” Guterres said at a UN Security Council meeting on the Israel-Hamas war. “The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation. They have seen their land steadily devoured by settlements and plagued by violence. Their economy is stifled, their people displaced, and their homes demolished. Their hopes for a political solution to their plight have been vanishing.”

While Guterres added that these “grievances” could not “justify” Hamas’ actions, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said that the secretary-general’s equivocation was unacceptable and that he was canceling his meeting with Guterres.

“I will not meet with the UN secretary-general. After October 7th there is no room for a balanced approach. Hamas must be erased from the world!” Cohen posted on X/Twitter.

Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan went further, calling on Guterres to resign.

“The UN secretary-general, who shows understanding for the campaign of mass murder of children, women, and the elderly, is not fit to lead the UN,” Erdan said. “I call on him to resign immediately. There is no justification or point in talking to those who show compassion for the most terrible atrocities committed against the citizens of Israel and the Jewish people. There are simply no words.”

Erdan’s predecessor as UN ambassador, Danny Danon, expressed similar outrage.

“The UN Secretary-General António Guterres today said that the horrific crimes of the Hamas terrorists “did not take place in a vacuum.” By saying this he is wrongfully legitimizing and justifying the gruesome massacre of men, women, children, and babies, and the savage kidnapping of over 222 innocent babies, children, and civilians who are still being held by Hamas,” Danon said in a statement. “The UN secretary general should be ashamed of himself. I call upon him to retract his abhorrent statement or step down now and resign from his position.”

The war between Israel and Hamas erupted after the Palestinian terrorist group invaded the Jewish state from its enclave in neighboring Gaza on Oct. 7 and murdered over 1,400 people, mostly civilians, injured thousands more, and kidnapped over 200 people as hostages. It was the deadliest single-day attack on Jews since the Holocaust.

The brutality of Hamas’ attacks — which included rape, torture, and the beheading of babies — has shocked the world. In response, Israel has been launching air strikes against Hamas targets in Gaza and is expected to be launching a ground offensive into the Palestinian enclave with the goal of dismantling the terror group’s leadership and military capabilities.

Beyond Cohen and Erdan, members of both the Israeli unity government and the opposition also called out Guterres, with Minister Benny Gantz saying the UN leader “condones terror” and opposition leader Yair Lapid saying that Guterres “brought shame upon the United Nations … [with] excuses and rationalization for barbaric terrorism.”

Guterres and Cohen were speaking at the UN Security Council’s debate on “the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at the debate that the US believed in “humanitarian pauses” in Gaza, but stopped short of calling for a ceasefire.

“Israel must take all possible precautions to avoid harm to civilians,” Blinken said. “It means food, water, medicine, and other essential humanitarian assistance must be able to flow into Gaza. And to the people who need them. It means civilians must be able to get out of harm’s way. It means humanitarian pauses must be considered for these purposes.”

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby confirmed at a press briefing later on Tuesday that the Biden administration was opposed to a ceasefire for the time being.

“We believe that a ceasefire right now is only going to benefit Hamas,” Kirby said.

France’s Foreign Affairs Minister Catherine Colonna, however, said at the UN Security Council gathering that the goal of humanitarian pauses should be a ceasefire.

“We must also call for humanitarian pauses to be set up — a humanitarian truce that will ultimately lead to a ceasefire,” Colonna said.