Israeli foreign minster cancels meeting with UN chief, calls him Hamas "supporter"

Israeli foreign minister Eli Cohen, who is on a visit to the US, has cancelled his scheduled meeting with the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, alleging the latter's "support" for attacks by Hamas on 7 October.

"I will not meet with the UN Secretary-General. After 7 October, there is no balanced approach. Hamas must be erased from the world," Cohen said, according to officials. 

The Israeli ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, has even called for the resignation of Guterres. 

He said that there was no point in talking to those who show compassion for the most terrible atrocities committed against the citizens of Israel. 

He said: "There are simply no words." 

Ambassador Erdan took the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, and said Guterres' comments meant he was "not fit to lead the UN".

The UN Secretary-General in a speech spoke about the displacement of Palestinians and the long sufferings of the people of Palestine. He said that the Hamas attacks did not happen in a vacuum, adding: “The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation." 

He also said that the hopes of the Palestinian people for a political solution to their plight was slowly vanishing. “They have seen their land steadily devoured by settlements and plagued by violence; their economy stifled; their people displaced and their homes demolished. Their hopes for a political solution to their plight have been vanishing." 

At the same time, the UN chief also said “But the grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the appalling attacks by Hamas. And those appalling attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people."