The war clash in the Middle East moved this Tuesday to New York. The missiles flew from one side to the other of the round table of the Security Council of the United Nations Organization (UN).
Luckily, his projectiles only carried verbal payload. But the exchange of words between Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and his Palestinian counterpart Riad al-Maliki was laced with hatred and accusations that one or the other was responsible for the slaughter of Israeli civilians. in the attack committed by Hamas on October 7 and the subsequent slaughter of Palestinians in revenge.
The brawl ended in a diplomatic confrontation at the House of Diplomacy. Israel, based on a message from its ambassador, Gilad Erdan, requested the resignation of the Portuguese António Guterres, Secretary General of the UN, for having criticized in his speech Israel’s attitude towards the occupation of territories and to have stressed that the brutality of the attack “does not justify the collective punishment of the Palestinians”.
Gilard assured that she will not meet with him again. “The Secretary General, who shows understanding towards the campaign of mass deaths of women, children and grandparents, is not qualified to lead the UN”, he wrote on his X (Twitter) account.
The leader of the multinational institution had denounced in the Council the “clear” violations in Gaza. After condemning the terrorist attack, the Secretary General said that this did not come out of nowhere. “The Palestinians have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation,” he said. And he added that Israel should allow the entry of humanitarian aid to the Palestinians.
The answer in this same session was offered by Minister Cohen, indignant with Guterres. “Mr. Secretary General, what world do you live in?” he replied excitedly, showing photographs of victims of the attack and those who are still kidnapped. Cohen maintained that Hamas are “the new Nazis”, who are against the Western world and this organization must be annihilated.
They were the most tense moments of a tense Security Council. “What Israel is doing is consistent with its belief that we are subhuman or human animals,” stressed Al Maliki. Faced with this and the lack of a solution to the historical conflict, “the inaction of the Security Council is inexcusable”, he assured.
This institution is not the place conducive to peace. It is not even possible to agree on a ceasefire, a request that Guterres urged, with the warning that there is a risk that this fire will spread further.
Antony Blinken, Secretary of State of the USA, which last week vetoed a resolution calling for a cessation of hostilities while there are hostages, presented another proposal. The secretary accepted what he called “humanitarian pauses” to deliver basic aid (food, water, medicine) to residents of the Gaza Strip, “without benefiting Hamas or any other terrorist group.”
Blinken, moreover, sounded the drums of war in a scenario that was born precisely to avoid conflagrations between nations.
“The United States is not looking for conflict with Iran. We do not want this front to expand, but if Iran or its associated groups attack US personnel, make no mistake, we will defend our people and our security quickly and decisively,” he warned. “We call on all members (of the UN) to send a message of unity to any state or non-state that considers opening another front against Israel or going against its allies, including the United States, that it does not do, that they don’t pour more gasoline on the fire”, he stressed.
China and Russia denied their support for the absence of a ceasefire in this draft.
