Guterres’s hypocrisy: Condemning Israel while shielding aggressors - opinion

The UN secretary-general stands, an unwanted figure serving as a diplomatic support to the axis of evil and the great defender of anti-Israeli terror. That is a paradox.

 UNITED NATIONS Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks during a Security Council meeting last month. He is the last person in the world who still believes that the Palestinians interest the Iranians, the writer maintains. (photo credit: Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)
UNITED NATIONS Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks during a Security Council meeting last month. He is the last person in the world who still believes that the Palestinians interest the Iranians, the writer maintains.
(photo credit: Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)

Once again, it’s Antonio Guterres, the man who is the secretary-general of the world, and a leading antisemite on the planet, who outshines the world’s Jew-haters and steals the show again this month. 

The Iranian missile attack on Israel did not leave him indifferent, and with the conclusion of the Iranian ground-to-ground missile launches, Guterres fired his own ground-missile of imagination in the form of a feeble and weightless condemnation. 

He expressed concern over the escalation and demanded a ceasefire, but conveniently forgot to mention that the escalation was one-sided, that Iran is the aggressor and Israel is the one being attacked.

A person who consumed their news through Guterres’s statements would be convinced that the Jews are the source of evil, Israel is the axis of evil, and Iran is a peace-loving nation that supports the struggle of the Palestinians. 

“Israel is conducting a cruel military campaign,” Guterres declared earlier regarding the situation in Lebanon. It’s a wonder he has not been discovered as a spokesperson for Hezbollah. 

 UNITED NATIONS Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks at a news conference at UN headquarters in New York City. (credit: Mike Segar/Reuters)
UNITED NATIONS Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks at a news conference at UN headquarters in New York City. (credit: Mike Segar/Reuters)

He did not bother to mention that Israel’s “aggression” is against a terrorist organization that has been firing missiles at it for a year and that the purpose of the “aggression” is to liberate a whole territory that was taken from its inhabitants to create a foundation for the murder of Israelis.

Let’s return to the condemnation from the secretary-general of the universe, in which he unsuccessfully attempted to convey balance. 

Guterres first stated that the missiles were fired toward “Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.” He even takes away from Israel the right to be a victim. After all, the missiles were aimed at harming Israelis, and if some of them accidentally fell near Jericho, still, it was not the Palestinians that were being attacked.

The nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize 

Later in the statement, Guterres – who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, it should be noted – attempts to sound like the responsible adult: “These attacks, paradoxically, do nothing to support the Palestinian people’s struggle or alleviate their suffering.” 


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Guterres, the last person in the world who still believes that the Palestinians are of interest to the Iranians, manages to find an interesting paradox here: violence against Israel, which paradoxically does not help the Palestinians. 

Behind this rhetoric lies Guterres’s true intention: violence against Israel is good, as long as it helps the Palestinians, but this time, the Iranian attack did not help the Palestinians at all, and therefore has no value.

A paradox is a logical failure, and in Guterres’s declaration of a discovered paradox, there indeed is one: the condemnation of the missile attack, together with the demand for a ceasefire, perpetuates the achievement of the aggression without demanding a price for it. 

What practical significance does a condemnation that serves to protect the aggressor have?

And if we really search, an even greater paradox is hidden in our story: World War II ended with a complete victory of the good over the evil, without a ceasefire and without a comforting order to calm the spirits and perpetuate the fronts. 

The Paradox of Guterres

Then the UN was established to maintain world stability. Since then, the organization has operated in the world whose purpose is: ceasefires instead of permanent solutions, indecision, and endless rounds of that same war instead of short campaigns with clear resolutions. 

The UN does not help world stability, and since its establishment, wars – both cold and hot – have only multiplied. The only things that have remained stable are antisemitism and terror.

And here, nearly 80 years after its establishment, the UN secretary-general stands, an unwanted figure serving as a diplomatic support to the axis of evil and the great defender of anti-Israeli terror. That is a paradox.

The writer is president of WIZO.