Colombia’s president defends UN chief amid Israeli criticism

By Laura Gamba

BOGOTA, Colombia (AA) - Colombian President Gustavo Petro came out in defense of the UN Secretary-General on Tuesday after Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations called for his resignation over remarks he made to the Security Council.

“The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, has our full support and solidarity,” said Petro on X.

“Telling the truth is not a reason for resignation. Israel must comply with United Nations resolutions.”

Ambassador Gilad Erdan was upset after Guterres said the Oct. 7 attack launched by the Palestinian group Hamas did not “come from nowhere" but from "56 years of occupation."

“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 stifled, their people displaced and their homes demolished. Their hopes for a political solution to their plight have been vanishing,” Guterres said.

Erdan called Guterres’s words “shocking” and demanded that he be removed from office.

"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. 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."

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen canceled a meeting with Guterres and war cabinet minister Benny Gantz labeled the UN chief a “terror apologist.”

“I will not meet with the UN Secretary General,” Cohen wrote on X.

“After the massacre of Oct. 7, there is no room for a balanced approach. Hamas must be wiped off the face of the planet,” he added.