Israeli foreign minister says he will cancel meeting with UN chief after Antonio Guterres’s remarks to Security Council

By Serife Cetin and Iclal Turan

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (AA) - Israel’s Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said Tuesday he will not meet UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres after he made remarks to the UN Security Council.

"I will not meet with the UN Secretary-General. After the October 7th massacre, there is no place for a balanced approach. Hamas must be erased off the face of the planet!" Cohen wrote on X.

The UN said it had not been made aware about the cancellation of a meeting between Cohen and Guterres.

"We have yet been officially informed but we have seen the tweet," the UN chief’s office told Anadolu.

The UN refused to comment on "what has been said in the Council." it said in a statement.

Israeli Ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, demanded that Guterres resign "immediately," and said he is "not fit to lead the UN."

"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 wrote on X.

Guterres said the Palestinians had been "subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation," adding: "It is important to also recognize the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum."