Israel criticizes Guterres for UN’s lack of action to prevent Hezbollah attacks from Lebanon

September 24 (EUROPA PRESS) –

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has responded to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ speech to the UN General Assembly — in which he called the situation in Gaza “a nightmare” and Lebanon “on the brink of the abyss” — and criticized the organization’s lack of concrete action to prevent attacks by the Shiite militia-party Hezbollah.

“Mr. Secretary-General Guterres, the nightmare you speak of is, in fact, a reality. The reality is that Hezbollah has taken Lebanon hostage, and the UN is neither recognizing its actions nor fulfilling its fundamental obligation: preventing Hezbollah attacks and demanding the implementation of resolution 1701,” the Israeli defense minister said on his official profile on the social network X.

Gallant has thus urged Guterres to focus his efforts on ensuring that the Lebanese militia complies with UN Security Council Resolution 1701, passed in August 2006. The measure succeeded in ending the war between Israel and Hezbollah with the cessation of hostilities, as well as the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon, the deployment of Lebanese and UN troops in the area, and the disarmament of armed groups, including Hezbollah.

The defence minister’s remarks came in response to Guterres’ inaugural address at the 79th United Nations General Assembly, in which he denounced the situation in the Gaza Strip as “an endless nightmare” that also threatens to spread the conflict to the rest of the region, with Lebanon in the “abyss”.

“The people of Lebanon, the people of Israel and the people of the world cannot allow Lebanon to become another Gaza,” Guterres said, referring to the situation in Lebanon following the recent attacks by the Israeli Armed Forces in recent days, which have already left around 570 dead.

Guterres’ speech also drew criticism from Israel’s UN representative, Danny Danon, who was present at the session. Danon described it as “sad” that when the subject of the release of the hostages held by Hamas is discussed, the room “remains silent,” but when the subject of the suffering in Gaza is discussed, “it receives thunderous applause.”