'Persona non grata': Israel bars UN secretary general Guterres from entering country

Israel's foreign minister declared UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres 'persona non grata' and was henceforth banning him from entering Israel, according to a post on X/Twitter on Wednesday.

US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller later stated the US believes this step is  "not productive at all" due to the UN's role in the region. 

"One of the things we've always said that Israel needs to be cognizant of throughout this conflict is its standing in the world, and steps like this are not productive to improve its standing in the world," Miller added. 

The ban on entry, said FM Israel Katz, was due to Guterres's failure to "unequivocally condemn" Iran's massive missile attack on Israel.

"Anyone who cannot unequivocally condemn Iran's heinous attack on Israel, as almost every country in the world has done, does not deserve to step foot on Israeli soil," Katz wrote.

He added that Guterres is yet to denounce the October 7 massacre, which is approaching its one year anniversary, or condemn Hamas's use of sexual violence.

Katz also criticized the Guterres for not leading "any efforts to declare [Hamas] a terrorist organization."

"A Secretary-General who gives backing to terrorists, rapists, and murderers from Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and now Iran—the mothership of global terror—will be remembered as a stain on the history of the UN."

"Israel will continue to defend its citizens and uphold its national dignity, with or without António Guterres," he concluded.

Following Israel's invasion of Lebanon on Monday, Guterres posted on X/Twitter that he was concerned with the escalation and said an "all-out war must be avoided in Lebanon at all costs, and the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Lebanon must be respected."

Following the Iran attack on Israel on Tuesday night, Guterres called for a ceasefire.

Israel was not mentioned in the posts.

Failure to condemn Hamas

In April, the United Nations omitted Hamas from its blacklist of state and non-state parties guilty of sexual violence in 2023, due to a lack of what it deemed to be credible evidence.

The blacklist was part of a larger annual report on sexual violence authored by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz said he was “disgusted” by the report in a statement released to the media.

“Guterres has turned the UN into an extremely antisemitic and anti-Israel institution during his tenure which will be remembered as the darkest in the organization’s history,” Katz said.

Tovah Lazaroff and Jerusalem Post Staff contibuted to this report.