After UN chief says remarks were distorted, Erdan again calls on him to resign

The verbal war between Israel and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres continues.

After Israel accused Guterres of justifying the Hamas onslaught by stating yesterday that “it did not happen in a vacuum,” the UN chief hit back saying Jerusalem misrepresented his remarks and that he had specifically said in the same speech that “grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the appalling attacks by Hamas.”

Unsatisfied by the defense, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan says it is a “disgrace” that Guterres didn’t retract or apologize for his remarks and, repeating a demand he first issued yesterday, says the secretary-general must resign.

“The secretary-general once again distorts and twists reality. He clearly said yesterday that the massacre and murder spree by Hamas ‘did not happen in a vacuum.’ Every person understands and understood very well that the meaning of his words is: That Israel is guilty for the actions of Hamas or, at the very least, a demonstration of understanding and justification by the secretary-general for the massacre,” Erdan says in a statement.

“A secretary-general who does not understand that the murder of innocents can have no justification and no ‘background’ cannot be secretary-general,” he adds.