From the Liveblog of
Thursday, October 26, 2023
Herzog rejects comments by UN chief, says key root of conflict ‘is terror’
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleMichael Bachner is a news editor at The Times of Israel
President Isaac Herzog condemns the widely panned remarks by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at Tuesday’s Security Council meeting, where he said Hamas’s murderous October 7 onslaught “didn’t occur in a vacuum” and was brought on by decades of Israeli military rule and other policies in the West Bank and Gaza.
The President’s Residence releases the transcript of remarks Herzog made yesterday in an interview with French television channel BFMTV.
“I heard the comments of the secretary-general of the United Nations Guterres,” he said. “In a way, he alluded as if the source of all this evil has to do with the [Israeli-Palestinian] conflict.
“I absolutely reject his words, because there was a sort of implication or even consent for atrocities, for terror. The problem with the conflict is terror. The most inherent problem that derails the peace process between the Israelis and the Palestinians has to do with terror.”
Herzog also says during the interview that Israel adheres to international humanitarian law, including by telling civilians to leave northern Gaza. He accuses Hamas of preventing civilians from leaving.
The Times of Israel Community.