Katz berates UN chief Guterres ahead of Security Council meet on sexual violence

Foreign Minister Israel Katz is continuing to bash UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres ahead of a UN Security Council session called to discuss a report by the world body detailing Hamas’s use of sexual violence on and after October 7.

Katz charges that Guterres’s response to the report has been milquetoast, signaling “a distressing bias,” and maintains that, had the victims not been Jews or Israelis, his office “would have responded in a much more vigorous way.”

“The indifference displayed toward the report on Hamas’ sexual violence — crafted with bravery — is deplorable,” he writes, accusing the UN chief of trying to push off discussion on the report until April.

“Your tenure at the UN is set to be remembered for diminishing the organization’s stature to an all-time low, allowing it to become an epicenter of antisemitism and anti-Israel incitement,” he writes.

The council is set to meet at 3 p.m. local time (9 p.m. in Israel) to discuss the report, after the US, UK, France, and Japan requested an emergency session.

Present at the meeting will be Katz, families of hostages, and diplomats involved in talks for a hostage deal.