US pans ‘unproductive’ Israeli decision to bar UN chief who didn’t condemn Iran

US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller comes out against Foreign Minister Israel Katz’s decision to bar Antonio Guterres from the country after the UN secretary-general failed to condemn Iran in his statement speaking out against the latest Mideast escalation following Tehran’s missile attack against Israel.

“Steps like these are not productive to [Israel] improving its standing in the world,” Miller says.

“The UN does incredibly important work in Gaza. It does incredibly important work in the region. And the UN, when it’s acting at its best, can play an important role for security and stability,” Miller adds.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric described the Israeli announcement as political and “just one more attack, so to speak, on UN staff that we’ve seen from the government of Israel.” He said the UN traditionally does not recognize the concept of persona non grata as applying to UN staff.