Israel
Israel to start scrutinising UN staff visas and could ban some officials from Jewish state
The move was announced by the Israeli Foreign Ministry
December 27, 2023 10:58
The move was announced by the Israeli Foreign Ministry
December 27, 2023 10:58(JNS) Israel may begin barring entry to United Nations officials and will decide whether to grant visas to them on a case-by-case basis, a spokesperson for the Israeli Foreign Ministry has said.
The diplomatic move was made following the “disgraceful” response by the international body to Hamas’s October 7 massacre, in which the terror group murdered more than 1,200 people in Israel, the Foreign Ministry added.
Until now, the Jewish state had automatically granted entry visas to UN personnel, according to media reports.
Jerusalem has in recent weeks accused UN Secretary-General António Guterres, UN Women and other international agencies of ignoring or even legitimizing the atrocities committed by Palestinian terrorist organizations, including the murder, rape and kidnapping of civilians.
On December 6, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen went as far as calling Guterres’ tenure as UN chief “a danger to world peace.”
Cohen’s comments came after Guterres wrote a missive to the Security Council under Article 99 of the UN Charter, which allows the secretary-general to bring to the council’s attention issues that he perceives as a threat to international security.
It was the first time Guterres had invoked the clause since assuming office in 2017, and the first time any U.N. chief has done so since 1989.
“I don’t think any UN secretary-general in history has gone so far to secure the survival of a terrorist organisation,” an Israeli government spokesman subsequently told journalists.
For its part, UN Women, which purports to advocate for gender equity and female empowerment, took nearly 50 days to condemn Hamas terrorists for raping and sexually assaulting Israeli and other women on October 7.
However, in spite of strongly worded statements, the Israeli government has repeatedly flip-flopped on the issue of admitting UN officials into the Jewish state.
In late October, Jerusalem announced that “each entry into Israel of UN officials will be examined on its merits,” adding that “Israel has expressed its severe disappointment at the conduct of UN bodies and statements of their leaders.”
However, on October 31, Israel approved an entry visa for UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths.
The Foreign Ministry said Griffiths’ trip had been authorised “at the request of other states to expedite the departure of foreign nationals from the Gaza Strip.”
Last week, the JC reported that a leading United Nations official had been accused of breaching impartiality rules after she liked tweets that condemned Israeli "genocide" and claimed the "forces of empire" were teaming up to crush the Palestinian people's "struggle for freedom".
Sarah Douglas, the deputy chief for peace, security and resilience at UN Women, endorsed a string of incendiary claims on social media following Hamas’s October 7 attack.
The revelations have led senior politicians - including American senators Rick Scott and Marsha Blackburn - to call for the bureaucrat to be stripped of her office.