Israel ramps up feud with UN, vowing to ‘teach them a lesson’

Israel said Wednesday it has denied a visa to a senior United Nations official to “teach them a lesson,” escalating the country’s growing dispute with the U.N.

On Tuesday, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said during a Security Council meeting that the violent Hamas attack against Israel on October 7 “did not happen in a vacuum,” triggering furious reactions from Israel.

In response, Israel’s U.N. ambassador Gilad Erdan told Israeli radio on Wednesday morning that the country has denied a visa to U.N. Under Secretary-General Martin Griffiths, following Guterres’ comments.

“Due to his remarks we will refuse to issue visas to U.N. representatives … The time has come to teach them a lesson,” Erdan told Army Radio, reported Times of Israel.

Guterres followed up in the early hours of Wednesday morning, saying that the “horrendous attacks” by Hamas “cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.”

Guterres’ initial “vacuum” remarks were slammed by Erdan, who said “the Secretary-General is completely disconnected from the reality in our region” and called for his resignation. Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen also announced he would no longer meet with Guterres.

Some top Western officials have been appealing to Israel to mitigate its response against civilians in Gaza, a coastal strip of land where more than two million Palestinians live and where Hamas militants are in control.

Following Hamas’ deadly attack in early October, which killed more than 1,400 people, Israel has carried out relentless retaliatory airstrikes and put the Gaza Strip under a “complete siege,” cutting off fuel, electricity and water.