The United Nations has long been a hotbed of antisemitism, and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres added to that legacy on Tuesday by implying that, while the Hamas attacks were bad, Israel ultimately had it coming.
After making a passing reference to how he condemned the October 7 Hamas attacks on Jewish civilians, Guterres launched into an attack on Israel.
“It is important to also recognize the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum,” Guterres said. “The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation. They have seen their land steadily devoured by settlements and plagued by violence; their economy stifled; their people displaced and their homes demolished. Their hopes for a political solution to their plight have been vanishing.”
While he insists that he is not saying that one justifies the other, that is exactly what he is attempting to do. His little history lesson also neglects important facts: In 2005, Israel withdrew from Gaza and unilaterally dismantled settlements there; the Gaza economy is a mess because Hamas has stolen billions of dollars of aid to help finance its terrorism operations; Palestinians have seen their homes demolished because Hamas launches rockets from civilian neighborhoods; there is no political solution because Hamas would only accept the total elimination of Jews from Israel.
In his talk, Guterres also demanded an “immediate humanitarian cease-fire,” which is tantamount to saying Israel should simply absorb the fact that its nation was invaded by terrorists, that its people were raped, kidnapped, and killed, and that its babies were burned. If Guterres has his way, Hamas will live on to carry out more attacks in the future.