Jerusalem – UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has faced intense criticism for failing to explicitly condemn the Hamas terrorist group that killed one American and five Israelis on Saturday.
The Israel Defense Forces were attempting to rescue six hostages held by Hamas, including Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg Pollin, in an underground tunnel in the Gaza Strip city of Rafah when they found all six killed by the terror group. The Israel TimesThe hostages were killed sometime between Thursday and Friday morning, the report said, citing the Israeli Health Ministry.
“I will never forget my meeting with Hersh Goldberg Pollin's parents and other hostage families last October. Today's tragic news is a harsh reminder of the need to unconditionally release all hostages and end the nightmare of war in Gaza,” Guterres wrote on X.
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Guterres' post on X drew criticism from former Israeli ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, who said he was downplaying the seriousness of the murder by describing the news simply as “tragic” and not fully condemning Hamas.
A spokesman for Guterres did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
“They are ripping the UN Charter to shreds,” Israeli UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan said during a special UN General Assembly session on Palestine's application for full UN membership at UN Headquarters in New York on May 10, 2024. Palestine's application for full UN membership has already been blocked by a US veto at the April 18, 2024 UN Security Council meeting. (Photo: Charlie Triborough/AFP) (Photo: Charlie Triborough/AFP via Getty Images)
Erdan, who stepped down as ambassador last month, told Fox News Digital: “The Secretary-General not only has Israeli blood on his hands, but also American blood. Since his 'sham' meeting with the hostage families, he has done nothing to help them. He could have called for a Red Cross visit or condemned Hamas and held them accountable, but instead spent his time criticizing law-abiding Israeli democracy, rather than terrorists like ISIS.”
Erdan continued: “This is the lowest point for the Secretary-General. Even today, he will not condemn the evil Hamas terrorists, but of course he cannot condemn those he supports. Hamas terrorists can only survive by relying on a morally bankrupt Secretary-General whose only actions are meaningless photo ops with hostage families and criticizing Israel, while innocent hostages are executed in cold blood.”
Thousands of Israelis gathered in Ra'anana to pay their final respects to Almog Salsi, the 26-year-old sound and lighting technician Hamas abducted from the Nova music festival, held captive and killed. Israeli forces discovered Salsi's body along with five others on Saturday. (Yossi Zeliger/TPS-IL)
“UN Secretary-General Guterres is despicably turning the cold-blooded murder of Israeli hostages by Palestinian terrorists into a terrorist victory. He refuses to release the names of the perpetrators and equates their horrific, systematic execution with Israeli efforts to secure their release,” Anne Bayevsky, director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust and executive director of Human Rights Voice, told Fox News Digital.
Hamas terrorists take part in a military parade. Three Palestinian migrants intercepted at the southern border were detained on suspicion of terrorist ties. (REUTERS/Ibrahim Abu Mustafa/File Photo)
She added, “The UN's highest organs – the Security Council, the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council – have never specifically condemned Hamas. It is now clearer than ever that the UN is denying Israel's right to self-defense and encouraging violence against Israeli citizens. No amount of photos the UN takes with hostages and their families can erase the reality of the UN's insidious role in Israel's 70-year war nightmare.”
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TOPSHOT – United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks during a UN Security Council meeting on the Gaza issue at UN Headquarters in New York City, Dec. 8, 2023. As Israel intensifies its military operations against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Guterres said on Dec. 8, 2023 that Hamas' atrocities in no way justify “collective punishment” against the Palestinian people. (Photo by Yuki Iwamura/AFP via Getty Images)
Erdan called on Guterres to resign in October after he alleged that the U.N. chief implied Israeli responsibility for the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre that killed about 1,200 people, including more than 30 Americans, and kidnapped more than 250. Guterres denied Erdan's accusations, but the U.N. has long been viewed by critics as a bastion of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bigotry.
Bloody handprints remain on the wall of a house after Hamas terrorists attacked Kibbutz Nir Oz near the Gaza border a few days ago. (Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images)
Under Guterres's leadership, a number of UN agencies have been embroiled in scandals over their sympathy for Hamas, including the scandal-plagued UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). Facing lawsuit in Manhattan He is accused of supporting the October 7 massacre carried out by the terrorist organization Hamas.
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Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, slammed Secretary-General Guterres' decision not to name those responsible for the mass murder of the six. “Hamas has just killed six Israeli and American hostages with a shot in the head. Why can't you say that? Why can't you condemn them?” Neuer said in a post on X.
Hamas is not on the UN's list of terrorist organizations. Fox News Digital sent a press release to Israel's current UN ambassador and its foreign ministry.
