Tag Archives: Antonio Guterres

“This is an anti-Israel secretary-general who lends support to terrorists, rapists and murderers”

anti-Israel secretary general

Important Takeaways:

  • The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) met on Wednesday following Iran’s unprecedented attack on Israel, but overshadowing the meeting was Israel’s announcement that it had banned the U.N. secretary-general due to his failure to condemn Iran.
  • “Anyone who cannot unequivocally condemn Iran’s heinous attack on Israel does not deserve to step foot on Israeli soil,” Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said about the decision to declare U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as persona non grata.
  • “This is an anti-Israel secretary-general who lends support to terrorists, rapists and murderers,” Katz argued. “Guterres will be remembered as a stain on the history of the U.N. for generations to come.”
  • Guterres on Tuesday issued a brief statement following Iran’s attack, calling it the “latest attacks in the Middle East” and broadly condemned the conflict as “escalation after escalation.”
  • He also slammed Israel for its actions in Gaza and the West Bank, claiming that Israel has “conducted in Gaza the most deadly and destructive military campaign in my years.”
  • “The suffering endured by the Palestinian people in Gaza is beyond imagination,” Guterres said. “At the same time, the situation in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, continues to deteriorate, with Israeli military operations.”
  • “This is a secretary-general who has yet to denounce the massacre and sexual atrocities committed by Hamas murderers on Oct. 7 and has not led any resolutions to declare them a terrorist organization,” Katz continued.
  • “Israel will continue to defend its citizens and uphold its national dignity, with or without António Guterres.”

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U.N.’s Guterres calls for $35 billion more for WHO COVID-19 program

ZURICH (Reuters) – United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres called for $35 billion more, including $15 billion in the next three months, for the World Health Organization’s (WHO) “ACT Accelerator” program to back vaccines, treatments and diagnostics against COVID-19.

Some $3 billion has been contributed so far, Guterres told an online event on Thursday, calling it “seed funding” that was less than 10% of what the WHO wants for the program, formally called Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator.

Financial support has, so far, lagged goals, as nations or governments including the European Union, Britain, Japan and the United States reach bilateral deals for vaccines, prompting Guterres and WHO General Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to plead to nations to contribute.

“We now need $35 billion more to go from ‘start up’ to ‘scale up and impact’,” Guterres said in online remarks at a meeting of a council formed to help the ACT Accelerator gain traction. “There is real urgency in these numbers. Without an infusion of $15 billion over the next three months, beginning immediately, we will lose the window of opportunity.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen pledged backing, having in August already promised 400 million euros ($474 million) to the COVAX vaccine portion of the program.

“It is difficult to find a more compelling investment case. The European Commission will remain deeply and entirely committed to the success of the ACT Accelerator,” von der Leyen said. “The world needs it, we all need it.”

Tedros renewed calls for scaling up COVID-19 clinical trials. AstraZeneca this week suspended late-stage trials on its potential vaccine after an illness in a participant in Britain. Chief Executive Pascal Soriot said on Thursday if safety reviewers allow a restart, the company should still know by year’s end if its vaccine works.

(Reporting by John Miller; Editing by Michael Shields)