Israel will not reverse decision to declare UN Chief persona non grata – Foreign Ministry

Israel has no intention of reconsidering its earlier decision to declare UN Secretary-General António Guterres persona non grata, a status that bars him from entering Israel on diplomatic grounds, Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz said.

“I have declared UN Secretary-General António Guterres persona non grata and banned him from entering the country due to his failure to condemn the Iranian missile attack on Israel and his anti-Semitic and anti-Israel behavior. A poll found that 87% of the Israeli population supported the decision. Guterres can continue to try to gather support from UN members, but the decision will not be changed,” Katz wrote on his account on the social media platform X.

Earlier in October, Katz declared the UN Secretary-General persona non grata and banned him from entering the country for failing to condemn Iran’s retaliatory missile attack on October 1.

The Israeli foreign minister also accused the UN Secretary General of supporting the Palestinian group Hamas’s armed resistance, saying Guterres “will be remembered as a stain on the history of the UN.”