After 16 days of war on Gaza, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, dared to say only what he saw and what the whole world saw. His statements came as Israel did not want, so it launched a brutal war against him. However, the United Nations organization had historically struggled with everything related to Israel and some major countries. Which she wants as her eyes to see the world's affairs and conflicts and determine its destinies.

The sight of Guterres in front of the Rafah crossing on October 20 was a humanitarian one, as he called for urgent aid for the besieged residents of Gaza who were being subjected to relentless Israeli bombing. But it was a scene that raised even more astonishment about the inability of the international organization to act against Israel, even in the minimum.

Guterres called for aid to be brought into Gaza because it is a lifeline for two million people who are being bombed and besieged (French)

To speak the truths that everyone knows and sees, the Secretary-General of the United Nations must have a lot of courage, especially with regard to Israel’s crimes and its denial of international law, UN resolutions, international norms, and the principles of international humanitarian law. In a way, the United Nations organization must forget the basis of its existence and look with the blink of an eye or A completely blind eye to what Israel is doing.

Red lines

The Portuguese diplomat (74 years old) is not classified as a critic of Israel, and there is nothing in his history that indicates this. In October 2020, the World Jewish Congress awarded him the Theodor Herzl Award (founder of modern Zionism), and the Congress’s president, Ronald Lauder, described him at the honoring ceremony by saying, “ Over many years, you have proven to be a true and loyal friend of the Jewish people and the State of Israel.”

Antonio Guterres struggled throughout the days of the Israeli aggression on Gaza to remain silent to avoid an Israeli storm, which he knew would confront him if he spoke about facts that Israel sees as red lines that require investment in them.

In his briefing to the Security Council, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, expressed his concern about “the clear violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza,” stressed that “no party to the armed conflict is not above this law,” and also explained that “the Palestinian people are subject to occupation.” suffocating for 56 years,” and that “Hamas’ attack did not come out of nowhere,” warning of “collective punishment of the Palestinian people.”

Although he also said in his speech that “nothing justifies the horrific attacks by Hamas,” he had crossed the imaginary red lines that Israel has drawn for the United Nations and its employees throughout the decades of conflict. Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen sharply denounced Guterres, while Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, called on him to resign, and wrote a post on his account on the "X" platform in which he said that the Secretary-General of the United Nations, who "has shown an understanding of terrorism and murder, is not fit to lead the United Nations." ".

Guterres came to the United Nations Secretariat, carrying with him a historical legacy of anti-colonial ideas and calling for the right of peoples to self-determination. The man was part of the “Carnation Revolution” that overthrew the authoritarian dictatorship of the Second Republic in Portugal (Estado Novo), founded by Antonio Salazar, in 1933. Since 1968, Marcelo Caetano succeeded him as Prime Minister, when he belonged to the Portuguese Socialist Party shortly after its inception in 1973, and remained active in it and held many governmental responsibilities in his country.

For many years, Guterres was active in International Socialism, an international organization that brings together social democratic parties. He served as vice-president of the organization from 1992 to 1999, and its president from 1999 until mid-2005. He served as Prime Minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002. Guterres was a member of the Portuguese Council of State from 1991 to 2002. Even dormant thoughts had to awaken to the horror of what is happening in Gaza.

From the perspective of ideas, humanitarian principles, and facts on the ground, Guterres should have spoken more than that about Israeli crimes. He has in the United Nations records of known and confidential reports what is shocking, terrifying, and also surprising about the United Nations’ historical inability, but he was too diplomatic. From the perspective of the interests and balances that he knew in the UN establishment, he chose to speak as little as possible, and yet he was not immune from Israeli accusations.

From the perspective of interests, it is likely that the Secretaries-General of the United Nations, before assuming their duties, are familiar with the past of their colleagues in the position. There is no doubt that Guterres knew about the late Swedish Secretary-General of the United Nations, Dag Hammarskjöld (1953-1961) or the late Austrian Kurt Waldheim (1972-1981). It is assumed that he studied the file of the UN mediator, Count Bernadotte (May 20, 1948 - September 17, 1948), even though he was not Secretary-General, and there is no doubt that he knew that the Arab-Israeli conflict and the Palestinian issue were the starting point in the work of the international organization throughout its history and the career and reputation of its general secretaries.

On the edge of an Israeli knife

The former Secretary-General of the United Nations, Austrian Kurt Waldheim (1972-1981), who believes in the global role of the United Nations, clashed with Israel when UN resolutions were issued against the Israeli occupation policy, especially Resolutions: 35-122 of December 11, 1980, which condemned Israel for imposing the Legislation that entails changes in the character and status of the Golan, and Resolution 35-207 of December 16 of the same year, which renews the strong rejection of Israel’s decision to annex the Golan and Jerusalem, as well as Resolution 36-147 issued on the same day, which condemned Israel for its attempts to impose nationality Israeli forces forcibly imposed on Syrian citizens in the Golan.

The positions of Waldheim and the United Nations organization that were relatively supportive of Palestinian rights and his belief in the constructive work of the United Nations caused him to be subjected to severe Israeli and American accusations and pressure, which undermined his chances of running for a third term at the helm of the United Nations. He was accused of being an officer in the Nazi army, and was banned from entering the United States, despite his success in the Austrian elections to become Chancellor of Austria in 1986, the accusations and global campaign against him did not abate.

In turn, the Swede Dag Hammarskjöld (1953-1961) worked to ensure that the United Nations was neutral and effective, and his favorite slogan was:

"The United Nations was not founded to lead people to heaven, but to protect them from hell" By Dag Hammarskjöld

Israeli officials were not comfortable with Hammarskjöld, with his neutral personality, at the head of the international organization. The Swedish diplomat stood up to Israeli efforts and American pressure in 1958 to deploy international forces in the Bekaa Valley and between Syria and Lebanon, stressing that Lebanon had never requested such forces, and that even if that had happened, it would have been logistically impossible.

At the height of the Cold War, and the unification between Egypt and Syria under the name of the United Arab Republic (1958-1961), this was an Israeli, American and Atlantic demand whose rejection did not go unpunished and without a fierce diplomatic media campaign against Hammarskjöld, who was later killed when his plane crashed while he was heading to the Congo on the day September 18, 1961, in an incident that remains mysterious until now.

Peruvian Javier Perer de Cuellar (1982-1991) was subjected to a systematic Israeli and American campaign in light of his support for United Nations General Assembly Resolution 176/43 on November 15, 1988 regarding holding an international peace conference in the Middle East, under the auspices of the United Nations, and affirmed principles for achieving comprehensive peace, the sovereignty of the Palestinian people over their lands occupied by Israel in 1967.

At the same session, Resolution 43/177 was adopted, in which the declaration of the State of Palestine was recognized. Israel and the United States greatly resented De Cuellar for his encouragement of the two resolutions. Resolutions 43/176 and 43/177 were widely supported by states and non-governmental organizations around the world and opposed by the United States and Israel.

Although he was not known for making statements or positions against Israel, the former South Korean Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon (2007-2016), was not spared Israeli criticism during his term when Benjamin Netanyahu himself accused him of “encouraging terrorism and that there is no excuse for terrorism” after his statement that “thwarting The Palestinians are increasingly under the weight of half a century of occupation and the paralysis of the peace process. As oppressed peoples have proven for centuries, it is human nature to react to the occupation, which often serves as a powerful incubator for hatred and extremism.

The Ghanaian Kofi Annan (1997-2006) and the Egyptian Boutros Ghali (1992-1996) were also not spared from Israeli accusations and pressures during their reigns, and the United States had refused to take Ghali for a second term as the General Secretariat of the United Nations.

At the beginning of the work of the United Nations, the first UN Secretary-General, Norwegian Trygve Halfdan Lee (1946-1952), paid a price for the neutral and impartial activity of the UN mediator, the Swedish Count Falke Bernadotte.

Count Bernadotte, the international mediator for the United Nations in Palestine, had presented a plan on June 27, 1948, which included a set of proposals affirming that “the residents of Palestine, if they leave it due to the circumstances resulting from the existing conflict, have the right to return to their country without restriction, recover their property, and place Jewish immigration under international regulation” so as not to cause an increase in Arab fears, as well as keeping all of Jerusalem under Arab sovereignty while granting the Jewish community in Jerusalem autonomy in managing its religious affairs, in addition to some border adjustments between Arabs and Jews, including annexing the Negev to the Arab borders and the Galilee to the Israeli state.

The leaders of the Zionist movement revolted against the United Nations, its Secretary-General, and its mediator, Count Bernadotte, and the partition resolution that it approved (despite its unfairness to Palestinian and Arab interests). On November 30, 1947, Menachem Begin, who was then one of the leaders of the Zionist “Etzel” gang, declared that “the legitimacy of partition was invalid.” And that all of the “Promised Land,” which includes all of Mandatory Palestine (including Transjordan), belongs to the Jews and will remain so forever.”

It was later known that the "Stern" gang, led by later Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir (from 1983 to 1984 and from 1986 to 1992), assassinated Count Bernadotte, after which liquidation and assassination operations became an Israeli security and policy doctrine.

Thus, since its founding, the work of the United Nations in Palestine began with a crime against one of its senior employees, Count Bernadotte, and it was registered against an unknown person in the files of the United Nations itself when the Zionist gangs assassinated Bernadotte on September 17, 1948 in Jerusalem, and since that date the Israeli pressures on the United Nations have continued on its general secretaries with campaigns of defamation, intimidation and moral assassination.

Source: Al Jazeera