Rhino: Agencies – Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz reaffirmed on Sunday his decision to declare United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres persona non grata, due to what he described as Guterres’ failure to condemn Iran’s missile attack and “anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli behavior.”
On Oct. 2, Katz said he had decided to ban Guterres from entering Israel. “Guterres can continue to ask for support from UN member states, but the decision will not change,” he wrote on the X platform on Sunday.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric described Israel’s decision on October 2 as political and “just another attack, so to speak, by the government of Israel on UN staff.” He added that the UN has long not recognized that the concept of persona non grata applies to its staff. A UN spokesperson referred to Dujarric’s earlier comments when asked about the remarks made by Katz on Sunday. Dujarric added in his remarks last week that the UN had not received any official communication from Israel on the matter.
On October 3, the UN Security Council expressed its full support for Guterres, saying in a statement that “any decision not to engage with the UN Secretary-General or the UN is counterproductive, especially in the context of escalating tensions in the Middle East.”

When asked a few days ago whether Israel had declared Guterres persona non grata, Israel’s ambassador to the UN Danny Danon told reporters, “A statement was made… We will evaluate the relationship. We are here at the UN, we work with UN agencies, but we were disappointed.”
Iran fired more than 180 ballistic missiles at Israel on Oct. 1 amid escalating fighting between Israel and the Tehran-allied Lebanese group Hezbollah. Israel intercepted a large number of these missiles, but some penetrated air defense systems.
Guterres condemned the missile attack and the “widening of the conflict in the Middle East.” Earlier that day, Israel had sent troops into southern Lebanon.
During a Security Council meeting on October 2, Guterres said, “As I did in relation to the Iranian attack in April, and as was clear yesterday in the context of the condemnation I expressed, I once again strongly condemn Iran’s massive missile attack yesterday on Israel.”