The spokesperson for the German government, Steffen Hebestreit, announced on Wednesday that "Germany considers calls for the resignation of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres due to his stance on the Middle East conflict to be inappropriate." In a press conference, Hebestreit stated, "The situation today is extremely tense and causes concern for everyone. I do not feel that such demands for resignation are appropriate at this time." He affirmed that "the Secretary-General of the United Nations certainly enjoys the trust of the German government."
Antonio Guterres stated in a speech during an open discussion on the situation in the Middle East at the UN Security Council on Tuesday that he unequivocally condemns Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, while also reminding that this did not happen in a vacuum, and that the Palestinian people "have lived under suffocating occupation for 56 years." In response, Israel's permanent representative to the UN, Gilad Erdan, called for the UN Secretary-General to resign immediately due to his failure to understand the "mass murder campaign against children, women, and the elderly" launched by Hamas. For his part, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen announced that he would no longer hold meetings with Guterres.
