Last week, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that Hamas attacks on Israel “did not occur in a vacuum”. It provoked strong reactions from Israel, where, among others, the Israeli UN ambassador demanded Guterres’ immediate resignation.
In SVT’s program 30 minutes, sharp criticism was also directed at Guterres from Israel’s ambassador to Sweden.
– It sounds like he works for the Palestinians, he said then.
Former diplomat: Nothing new
Anders Lidén is a former top diplomat and has, among other things, also been Sweden’s ambassador to Israel. He says that it is nothing new that Israel questions the UN.
– Israel has long criticized the UN for being biased. The vast majority of UN member states sympathize with the Palestinians, while it is mostly the West that takes Israel’s side, he says.
In the UN, in principle only the Security Council can make decisions that are binding on the member states. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, there have been great difficulties in arriving at a decision, says Lidén. Among other things, he points to the fact that Russia has veto power in the Security Council.
“If you try to be balanced, you are seen as a defender”
Otherwise, the UN functions primarily as an opinion body in conflicts such as the ongoing one in the Middle East, says Anders Lidén. Secretary-General Guterres is like a spokesperson for the UN, and his task is difficult:
– Whatever he says, it will be perceived as him taking a stand for one party and that he relativizes the conflict. Both sides see themselves as victims in this war, and if you try to be balanced, it is very easy to be seen as a defender of one side, Lidén says.
The UN General Assembly last week voted through a resolution for an immediate ceasefire in the war. 45 countries abstained from voting, including Sweden.
– It received rather limited support because it did not clearly and unambiguously condemn Hamas’ acts of terror in Israel, says Anders Lidén.