Foreign Minister Eli Cohen on Wednesday blasted United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, after he invoked the rarely used Article 99 of the UN Charter in an attempt to force the Security Council to act to stop the ongoing war between Israel and the Hamas terrorist organization.

“Guterres’ tenure is a danger to world peace. His request to activate Article 99 and a call for a ceasefire in Gaza constitutes support for the Hamas terrorist organization, and provides a tailwind for the murder of the elderly, the kidnapping of babies and the rape of women,” Cohen wrote on X.

“Those who support world peace must support the liberation of Gaza from Hamas,” he added.

Article 99 of the UN Chater states, "The Secretary-General may bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security." This is the first time Guterres has invoked this article since becoming Secretary-General. He did not do so in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine or the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban following America's withdrawal in 2021.”

In a post to X, Guterres wrote: "Facing a severe risk of collapse of the humanitarian system in Gaza, I urge the Council to help avert a humanitarian catastrophe & appeal for a humanitarian ceasefire to be declared."

UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told reporters that Guterres took this course of action “given the scale of the loss of human life in Gaza and Israel, in such a short amount of time.”

Dujarric said that invoking Article 99 is a "dramatic constitutional move" designed to put greater pressure on the Security Council to act in accordance with the Secretary-General's wishes and that it is "the most powerful tool that he has."

This is the latest anti-Israel move by the UN Secretary-General, who recently caused an uproar when he said that Hamas’ attack on Israel “did not happen in a vacuum” and appeared to blame Israel for the attack.

After his remarks were widely condemned, Guterres claimed his comments were misinterpreted and that he had indeed condemned Hamas.

He later criticized Israel once again, claiming that the high numbers of civilian casualties reported from Gaza show that there is something "clearly wrong" with Israel's response to the Hamas attack on October 7.

Last week, almost two months after the Hamas massacre, Guterres finally acknowledged that Hamas terrorists performed acts of sexual violence against women, but only said that this “must be vigorously investigated and prosecuted.”

Source - INN/X - Image - Flash90