PSD Vice-President Paulo Rangel said this Wednesday that the clarifications made by the United Nations Secretary-General on the statements he made on Monday resolved the dispute, but believes that in reality it was a “less happy” phrase.
“The clarification given by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, our compatriot António Guterres, is an important clarification. In fact, controversy has arisen throughout the international press because yesterday’s statements [segunda-feira]In any case, at least they were not happy, especially one sentence,” Paulo Rangel told reporters at the European Parliament (EP) in Brussels.
The Social Democrats’ vice-president said he was “absolutely sure” that António Guterres “did not, under any circumstances, want to justify terrorism.”
“But it is true that there is a less happy phrase that implies clarification. The UN Secretary-General, in order to perform his role well, often has to maintain this neutrality,” he added.
Paulo Rangel expressed the hope that Antonio Guterres “will retain the ability to dialogue with the parties involved – and in particular with those responsible for Palestine, on the one hand, and the rulers of Israel, on the other – and that this capital will be returned after clarification,” made by the Secretary General of the United Nations (UN).
We are talking about statements made by António Guterres on Tuesday at the opening of a meeting of the UN Security Council in English, in which he considered “it is also important to recognize that the Hamas attacks did not occur in a vacuum,” adding that “… the Palestinian people for 56 was subjected to a suffocating occupation for years.”
The UN Secretary-General stated that “the grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the horrific attacks by Hamas,” just as “these horrific attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.”
At the beginning of his speech, António Guterres said that he “unequivocally condemns the horrific and unprecedented terrorist attacks by Hamas in Israel” and that “nothing can justify the deliberate death, injury and kidnapping of civilians – or the launching of rockets against civilians.” goals”.
In response to these statements at the same meeting, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen accused António Guterres of being out of touch with reality and showing understanding of the October 7 Hamas attack in a “shocking speech.”
On the social network X (formerly Twitter), Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan called for the immediate resignation of Antonio Guterres from the post of Secretary General of this organization.
This Wednesday, Gilad Erdan announced Israel’s decision not to issue visas to UN representatives in an interview with Israeli Army Radio.
Regarding this decision, the PSD vice-president stated that the phrase “less happy” is “between two phrases that clearly condemn the attack, but there is no doubt that this phrase can be misinterpreted.”
“In this first moment you came to clarify the situation, [Guterres] he was left in a less comfortable position than before, I do not say that he was weakened, but with less opportunity to intervene,” noted Paulo Rangel.