The UN Secretary-General opened the UN General Assembly debate just a day after the Israeli bombardment of Lebanon killed more than half a thousand people. “The state of our world is unsustainable, we cannot continue like this,” he warned, warning that Lebanon is on the “brink of the abyss.” “The Lebanese people, the Israeli people and the entire world cannot allow Lebanon to become another Gaza,” he said.
Guterres veiledly accused Russia and Israel of behaving with total “impunity,” as if they had a Monopli card to “get out of jail.” “The level of impunity in this world is politically indefensible and morally intolerable,” the secretary-general lamented.
“The speed and scale of the killing and destruction in Gaza is unlike anything I have seen in my years as secretary-general,” Guterres said, adding that the Israeli offensive is “collective punishment of the Palestinian people.”
“Nothing can justify the heinous acts of terror committed by Hamas on October 7 or the hostage-taking – two acts that I have repeatedly condemned – and nothing can justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people,” he said to applause.
Also among the representatives of member countries, for the first time, was Palestine, which has a non-voting seat in the assembly after voting in favour of granting it more rights in May.
Brazilian President José Ignacio Lula Da Silva congratulated the Palestinian delegation on its presence. However, Palestine still does not benefit from recognition as a full member state, since this must be voted on in the Security Council, where the United States maintains the blockade in the name of the interests of its partner, Israel.
