Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, responded to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ comments about sex crimes committed by Hamas.
“The Secretary-General's words only sharpen the fact that when it comes to Israeli women, sexual violence that has been proven by state authorities still needs to be ‘investigated.’ For him, when it comes to Israeli women, you can doubt the facts and wait 55 days to call an unknown party to conduct an ‘investigation.’ He does not acknowledge that Hamas committed these crimes!” said Erdan.
“The Secretary-General was merely trying to calm the justified anger of many around the world for his silence and the silence of the UN. The Secretary-General ignores the shocking sex crimes of Hamas, but when it comes to the claims of Hamas and the ‘Gaza Ministry of Health’ against Israel regarding the humanitarian situation in Gaza, for him there is no doubt and no need for ‘investigations,’” he added.
“Next week we will hold an important event at the UN where we will present findings proving that Hamas committed sexual crimes. I once again invite the Secretary-General to come, unequivocally condemn Hamas for committing these shocking crimes, and act to open an investigation against Hamas,” concluded Erdan.
Earlier on Wednesday, nearly two months after the Hamas massacre of October 7, Guterres finally acknowledged that Hamas committed acts of sexual violence during the attack.
“There are numerous accounts of sexual violence during the abhorrent acts of terror by Hamas on 7 October that must be vigorously investigated and prosecuted,” Guterres wrote on X.
“Gender-based violence must be condemned. Anytime. Anywhere,” he added.
Israel has criticized UN Women for its failure to condemn the rape and murder of Israeli women by Hamas terrorists during the October 7 attack.
Survivor testimony and interrogation of captured terrorists gathered by the Israel Police found that the Hamas terrorists who perpetrated the October 7 attack committed mass rape against their victims during the massacre.
Israel's First Lady, Michal Herzog, last week published an opinion piece in Newsweek, expressing the sense of outrage and betrayal over the international community's failure to condemn the use of gender-based sexual violence by Hamas.
Guterres 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.