Alexandra Sharp
Foreign Policy / October 2, 2024
As the fighting in Lebanon heats up, Israel is also pledging to respond to Iran’s ballistic missile attack.
At least eight Israeli soldiers were killed in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, marking the deadliest Israeli military loss against Hezbollah this past year and the first reported ground clash since Israel invaded its northern neighbour the day before. Around 1.2 million people in Lebanon have been displaced by Israeli attacks, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Wednesday, as Israeli-issued evacuation orders expanded to cover a quarter of all Lebanese territory.
Yet as the fighting in Lebanon intensifies, Israel is also continuing its offensive against Hamas in Gaza, killing at least 65 Palestinians overnight on Wednesday, and has vowed retaliation for Iran’s ballistic missile attack against Israel on Tuesday. Tehran “will pay” for its actions, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned, with another Israeli official telling ABC News that “Israel’s response to Iran’s attack will be significant and come fast,” without specifying what that might look like.
The United Nations Security Council convened an emergency session on Wednesday to discuss Iran’s recent operation and how to prevent a wider Middle East war. Yet Israel is far from satisfied with the international body’s actions. On Wednesday, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz declared U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres “persona non grata,” barring him from entering the country.
“Anyone who cannot unequivocally condemn Iran’s heinous attack on Israel, as almost every country in the world has done, does not deserve to step foot on Israeli soil,” Katz wrote on X. He accused Guterres of not leading efforts to classify Hamas as a terrorist organization and failing to denounce Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, as well as its use of sexual violence against civilians. In April, a U.N. commission omitted Hamas from its blacklist of state and nonstate actors that were guilty of sexual violence in 2023, citing a lack of what it considered credible evidence.
Following Iran’s ballistic missile attack on Tuesday, Guterres urged for a cease-fire but did not specifically mention Tehran. He clarified his statement on Wednesday, saying, “As should have been obvious yesterday in the context of the condemnation I expressed, I again strongly condemn yesterday’s massive missile attack by Iran on Israel.” His past statements have largely centered on de-escalation to avoid “all-out war” in Lebanon and protect the country’s territorial integrity.
Israel has a fraught history with the U.N., as well as other international bodies such as the International Criminal Court (ICC). Israel has accused them of holding the country to double standards—ignoring other states’ human rights abuses while singling out Israel. In May, the ICC issued arrest warrants for three Hamas leaders, Netanyahu, and another Israeli senior official. And of the 195 cases submitted to the International Court of Justice since its creation in 1947, only two of those have been against Israel.
Israel has also failed to abide by U.N. resolutions numerous times since its founding.
Alexandra Sharp is the World Brief writer at Foreign Policy
