JEDDAH, Thursday, October 26, 2023 (WAFA) - The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) condemned in the strongest terms the unethical and illegal attack by Israel, the occupying power, against the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as an act of political blackmail against the UN and its Secretary-General.

The OIC considered the Secretary-General’s speech at the Security Council to be in line with his duties and responsibilities derived from international law, international humanitarian law, as well as from the charter and resolutions of the United Nations.

The OIC also expressed its profound respect to the Secretary-General for the role of the United Nations agencies and their tireless efforts at all levels to stop the war crimes being perpetrated by the Israeli occupation against the Palestinian people, their land, and holy sites.

In his address to the UN Security Council, which met on Tuesday at UN Headquarters in New York for a scheduled quarterly open debate on the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine, Guterres said that it was important to recognize the attack on Israel on October 7 "did not happen in a vacuum."

"The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation", he added.

Israeli officials condemned Guterres for his honest remarks at the UN and therefore called on the UN Secretary-General to "resign immediately," while boycotting him.

M.K.