<div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">The United Nations Security Council on Thursday offered its full support to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, after Israel said he was "persona non grata" for not quickly condemning Iran's ballistic missile barrage.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Without naming Israel, the council's five permanent members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- and the 10 non-permanent members "underscored the need for all member states to have a productive and effective relationship with the secretary-general."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Council also asked member states to "refrain from any actions that undermine his work and that of his office."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Any decision not to engage with the UN secretary-general or the United Nations is counterproductive, especially in the context of escalating tensions in the Middle East," it said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Relations between the UN and Israel -- a state created by a UN resolution in 1947 -- have been difficult since Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack, which sparked the war in Gaza.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On Wednesday, Guterres was declared persona non grata by Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz, who called him an "anti-Israel secretary-general who lends support to terrorists, rapists, and murderers."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Anyone who cannot unequivocally condemn Iran's heinous attack on Israel does not deserve to step foot on Israeli soil," Katz said in a statement.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">That same day, at a tense emergency Security Council meeting on swirling tensions in the Middle East, with both the UN envoys from Iran and Israel in the rooms, Guterres said: "I again strongly condemn yesterday's massive missile attacks by Iran on Israel."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But he did call on all sides to end the "sickening cycle of escalation" of violence, warning it was leading the region "straight over the cliff."</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Guterres has repeatedly called for a ceasefire to halt the fighting in both Gaza and Lebanon.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>