Guterres told delegates at the World Jewish Congress that “Israel needs to be treated like any other UN member state” and that it had an “undeniable right to exist and to live in peace and security with its neighbors.”
Guterres also recalled the history of his native Portugal, where Jews in the Middle Ages suffered from a “systematic policy of discrimination” and were eventually expelled, calling this a “tremendous crime and the most stupid mistake ever made in Portugal.”
“Anti-Semitism never died despite the shock of the Holocaust,” Guterres acknowledged, noting the prevalence of hate speech on the internet as well as vandalism against Jewish sites and cemeteries.
Guterres’ talk marked the first time that a UN secretary general addressed a gathering of Jewish leaders.
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