JERUSALEM, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- Israeli political leaders told visiting United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Monday that Israel would not accept Iranian military bases in Syria.
During the meeting between the UN chief and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the latter accused Iran of "turning Syria into a base of military entrenchment" and using Syria and Lebanon "as waterfronts against its declared goal to eradicate Israel."
Netanyahu said that Iran is building production sites of precision-guided missiles in both Syria and Lebanon to use them against Israel.
"This is something Israel cannot accept. This is something the UN should not accept," Netanyahu said.
Speaking at a joint press conference, Netanyahu also slammed the UN for allowing "Palestinian hatred speech to flourish in its institutions."
He said the UN has failed to fulfill its peace mandate when it comes to Israel because of "anti-Israel" resolution it took, addressing specifically to resolutions by the UN's cultural agency, UNESCO, which "absurdly denies" the ties between the Jewish people and Jerusalem.
Guterres, who is on his first visit to the region since taking office in January, responded to Netanyahu by saying that he will "do everything in his capacity" to ensure UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, fulfills its obligations.
"I understand the security concerns of Israel," said the UN chief. "And I repeat that the idea or the intention or the will to destroy the State of Israel is something totally unacceptable from my perspective."
Later, Guterres met with Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who warned that Israel will not stand still in the wake of Iranian military presence near Israel's northern border.
"This is unacceptable and we are determined to prevent any threat to the security of the citizens of Israel," Lieberman said.
Guterres kicked off his three-day trip to Israel and the Palestinian National Authority with a visit to Yad Vashem, Israel's official Holocaust memorial museum, where he laid a wreath to honor the Jewish victims of the Nazis. He cautioned that antisemitism is still "alive and well" nowadays and vowed to combat all forms of racism.
On Tuesday, he is expected to meet Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah in the West Bank. On Wednesday, he is scheduled to travel to the Gaza Strip, where a ten-year blockade imposed by Israel has brought the Palestinian enclave to a humanitarian crisis.
