(JNS) The United Nations is delaying the opening of a humanitarian zone in the Gaza Strip so as not to be seen as supporting Israel over the Palestinians, Israel’s Channel 12 reported on Tuesday, November 14.

Martin Griffiths, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator at the United Nations, has held up a plan to create a safe zone in southern Gaza, according to the news site.

Likud MK Danny Danon and Yesh Atid MK Ram Ben Barak laid out their proposal in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece published on Monday, arguing that resettling Gazan civilians is a global responsibility and looking at Europe’s past experience absorbing millions of refugees from the wars in the former Yugoslavia, the Syrian civil war and other conflicts.

On Tuesday, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres “does not deserve to lead the United Nations. Guterres did not promote any peace process in the region.

On Nov. 8, the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations held a hearing examining the United Nations’ record on Israel.

“Make no mistake, antisemitic bigotry is at the root of the U.N.’s hostility to Israel, which is ugly, evil and manifests itself in almost every U.N. entity,” said Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), who chairs the committee.

“The United Nations is unquestionably the world’s foremost legitimizer of antisemitism, including in its most virulent and violent forms,” he told JNS.