Amid expanding war, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu concerned about threats from Iran and proxies
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu in a heated speech Friday to the United Nations General Assembly said Israel seeks peace but will continue to defend itself against its enemies.
His address comes nearly one year after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in Israel by Hamas that killed more than 1,200 people, including 45 Americans. Another 239 people were taken hostage that day.
“I want to assure you, we will not rest until the remaining hostages are brought home too,” Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu spoke about the expanding war and accused the United Nations of antisemitism. He also spoke about his idea of what the Middle East could be with the right alliances.
Here are four things he spoke about.
1. The war is expanding on all fronts, Netanyahu says
The Israeli prime minister said his country is defending itself on six different war fronts, organized by Iran. Shiite militias in Syria and Iraq are targeting Israelis, and Houthis in Yemen are launching drones and strikes, including the one on Thursday aimed at Tel Aviv, Netanyahu said.
“And last April, for the first time ever, Iran directly attacked Israel from its own territory,” he said, referring to when Iran fired drones, cruise missiles and 120 ballistic missiles toward Israel.
“I have a message for the tyrants of Tehran: If you strike us, we will strike you,” he said. “There is no place — there is no place in Iran — that the long arm of Israel cannot reach. And that’s true for the Middle East.”
His comments come on the same day the Israeli Defense Forces targeted Hezbollah leader Hassan Hasrallah in a strike.
The Pentagon said it is still assessing the strike and will determine whether the attack was an escalation of war, The Jerusalem Post reported.
Hezbollah in Lebanon “turned vibrant towns in the north of Israel into ghost towns,” Netanyahu said. “So I want you to think about this in equivalent American terms. Just imagine if terrorists turned El Paso and San Diego into ghost towns.”
Netanyahu continued, “How long would the American government tolerate that? A day, a week, a month? I doubt they would tolerate it even for a single day. Yet Israel has been tolerating this intolerable situation for nearly a year.”
2. Netanyahu blasted the United Nations over antisemitism
Netanyahu called on the U.N. Security Council to reinstate sanctions against Iran in its upcoming deliberations.
“For decades, I’ve been warning the world against Iran’s nuclear program,” he said. “Our actions delayed this program by perhaps a decade, but we haven’t stopped it.”
He criticized the U.N. for singling out Israel while siding with Palestinians, calling the rhetoric within the U.N. a “swamp of antisemitic bile.”
“Since 2014, this body condemned Israel 174 times,” he said. Meanwhile, all other counties were condemned 73 times. “What hypocrisy. What a double standard. What a joke,” Netanyahu added.
3. Hamas has to be defeated, Netanyahu says
Netanyahu said the Israeli Defense Force “has killed or captured more than half of these terrorists, destroyed over 90% of their rocket arsenal, and eliminated the key segments of their terror tunnel network.” He reiterated the focus remains on bringing back the hostages.
Still, the fight against Hamas needs to be a “total victory” and there are “no substitutes,” he said, adding, “If Hamas stays in power, it will regroup, rearm and attack Israel again and again and again, as it has vowed to do.”
The terrorist group steals food sent into Gaza, and upcharges people for it to fund its operations and stay in power, he said. Netanyahu advocated for a “demilitarized and de-radicalized Gaza.”
“We see this moral confusion when Israel is falsely accused of deliberately targeting civilians,” he said.
The Israeli president said his forces do a lot to minimize civilian casualties, despite Hamas using them as human shields. According to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza, the death toll is more than 41,000.
“We drop flyers. We send text messages. We make phone calls by the millions to ensure that Palestinian civilians get out of harm’s way. We spare no effort in this noble pursuit.”
4. Netanyahu’s path to peace
Netanyahu proposed the idea of a “new Middle East” without the threats of terrorism, and noted that the Abraham Accords, an agreement between the United Arab Emirates and Israel, paved the path for this idea four years ago. But the work must continue, Netanyahu said.
“Above all, this means achieving a historic peace agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia,” he said. “It would help transform the Middle East into a global juggernaut.”
He added, “It would usher in a historic reconciliation between the Arab world and Israel, between Islam and Judaism, between Mecca and Jerusalem.”
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