Benjamin Netanyahu has issued a stark warning to Iran in his UN speech, saying that Israel can strike anywhere inside the country if it is provoked and will continue its war on Tehran proxy Hezbollah until it achieves ‘total victory’.
‘My country is at war, fighting for its life,’ Netanyahu said in his impassioned speech at the UN General Assembly.
‘We must defend ourselves against these savage murderers. Our enemies seek not only to destroy us, they seek to destroy our common civilization and return all of us to a dark age of tyranny and terror,’ he told delegates.
In a message he addressed to ‘the tyrants of Tehran’, he said: ‘If you strike us, we will strike you… There is no place in Iran where the long arm of Israel cannot reach. And that is true for the entire Middle East.’
His speech made no mention at all of the 21-day ceasefire proposal made by the US, France and other allies on Wednesday, which seeks to cool tensions and allow space for talks, as the region appears to be on the brink of all-out war.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the 79th United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S., September 27, 2024
A view shows damage at the site of Israeli strike in Saksakiyeh, southern Lebanon September 27, 2024
Smoke billows over southern Lebanon following an Israeli strike, amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Tyre, Lebanon September 27, 2024
Anti-war activists rally outside of the hotel where Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu – who is in the city for the UN General Assembly annual sessions – is staying
‘We are winning,’ Netanyahu said triumphantly, as Israel continues to bombard Lebanon as part of its campaign against Hezbollah, which he labelled a ‘quintessential terror organisation’.
Widespread airstrikes across the country’s south and capital Beirut have left hundreds dead, including civilians, children and paramedics, in just a few days.
Protesters gathered outside the UN condemning Netanyahu, who has vowed to continue with the battle against Hamas until ‘total victory’ is achieved.
He went on to say regarding Israel’s war on Hamas and Hezbollah: ‘We will fight until we achieve victory, total victory, there is no substitute for it.’
His speech was met with cheers from some allies in the audience, but also jeers, with many delegates walking out as he took to the stage.
Netanyahu said he had not intended to come to New York to address the UN assembly this year, but felt compelled to do so ‘to set the record straight’ after what he called ‘the lies and slanders levelled at my country by many of the speakers at this podium.’
He denounced the UN, as he has repeatedly done in the past, labelling it as ‘a house of darkness’ and a ‘swamp of antisemitic bile’ and saying Israel should be treated as fairly as other nations.
He said it the body had passed more resolutions against Israel than all other nations combined over the past decade, adding that the ‘war criminals’ are in Iran, Gaza, Syria and Lebanon.
The two speakers who preceded Netanyahu on Friday each made a point of calling out Israel for its actions in Gaza, where tens of thousands of people have been killed over the past year.
Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted southern Lebanese villages, as seen from Marjaayoun, southern Lebanon, 25 September 2024
‘Mr Netanyahu, stop this war now,’ Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob said as he closed his remarks, pounding the podium.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, speaking just before the Israeli leader, declared of Gaza: ‘This is not just a conflict. This is systematic slaughter of innocent people of Palestine.’
Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 41,500 Palestinians and wounded more than 96,000 others, according to the latest figures released on Thursday by the Health Ministry.
In recent days, Israel has turned its attention to the border with Lebanon, where it is targeting Hezbollah, a proxy of Iran.
Hezbollah began attacking Israel almost immediately after October 7, saying near-daily rocket fire into northern Israel over the past 11 months was to show its solidarity with Gaza.
Almost 800 people have been killed in Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon over the last week, according to Lebanese figures.
Ongoing fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has driven tens of thousands of people from their homes on both sides of the border.
Israel is vowing to step up its attacks on Hezbollah until its citizens can return safely to their homes.
The joint ceasefire statement made on Wednesday said the situation in Lebanon has become ‘intolerable’ and ‘is in nobody’s interest, neither of the people of Israel nor of the people of Lebanon’.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Israel’s strategic affairs minister in New York on Thursday, telling him the ceasefire would ‘allow civilians on both sides of the border to return to their homes’.
‘Further escalation of the conflict will only make that objective more difficult,’ his spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
