Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is fighting a difficult re-election campaign, launched a scathing attack at the United Nations on Thursday against critics of Israel, its enemies, and Western countries, amid mounting criticism of the Hebrew state against the backdrop of the war in Gaza and settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
Before he began his speech before the General Assembly, dozens of members of the missions of many countries withdrew, while a number of delegates cheered and booed. In response, Netanyahu said, “If there are any other moral cowards who have not left this hall, let them leave now.”
Netanyahu attacked France and Britain against the backdrop of their colonial past, in light of the criticism they direct at Israel.
He said, “They accuse Israel, little Israel, of colonialism. What kind of colonialism is this?” Who accuses us? Among them are some in Britain and France,” he added, adding that countries like these two “are the ones who created this term.”
Relations between Israel, on the one hand, and Britain and France, on the other hand, are witnessing tension, against the backdrop of the war in Gaza and the escalation of settler attacks in the occupied West Bank, which led to the killing of a number of Palestinians and the theft of their property. The two countries imposed sanctions on products from Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which angered the Israeli government. Last year, French President Emmanuel Macron led efforts to have a number of Western countries recognize Palestine as a state during the General Assembly meeting.
Netanyahu said that the young settlers who are committing violence against Palestinians in the West Bank are “a bunch of deviant juveniles, numbering approximately 150 people, throwing stones and cutting down olive trees.”
On the other hand, Netanyahu described Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as a “tyrant.” He said, “The latest country to become a hotbed for spreading anti-Semitic lies is Türkiye... Erdogan is a tyrant.” It hosts the leaders of the terrorist Hamas movement.” Although Türkiye remains the first Muslim-majority country to recognize Israel after its establishment in 1948, relations between the two countries have witnessed tensions in recent years. Turkish and Israeli officials exchanged harsh criticism against the backdrop of controversial issues, especially the Gaza war and the situation in Syria.
Regarding the war launched by Israel and the United States against Iran, Netanyahu repeatedly said that it prevented Tehran from developing nuclear weapons. He added, "I pledged to prevent the murderous Iranian dictatorship from developing atomic bombs, nuclear weapons aimed at destroying Israel, and nuclear weapons capable of threatening the entire world." He predicted that Tehran “will eventually fall.”
Netanyahu also attacked the Democratic Mayor of New York, Zahran Mamdani, who had previously said that he was studying the possibility of arresting the Israeli Prime Minister pursuant to an arrest warrant against him issued by the International Criminal Court on charges of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity, before he later admitted that he could not do so. Netanyahu shortened his visit to New York, as his plane landed at a military airport, and his office said that he would hold a number of political meetings, before returning to Israel.
The Prime Minister said that many Jews no longer feel safe in New York since Mamdani's election, addressing him by saying, "Israel is falsely and repeatedly accused of committing genocide... The lies that you and other anti-Semites spread about Jews and the Jewish state have real consequences."
Mamdani, who belongs to the left of the Democratic Party, is one of the most prominent supporters of the Palestinian cause. During an interview with CNN on Monday, he described Netanyahu as a “war criminal” and “the architect of a horrific genocide against the Palestinians,” criticizing the war that Israel waged in the Gaza Strip after the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.
Netanyahu is preparing to run in the first legislative elections since this war, which are scheduled for October 27. It is expected to face intense competition.
The Prime Minister focused his campaign mainly on security issues.
Netanyahu, who leads the most right-wing government in the history of Israel, entered into a war on several fronts, in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and Iran, and intensified settlement activity in the occupied West Bank, which since the Hamas attack has witnessed an escalation in violence carried out by settlers.
Several leaders, including Macron, took advantage of their speech from the United Nations podium this week to criticize Netanyahu's policy.
Macron denounced the humanitarian situation in the devastated and besieged Gaza Strip, and said, “What is our credibility if we remain standing idly by in the face of Gaza?” He also criticized the "daily violations" in the West Bank, asking, "With what justification?" Hamas did not carry out attacks in the West Bank.”
Many Western countries, such as Canada, France, and the United Kingdom, have for months condemned the expansion of settlement in the West Bank and imposed sanctions on Israel.
Outgoing United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned in his speech on Tuesday of the “specter of ethnic cleansing” with the expansion of settlements, which, he said, undermines the prospects for peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
Before Netanyahu's speech, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas spoke in a video speech. He said that Israeli policies were now threatening “the life and existence of the Palestinian people,” criticizing the American decision not to grant him an entry visa to address the General Assembly from the podium, for the second year in a row.
Abbas said, “We reject these punitive measures and reject the accusations and justifications based on them,” calling on the administration of US President Donald Trump to “retract these sanctions and restrictions, return to the language of dialogue and mutual respect, and work with us and the international community to implement the two-state solution.”
He reaffirmed his intention to hold legislative elections in November, amid local doubts about the possibility of this and international pressure to keep them on schedule.
