In a speech in the UN boycotted by much of the delegations, Israeli Prime Minister references the hostages maintained by Hamas and says that ‘we will not rest until they bring them home’
The Israeli Prime Minister said on Friday that accepting the creation of a Palestinian state would be a “national suicide” to and that he wants to “finish work” in “as quickly as possible”, in a speech in the boycotted by most delegations. “I think we have a deal” to end the war in Gaza, the US president said in Washington.
In a dramatic speech, given in Hebrew and English, Netanyahu headed directly to the hostages maintained by the terrorist group after announcing that Israeli forces installed speakers in Gaza to convey their live speech. “We won’t rest until they bring them home,” said Netanyahu, who accused the international community of allowing “anti-Semitic lies.”
Israel was a little more isolated this week with the recognition of a Palestinian state by countries such as France, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and Portugal. At least 151 of the 193 UN members have already taken this measure, which is more symbolic than effective.
The UN’s large auditorium was practically empty when Netanyahu took the stage. The delegates and public present applauded and vibrated with the Prime Minister, amid appeals to the order of the President of the Assembly.
With his face tense, Netanyahu raised posters demonstrating how Israeli dismantled what he called Iran’s “axis of evil” in the last year, with attacks on the Tehran regime nuclear facilities, Hezbollah leaders and Hamas and Air attacks in Yemen. He said his country “destroyed most of Hamas’s terrorist machine” and seeks to “finish work” in Gaza “as soon as possible.”
Accepting a Palestinian state would be a “national suicide”, mainly because the authority is “corrupt to the marrow” and lies when it claims to want to coexist peacefully with Israel, Netanyahu said.
The day before, the veteran leader of Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, had told the same assembly that “Hamas will have no role to play in governance” of a future state. “Hamas and other factions will have to deliver their weapons to the Palestinian National Authority,” said Abbas, who spoke by video message because the United States denied him a visa to travel to New York.
After Netanyahu’s speech on Friday, Hamas said the delegations removed from Israel’s “isolation” as a result of the war in Gaza. “The boycott of Netanyahu’s speech is a manifestation of Israel’s isolation and the consequences of the extermination war,” he said in a statement, Taher Al Nunu, high leader of the Palestinian Islamist Movement Political Committee.
‘I will not allow’
Netanyahu specifically accused European countries of accepting the “advertising of Hamas” by pressuring Israel to establish a ceasefire and negotiate the rescue of hostages, alive or dead in Gaza. “See, for example, the false accusations of Genocide: Israel is accused of attacking civilians, but nothing is less true,” he said.
The Israeli Prime Minister, leading a complicated government coalition, did not mention, however, the other diplomatic and military front of his country: the West Bank. Netanyahu repeatedly stated, on other occasions, that his government plans to expand Jewish settlements in this territory.
“I will not allow it,” Trump said the day before, when asked about the possibility of Israel attaching to the West Bank as required by Netanyahu’s end -right Israeli ministers.
‘I think we have a deal’
“I think we have a deal,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday. “I think it’s an agreement that will allow us to recover hostages, it will be an agreement that will end the war,” he said. Trump again led the negotiations this week, taking advantage of the UN annual meeting in New York, where he met with region countries to calm tensions after Israel’s unprecedented air strike at Qatar to eliminate the Hamas summit.
According to a diplomatic source familiar with the meeting, held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Trump presented a 21 -point plan to the Arab countries. Among them are a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, the release of Israeli hostages, the Israeli withdrawal from the Enclave and a future government in Gaza without Hamas, whose attack on October 7, 2023 triggered the war. The Israeli army has made an offensive that has left more than 65,400 Palestinians killed, mostly civilians, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
Outside the UN, a group of protesters received Netanyahu with banners and shouts. He has been the target of an order of arrest of the International Criminal Court (ICC) since the end of 2024 for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
*With information from AFP
Posted by Nicolas Robert
