Netanyahu says singling out Israel is a ‘moral stain’ on the UN

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told the UN General Debate that the singling out of his country was a moral stain on the United Nations, calling the institution contemptible in the eyes of decent people everywhere.

Many delegations boycotted the speech while several diplomats were seen filing out of the General Assembly as he arrived to raucous applause from his delegation and his supporters who packed the guest gallery.

Netanyahu told the Assembly that Israel was winning and that the war in Gaza could end now if Hamas were to surrender, lay down its arms and release all the hostages while adding that there could be no role for the militant group in any post-war Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the UN General Debate

He arrived to a stream of diplomats leaving the room, many delegation seats already empty, but loud applause from Israel’s invited guests – the General Assembly President struggling to main order… as Netanyahu premised his speech as an opportunity to set the record straight after what he called lies and slander leveled at this country from this very podium by heads of state and government who had preceded him there.

“Here is the truth. Israel seeks peace. Israel yearns for peace. Israel has made peace and will make peace again. Yet we face savage enemies who seek our annihilation. And 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,” said Netanyahu.

The PM said Israel would not rest until all the remaining hostages were brought home and until then their mission would be incomplete – as he blamed Iran for fueling militias against his country in the region.

“I have a message for the tyrants of Tehran. If you strike us, we will strike you. There is no place,
there is no place in Iran that the long arm of Israel cannot reach. And that’s true of the entire Middle East. Far from being lambs led to the slaughter. Israel soldiers have fought back with incredible courage and with heroic sacrifice. And I have another message for this assembly and for the world outside this hall. We are winning.”

Netanyahu rejected any notion of a governing role for Hamas in post-war Gaza. “Imagine allowing the defeated Nazis in 1945 to rebuild Germany. It’s inconceivable. It’s ridiculous. It didn’t happen then. It’s not going to happen now. This is why Israel will reject any rule for Hamas in post-war Gaza. We don’t seek to resettle Gaza. What we seek is a demilitarized and de radicalise Gaza. Only then, only then can we ensure that this round of fighting will be the last round of fighting. We are ready to work with regional and other partners to support a local civilian administration in Gaza committed to peaceful coexistence.”

He also said that Israel must defeat Hezbollah in Lebanon which started firing rockets at Israel over the prosecution of its war in Gaza. Netanyahu called it a quintessential terror organisation as efforts towards a ceasefire agreement pushed by France and the United States remain uncertain after Israel earlier rejected the proposal.

The UN Secretary General earlier this week warned that all hell was breaking loose in Lebanon and that the world could not afford that country to become another Gaza. But Netanyahu said Israel had been tolerating the intolerable.
“I said to the people of Lebanon this week, get out of the deathtrap that Hezbollah has put you in. Don’t let Nasrallah drag Lebanon into the abyss. We’re not at war with you. We’re at war with Hezbollah, which has hijacked your country and threatens to destroy ours. As long as Hezbollah chooses the path of war. Israel has no choice. And Israel has every right to remove this threat and return our citizens to their homes safely. And that’s exactly what we’re doing,” Netanyahu explained.

He rejected calls for Israel to be expelled from the UN while using choice words to describe the organisation.

“The singling out of the one and only Jewish state continues to be a moral stain on the United Nations. It is made this once respected institution contemptible in the eyes of decent people everywhere. But for the Palestinians, this UN house of darkness is the home court. They know that in this swamp of anti-Semitic bile, there’s an automatic majority willing to demonize the Jewish state on anything – in this anti-Israel, flat Earth society. Any false charge, any outlandish allegation can muster a majority. It’s not about Gaza. It’s about Israel. It’s always been about Israel, about Israel’s very existence. And I say to you, until Israel, until the Jewish state is treated like other nations until this anti-Semitic swamp is drained, the UN will be viewed by fair-minded people everywhere as nothing more than a contemptuous farce.”