The Remarks of Mr Abbas and Mr Netanyahu to the United Nations

 

 

The Jewish question, like the Ukrainian question, and the wars now being undertaken to resolve them one way or another,  highlight the fundamental problem of cognition in the realm of social relations. Each are deeply historically embedded and each spills over to all sorts of other relations. Yet each constructs the other in wildly different ways, suggesting the semiotic malleability of historical conclusions and their projection forward into expectations of place, conduct, and with that of the “right” to “wrong” and thus the justification for action, the record of which is well known. If thei was merely a personal contest for perception, the resulting conflict might be managed  with some reasonable expectation of some sort of acceptable resolution.  But it is not.  The contest for perception affects social relations everywhere, and calls for expressions of solidarity–in discourse and action–that affects people everywhere, and moves States to act on the basis of embraced perception baselines.  That also is well known, though its cognitive roots tend to be ignored or assumed to be irrelevant (to the extent that people think about this at all–for thinking about this spoils the strategic element of the discursive construction of solidarity enhancing perception universes that can then be applied against the “other” in the immediate conflict).

In both wars, the starting point for analysis inevitably points to its end point. That along lends it power, and also suggests the imperative of seeking global expressions of solidarity with one or the other way of rationalizing the world and putting its actors in their place.” Ukrainians and Jews, of course, as fundamentally subaltern collectives have a long history of being put in their “places” even as those places shift from historical era to historical era.  Their current antagonists, of course, have enjoyed more often than not a more privileged “place” even when their sub-communities have been embedded in larger collectives (the ideal states of the dar al-Islam and of greater Russia, for example). As such, both depend on the embrace of a communal set of premises of the meaning of the protagonists at the heart of each conflict. These cognitive placements, are solidified where the larger global
communities within which all social relations are rationalized embrace
one or the other perception ordering premises. And, indeed, one might approach these conflicts as a manifestation, in physical form, of the cognitive ruptures that is manifested in conflict.  The intensity of that conflict, quite violent in both cases, signifies not merely a fundamental incompatibility of perceiving the world and the role and expectations of the relationships of key actors within it, but also of the intensification of that dissonance a critical element of the character of which is the conviction that the fundamental starting points for perception are unalterable and require the obliteration of the other.  Perhaps it does.  But if that the case then these conflicts merely manifest in physical form the more fundamental semiotic contests on which the resolution both the Jewish and the Ukrainian question depends, one way or another.  

The cognitive rift and its consequences/justification schemata in the Ukrainian context have been considered in earlier posts (eg here and here). In the context of the Jewish presence in Israel (it is assumed, without much discussion, that what will be a State of Palestine must be or will be free of Jews–another cognitive baseline that might require exploration elsewhere), these fundamental cognitive rifts  serve as the essence of the remarks of given by Mr. Abbas (first) and then by Mr. Netanyahu at the United Nations this week. At one level, of course, the remarks were directed to an audience of allies and enemies eager to hear what they anted to hear in ways that conformed to their sense of expectation given the starting premises that served as the basis for “hearing” and understanding what was being said. At a deeper level, each of the remarks exposed the fundamental ordering premises driving them and seeking expressions of solidarity with them.  The consequences, of course, are important–if only because the global community has made it so. There is no going back. There is just the hard project of exposing the basis of the ordering of cognition around which the “right” and “wrong” of things and the solution to the “problem” can be “seen” and “understood.”  Both remarks follow below.

PA leader says peace in Mideast impossible without Palestinian state, charges Israel holding bodies of 600 ‘martyrs,’ blames Netanyahu government for crime wave in Arab community

 

Following is the full text of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s speech
at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 21,
2023, according to the UN’s simultaneous translation from Arabic.

Those who think that peace can prevail in the Middle East without the
Palestinian people enjoying their full, legitimate and national rights
would be mistaken.

Once again, I come to you, carrying the cause of my people who are
struggling for freedom and independence, to remind you of the tragedy
caused by the Nakba 75 years ago.

 

The effects of this Nakba continue and are exacerbated by the Israeli
occupation of our land. This occupation challenges your resolutions —
over 1000 resolutions, in fact.

This occupation violates the principles of international law and
international legitimacy while it races against time to change the
historical, geographical and demographic realities on the ground aimed
at perpetuating the occupation and entrenching apartheid.

Despite this painful reality and 30 years after the Oslo Accords,
which Israel has totally discarded, we still maintain hope that your
esteemed organization will implement its resolutions demanding an end to
the Israeli occupation of our territory and realizing the independence
of the fully sovereign state of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its
capital on the borders of the fourth of June 1967 as well as resolving
the issue of Palestinian refugees in accordance with the resolutions of
international legitimacy, especially General Assembly Resolution 194 and
the relevant General Assembly and Security Council resolutions, all of
which affirm the illegality of the Israeli occupation, and its
settlements — in particular resolution 2334 and the Arab Peace
Initiative.

Ladies and gentlemen, as I stand before you here, the Israeli, racist
right-wing government continues its attacks on our people and its army
and its racist, terrorist settlers continue to intimidate and kill our
people, to destroy homes and property, to steal our money and resources
and continue to refuse to release the bodies of our martyrs — 600 bodies
are being held. For what reason? I do not know. And this is done before
the very eyes of the world and with complete impunity.

 Rather, the leaders and the ministers of this government have been
bragging about the apartheid policies that they are practicing against
our people who are under occupation.

 

The Israeli occupation government also persists in its violations of
the city of Jerusalem and its people. It continues to assault our
Islamic and Christian sacred sites. It violates the historical and legal
status of the holy site, especially the Aqsa Mosque, which
international legitimacy has recognized as an exclusive place of worship
for Muslims alone, including the Bab al-Rahma prayer hall and the Al
Buraq Wall. According to a resolution by the League of Nations in 1930,
the occupying power is also feverishly digging its tunnels under and
around Al Aqsa mosque, threatening its collapse or the collapse of parts
of it, which would lead to an explosion with untold consequences.

We have repeatedly warned against transforming the political conflict
into a religious conflict for which Israel will bear full
responsibility.

I hereby call on the international community to assume its
responsibilities in preserving the historic and legal status of
Jerusalem and its holy sites, specifically the Aqsa Mosque and the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron.

Here, I wonder why remain silent about all the flagrant violations of
international law that are being committed by Israel, the occupying
power? Why isn’t Israel being subjected to serious accountability? Why
are sanctions not imposed on it for ignoring and violating international
resolutions, as is the case with other countries in the world? Why
practice double standards when it comes to Israel? Why accept that
Israel is a state above the law?

Is it not time to answer these questions? Is it not time? For our
part, we will persist with our pursuit of accountability and justice at
the relevant international bodies against Israel because of the
continued Israeli occupation of our land and the crimes that have been
committed, and are still being committed against us; as well as against
both Britain and America for their rules in the fateful Balfour
declaration. Yes, Britain and America and against everyone who had a
role and the catastrophe and tragedy of our people. We will not forget
the tragedy, we will not forget the pain. We call for acknowledgment, we
call for an apology — acknowledgment and apology. We call for
reparations, we call for compensation in accordance with international
law.

 Ladies and gentlemen, in light of the deadlock of the peace process due
to Israel’s policies, we come before you to again appeal for the holding
of an international peace conference, Is this too much to ask? Hold an
international peace conference in which all countries concerned with
achieving peace in the Middle East will participate.

 

Therefore, I ask your esteemed organization and the
Secretary-General, Mr. Antonio Guterres, to call for and undertake the
necessary arrangements to convene this peace conference, which may be
the last opportunity, the last opportunity, to salvage the two-state
solution and to prevent the situation from deteriorating more seriously
and threatening the security and stability of our region and the entire
world.

I also call on your organization and the secretary-general to act to
implement the resolutions to provide protection for the Palestinian
people. We demand protection. We want to be protected from occupation,
from the constant aggressions of the occupation army and the terrorist
Israeli settlers. We call for support when we approach international
courts and bodies with jurisdiction because the current situation is
intolerable.

Ladies and Gentleman in the face of all that Israel is doing —
systematically destroying a two-state solution it’s become necessary,
and in order to save the solution, to call on member states of your
esteemed organization — each state in its national capacity — to take
practical steps on the basis of the relevant resolutions of
international legitimacy and international law.

I also call on the states that have not yet recognized the state of
Palestine to declare their recognition. I call for the state of
Palestine to be admitted to full membership in the United Nations. There
are two states that the entire world is talking about: Israel and
Palestine. But only Israel is recognized. Why not Palestine?

I can neither understand nor accept that some states, including
America and European states, are reluctant to recognize the state of
Palestine, which the United Nations has accepted as an observer state.
These same states confirm every day that they support the two-state
solution. But they recognize only one of these states, namely Israel.
Why? What is the danger posed by the State of Palestine obtaining full
membership in the United Nations? What is the danger? Israel enjoys this
international recognition, though, it has not adhered to the conditions
for its accession to the United Nations.

 

These conditions namely are the implementation of Resolutions 181 and
194. We therefore call on your esteemed organization to take deterrent
measures against Israel until it fulfills its obligations, at least
those that were presented in a written declaration by its minister of
foreign affairs at the time Moshe Sharet. He sent a written commitment
to implement these resolutions in 1949, but nothing has happened since.

This request of ours is for the sake of peace and justice and out of
respect for international law, international legitimacy and this
esteemed organization.

Ladies and gentlemen, our people are defending their homeland and
their legitimate rights through peaceful, popular resistance. This is
our policy. It is a strategic option for self-defense and to liberate
the land from a colonial occupation that does not believe in peace and
has no regard for the principles of truth, justice and human values.

 

We will continue our resistance — our peaceful, popular resistance of this brutal occupation until it is defeated from our land.

We are managing our affairs under extremely difficult and complex
circumstances as a result of the restrictions imposed on us by the
occupying power. These restrictions prevent us from accessing our
natural resources.

The occupying power unlawfully withholds our money with no just
cause. It continues to besiege our people in the Gaza Strip, only
deepening the suffering of our people.

 

Moreover, Israel bears full responsibility, through its control over
all the crossing points and dividing lines between the occupied West
Bank and its surroundings, and for the deliberate spread of weapons,
drugs, and criminal killings taking place in Arab cities inside Israel,
part of which is spilling over into our areas, creating a great threat
to the societal security of Palestinians everywhere in our territory.

Allow me here to tell you that as long as we continue to suffer under
the abhorrent Israeli occupation, we will continue to need financial
assistance from the international community. When the occupation ends,
we will thank you for your help.

In addition to the crucial provincial financial support to the United
Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees UNRWA — it is in
dire need so that it could support the refugees. We are thankful to the
international community for the support it has given us to build our
state and our economy, and we look forward to the continuation of the
support until the occupation ends. Help us get rid of your occupation,
and we will be able to rely on ourselves.

Ladies and gentlemen, our state institutions are engaged in a
comprehensive development and reform process, and in this context, they
are cooperating with international institutions and with partners in the
region and the world.

 

Recently we held local elections and elections for institutions,
federations, unions and others. There’s a specialized committee to
develop the justice sector in Palestine. Civil society is also playing
its role and adding vitality to our political system.

All that remains is for us to hold democratic general elections as
conducted in 1996, 2005 and 2006. We held elections but since then, we
have been unable to hold these elections. Why? Because the Israeli
government is obstructing this by its decision to prevent elections from
being held in East Jerusalem. And the first three rounds of elections
were allowed in East Jerusalem. They were not stopped, despite the
significant interventions by many countries and regional and
international organizations, which we appreciate, to enable the
Palestinian people in Jerusalem to vote and run as candidates in these
elections.

Today we renew our rejection of any position holding us responsible
for not convening these elections, which are a Palestinian necessity
that we want today, before tomorrow. We want elections, but we want them
to be held in East Jerusalem. Why is Israel stopping us from doing so?
Please ask it.

 

In the face of this intransigent position of the Israeli government,
we will continue to approach the relevant international bodies to hold
the Israeli government accountable and force it to allow us to hold
these long overdue elections.

Ladies and gentlemen, I participated in a commemoration of the 75th
anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba of 1948, a tragedy recognized by
this august organization. This painful anniversary continues to be
ignored and denied by Israel, which is the party that is primarily
responsible for this Nakba.

I call upon you today to criminalize this denial — criminalize the
denial of the Nakba and designate the 15th of May of each year an
international day to commemorate the anniversary of the Nakba, to
commemorate the lives of the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who
were killed in massacres committed by Zionist gangs. Palestinians whose
villages were demolished and who were forcibly displaced from their
homes. The number of these refugees reached 950,000 in 1948,
constituting more than half of the Palestinian population at the time.
This is the least that the United Nations should do in honor of these
victims and to condemn this human tragedy — commemorate the anniversary
of the Nakba in 1948.

Ladies and gentlemen, for several years now, we have presented our
Palestinian narrative — the story of our people that has been
deliberately distorted by the Zionist and Israeli propaganda. We are
relieved that the people of the world and many countries in the world
have started to believe our narrative and sympathize with it after
having been misled for decades. We also thank all those who contributed
to sharing this narrative, supporting it and sympathizing with it.

We thank people of conscience everywhere in the world who today stand
up for Palestinian rights, and we thank support for our people’s
struggle for freedom and independence.

 

Ladies and gentlemen, my message today to the Israelis is that this
hideous occupation that is imposed on us will not last, regardless of
their ambitions and their delusions because the Palestinian people will
remain on their land, which they have inhabited for 1000s of years — one
generation after the other — as again confirmed by a recent UNESCO
resolution on the city of Jericho, which has existed for 10,000 years.

The Palestinians cannot leave their land, and if anyone must leave
this land, then it must be the occupier. The occupier should leave not
the people of the that we will stay in our land.

My message to the international community is that it should assume
its responsibilities with full courage and implement its resolutions to
realize Palestinian rights. We ask for no more than that. Realize our
rights, implement our resolutions — 1000 resolutions have been adopted.
We’re asking to implement just one. Just one resolution.

Finally, I address all of our people in Palestine, in the refugee
camps, in the diaspora and in every place in this vast world. I address
you with the highest expressions of appreciation and gratitude for your
steadfastness, for upholding your just cause and your rights. I pay
tribute to our righteous martyrs and our brave prisoners and our heroic
injured people, and I say to everyone, the right is never lost when
there is a demand behind it. Victory is ours. We will celebrate the
independence of our state in Jerusalem, our eternal capital and the
crown jewel, and the flower of all cities. They see it as impossible and
we see it as inevitable.

 

*      *      * 

PM tells world to choose peace and battle ’Iranian
curse’; vows to keep hitting Hezbollah; says Hamas must go; denounces
UN; promises Israel ’won’t go gently into that good night’

 

The full text of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to
the United Nations General Assembly, September 27, 2024, as provided by
the Prime Minister’s Office.

“Mr. President, Ladies and gentlemen, I didn’t intend to come here this year. My country is at war, fighting for its life.

But after I heard the lies and slanders leveled at my country by many
of the speakers at this podium, I decided to come here and set the
record straight. I decided to come here to speak for my people.

To speak for my country, to speak for the truth. And here’s 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 them.

These savage murderers, our enemies, seek not only to destroy us, but
they seek to destroy our common civilization and return all of us to a
dark age of tyranny and terror. When I spoke here last year, I said we
face the same timeless choice that Moses put before the people of Israel
thousands of years ago, as we were about to enter the Promised Land.
Moses told us that our actions would determine whether we bequeath to
future generations a blessing or a curse.

 And that is the choice we face today: the curse of Iran’s unremitting
aggression or the blessing of a historic reconciliation between Arab and
Jew. In the days that followed that speech, the blessing I spoke of
came into sharper focus.

 A normalization deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel seemed closer than
ever. But then came the curse of October 7th. Thousands of
Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists from Gaza burst into Israel in pickup
trucks and on motorcycles, and they committed unimaginable atrocities.
They savagely murdered 1,200 people. They raped and mutilated women.
They beheaded men. They burned babies alive. They burned entire families
alive—babies, children, parents, grandparents, in scenes reminiscent of
the Nazi Holocaust.

 

Hamas kidnapped 251 people from dozens of different countries,
dragging them into the dungeons of Gaza. Israel has brought home 154 of
these hostages, including 117 who returned alive. I want to assure you,
we will not rest until the remaining hostages are brought home too, and
some of their family members are here with us today. I ask you to stand
up.

With us is Eli Shtivi, whose son Idan was abducted from the Nova
music festival. That was his crime—a music festival. And these murderous
monsters took him. Koby Samerano, whose son Jonathan was murdered, and
his corpse was taken into the dungeons, into the terror tunnels of
Gaza—a corpse held hostage.

Salem Alatrash, whose brother Mohammad, a brave Arab Israeli soldier,
was murdered. His body, too, was taken to Gaza. And so was the body of
Ifat Haiman’s daughter, Inbar, who was brutally murdered at that same
music festival.

With us is Sharon Sharabi, whose brother Yossi was murdered, and who
prays for his older brother Eli, who is still held hostage in Gaza. And
with us too is Yizhar Lifshitz from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a kibbutz that was
wiped out by the terrorists.

Thankfully, we achieved the release of his mother, Yocheved, but his
father, Oded, is still languishing in the underground terrorist hell of
Hamas. I again promise you, we will return your loved ones home. We will
not spare that effort until this holy mission is accomplished.

War on seven fronts

Ladies and gentlemen, the curse of October 7th began when Hamas
invaded Israel from Gaza, but it didn’t end there. Israel was soon
forced to defend itself on six more war fronts organized by Iran.

 

On October 8th, Hezbollah attacked us from Lebanon. Since then, they
have fired over 8,000 rockets at our towns and cities, at our civilians,
at our children. Two weeks later, the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen
launched drones and missiles at Israel, the first of 250 such attacks,
including one yesterday aimed at Tel Aviv. Iran’s Shiite militias in
Syria and Iraq have targeted Israel dozens of times over the past year
as well.

Fueled by Iran, Palestinian terrorists in Judea and Samaria
perpetrated scores of attacks there and throughout Israel. And last
April, for the first time ever, Iran directly attacked Israel from its
own territory.

Firing 300 drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles at us. 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’s 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.

Blessing or curse

Ladies and gentlemen, as Israel defends itself against Iran in this
seven-front war, the lines separating the blessing and the curse could
not be more clear. This is the map I presented here last year. It’s a
map of a blessing.

It shows Israel and its Arab partners forming a land bridge
connecting Asia and Europe. Between the Indian Ocean and the
Mediterranean Sea, across this bridge, we will lay rail lines, energy
pipelines, and fiber optic cables, and this will serve the betterment of
2 billion people.

Now look at this second map. It’s a map of a curse. It’s a map of an
arc of terror that Iran has created and imposed from the Indian Ocean to
the Mediterranean. Iran’s malignant arc has shut down international
waterways.

 It cuts off trade, it destroys nations from within, and inflicts misery
on millions. On the one hand, a bright blessing—a future of hope. On the
other hand, a dark future of despair. And if you think this dark map is
only a curse for Israel, then you should think again.

 

Because Iran’s aggression, if it’s not checked, will endanger every
single country in the Middle East, and many, many countries in the rest
of the world, because Iran seeks to impose its radicalism well beyond
the Middle East.

That’s why it funds terror networks on five continents. That’s why it
builds ballistic missiles for nuclear warheads to threaten the entire
world. For too long, the world has appeased Iran. It turned a blind eye
to its internal repression. It turned a blind eye to its external
aggression. Well, that appeasement must end. And that appeasement must
end now.

Nations of the world should support the brave people of Iran who want
to rid themselves of this evil regime. Responsible governments should
not only support Israel in rolling back Iran’s aggression, but they
should join Israel. They should join Israel in stopping Iran’s nuclear
weapons program.

In this body and the Security Council, we’re going to have a
deliberation in a few months. And I call on the Security Council to snap
back UN Security Council sanctions against Iran because we must all do
everything in our power to ensure that Iran never gets nuclear weapons.
For decades, I’ve been warning the world against Iran’s nuclear program.
Our actions delayed this program by perhaps a decade, but we haven’t
stopped it. We’ve delayed it, but we haven’t stopped it. Iran now seeks
to weaponize its nuclear program. For the sake of the peace and security
of all your countries.

For the sake of the peace and security of the entire world, we must
not let that happen. And I assure you, Israel will do everything in its
power to make sure it doesn’t happen.

So, ladies and gentlemen, the question before us is simple: Which of
these two maps that I showed you will shape our future? Will it be the
blessings of peace and prosperity for Israel, our Arab partners, and the
rest of the world?

Or will it be the curse in which Iran and its proxies spread carnage
and chaos everywhere? Israel has already made its choice. We’ve decided
to advance the blessing. We’re building a partnership for peace with our
Arab neighbors while fighting the forces of terror that threaten that
peace.

 

Hamas has to go

For nearly a year, the brave men and women of the IDF have been
systematically crushing Hamas’s terror army that once ruled Gaza. On
October 7th, the day of that invasion into Israel, that terror army
numbered nearly 40,000 terrorists. It was armed with more than 15,000
rockets. It had 350 miles of terror tunnels—an underground network
bigger than the New York subway system—which they used to wreak havoc
above and below ground.

A year later, the IDF 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.

In measured military operations, we destroyed nearly all of Hamas’s
terror battalions—23 out of 24 battalions. Now, to complete our victory,
we are focused on mopping up Hamas’s remaining fighting capabilities.

We are taking out senior terrorist commanders and destroying
remaining terrorist infrastructure. But all the while, we remain focused
on our sacred mission: bringing our hostages home, and we will not stop
until that mission is complete.

Now, ladies and gentlemen, even with Hamas’s greatly diminished
military capability, the terrorists still exercise some governing power
in Gaza by stealing the food that we enable aid agencies to bring into
Gaza.

Hamas steals the food, and then they hike the prices. They feed their
bellies, and then they fill their coffers with money they extort from
their own people. They sell the stolen food at exorbitant prices, and
that’s how they stay in power. Well, this too has to end, and we’re
working to bring it to an end.

And the reason is simple: because if Hamas stays in power, it will
regroup, rearm, and attack Israel again and again and again, as it has
vowed to do. So, Hamas has got to go.

Just imagine, for those who say Hamas has to stay, it has to be part
of a post-war Gaza—imagine, in a post-war situation after World War II,
allowing the defeated Nazis in 1945 to rebuild Germany? It’s
inconceivable. It’s ridiculous. It didn’t happen then, and it’s not
going to happen now.

This is why Israel will reject any role for Hamas in a post-war Gaza.
We don’t seek to resettle Gaza. What we seek is a demilitarized and
de-radicalized Gaza. 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.

As for the hostages, I have a message for the Hamas captors: Let them
go. Let them go. All of them. Those alive today must be returned alive,
and the remains of those whom you brutally killed must be returned to
their families. Those families here with us today and others in Israel
deserve to have a resting place for their loved ones. A place where they
can grieve and remember them.

Ladies and gentlemen, this war can come to an end now. All that has
to happen is for Hamas to surrender, lay down its arms, and release all
the hostages. But if they don’t, we will fight until we achieve victory.
Total victory. There is no substitute for it.

On Hezbollah, ‘enough is enough’

Israel must also defeat Hezbollah in Lebanon. Hezbollah is the quintessential terror organization in the world today.

It has tentacles that span all continents. It has murdered more
Americans and more Frenchmen than any group except Bin Laden. It’s
murdered the citizens of many countries represented in this room. And it
has attacked Israel viciously over the last 20 years.

In the last year, completely unprovoked, a day after the Hamas
massacre on October 7th, Hezbollah began attacks against Israel, which
forced more than 60,000 Israelis on our northern border to leave their
homes, becoming refugees in their own land.

Hezbollah turned vibrant towns in the north of Israel into ghost
towns. 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.

Then ask yourself: 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. Well, I’ve come here today to say enough is enough.

We won’t rest until our citizens can return safely to their homes. We
will not accept a terror army perched on our northern border, able to
perpetrate another October 7th-style massacre.

For 18 years, Hezbollah brazenly refused to implement UN Security
Council Resolution 1701, which requires it to move its forces away from
our borders. Instead, Hezbollah moved right up to our border. They
secretly dug terror tunnels to infiltrate our communities and
indiscriminately fired thousands of rockets into our towns and villages.

They fire these rockets and missiles not from military sites—they do
that too—but they fire those rockets and missiles after they place them
in schools, in hospitals, in apartment buildings, and in the private
homes of the citizens of Lebanon. They endanger their own people. They
put a missile in every kitchen.

A rocket in every garage. I said to the people of Lebanon this week:
Get out of the death trap 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.

Just this week, the IDF destroyed large percentages of Hezbollah’s
rockets, which were built with Iran’s funding for three decades. We took
out senior military commanders who not only shed Israeli blood but
American and French blood as well.

And then we took out their replacements. And then the replacements of
their replacements. And we’ll continue degrading Hezbollah until all
our objectives are met.

A path to historic peace

Ladies and gentlemen, we’re committed to removing the curse of
terrorism that threatens all civilized societies. But to truly realize
the blessing of a new Middle East, we must continue the path we paved
with the Abraham Accords four years ago. Above all, this means achieving
a historic peace agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

And having seen the blessings that we’ve already brought with the
Abraham Accords, the millions of Israelis who have already flown back
and forth across the Arabian Peninsula over the skies of Saudi Arabia to
the Gulf countries, the trade, the tourism, the joint ventures, the
peace—I say to you, what blessings such a peace with Saudi Arabia would
bring.

It would be a boon to the security and economy of our two countries.
It would boost trade and tourism across the region. It would help
transform the Middle East into a global juggernaut.

Our two countries could cooperate on energy, water, agriculture,
artificial intelligence, and many, many other fields. Such a peace, I am
sure, would be a true pivot of history. It would usher in a historic
reconciliation between the Arab world and Israel, between Islam and
Judaism, between Mecca and Jerusalem.

While Israel is committed to achieving such a peace, Iran and its
terror proxies are committed to scuttling it. That’s why one of the best
ways to foil Iran’s nefarious designs is to achieve the peace.

Such a peace would be the foundation for an even broader Abrahamic
alliance, and that alliance would include the United States, Israel’s
current Arab peace partners, Saudi Arabia, and others who choose the
blessing of peace.

It would advance security and prosperity across the Middle East and
bring enormous benefits to the rest of the world. With American support
and leadership, I believe this vision can materialize much sooner than
people think. And as the Prime Minister of Israel, I will do everything
in my power to make it happen. This is an opportunity that we and the
world should not let go by.

A choice for the world

Ladies and gentlemen, Israel has made its choice. We seek to move
forward to a bright age of prosperity and peace. Iran and its proxies
have also made their choice. They want to move back to a dark age of
terror and war.

And now I have a question, and I pose that question to you: What
choice will you make? Will your nation stand with Israel? Will you stand
with democracy and peace? Or will you stand with Iran, a brutal
dictatorship that subjugates its own people and exports terrorism across
the globe?

In this battle between good and evil, there must be no equivocation.
When you stand with Israel, you stand for your own values and your own
interests. Yes, we’re defending ourselves, but we’re also defending you
against a common enemy that, through violence and terror, seeks to
destroy our way of life. So there should be no confusion about this, but
unfortunately, there is a lot of it in many countries and in this very
hall, as I’ve just heard.

Good is portrayed as evil, and evil is portrayed as good.

We see this moral confusion when Israel is falsely accused of
genocide when we defend ourselves against enemies who try to commit
genocide against us. We see this too when Israel is absurdly accused by
the ICC Prosecutor of deliberately starving Palestinians in Gaza.

What an absurdity. We help bring in 700,000 tons of food into Gaza.
That’s more than 3,000 calories a day for every man, woman, and child in
Gaza. We see this moral confusion when Israel is falsely accused of
deliberately targeting civilians.

We don’t want to see a single innocent person die. That’s always a
tragedy. And that’s why we do so much to minimize civilian casualties,
even as our enemies use civilians as human shields.

And no army has done what Israel is doing to minimize civilian
casualties. 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.

We see yet another profound moral confusion when self-described
progressives march against the democracy of Israel. Don’t they realize
they support the Iranian-backed goons in Tehran and in Gaza, the goons
who shot down protesters, murder women for not covering their hair, and
hang gays in public squares? Some progressives.

According to the U.S. Director of National Intelligence, Iran funds
and fuels many of the protesters against Israel. Who knows, maybe some
of the protesters or even many of the protesters outside this building
now?
Ladies and gentlemen, King Solomon, who reigned in our eternal capital,
Jerusalem, 3,000 years ago, proclaimed something that is familiar to all
of you. He said: There is nothing new under the sun.

Well, in an age of space travel, quantum physics, and artificial
intelligence, some would argue that’s a debatable statement. But one
thing is undeniable: there is definitely nothing new at the United
Nations.

Take it from me. I first spoke from this podium as Israel’s
ambassador to the UN in 1984. That’s exactly 40 years ago. And in my
maiden speech here, I spoke against a proposal to expel Israel from this
body. Four decades later, I find myself defending Israel against that
same preposterous proposal.

And who’s leading the charge this time? Not Hamas, but Abbas.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. This is the man who
claims he wants peace with Israel, yet he still refuses to condemn the
horrific massacre of October 7th. He’s still paying hundreds of millions
to terrorists who murdered Israelis and Americans.

It’s called Pay for Slay. The more you murder, the more you get paid.

And he still wages unremitting diplomatic warfare against Israel’s
right to exist and against Israel’s right to defend itself. And by the
way, they amount to the same thing, because if you can’t defend
yourself, you can’t exist. Not in our neighborhood, certainly. And maybe
not in yours.

Standing at this podium 40 years ago, I told the sponsors of that
outrageous resolution to expel Israel: Gentlemen, check your fanaticism
at the door. Today, I tell President Abbas and all of you who would
shamefully support that resolution: Check your fanaticism at the door.

The UN ‘swamp of antisemitic bile’

The singling out of the one and only Jewish state continues to be a
moral stain on the United Nations. It has made this once-respected
institution contemptible in the eyes of decent people everywhere. But
for the Palestinians, this UN house of darkness is home court. They know
that in this swamp of antisemitic bile, there’s an automatic majority
willing to demonize the Jewish state for anything. In this anti-Israel
flat-earth society, any false charge, any outlandish allegation can
muster a majority.

In the last decade, there have been more resolutions passed against
Israel in this hall, in the UN General Assembly, than against the entire
world combined. Actually, more than twice as many. Since 2014, this
body condemned Israel 174 times.

It condemned all the other countries in the world 73 times. That’s
more than 100 extra condemnations for the Jewish state. What hypocrisy.
What a double standard. What a joke.

So, all the speeches you heard today, all the hostility directed at
Israel this year—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 antisemitic swamp is drained, the UN will be viewed by
fair-minded people everywhere as nothing more than a contemptuous farce.

And given the antisemitism at the UN, it should surprise no one that
the prosecutor at the ICC, one of the UN’s affiliated organs, is
considering issuing arrest warrants against me and Israel’s defense
minister, the democratically elected leaders of the democratic state of
Israel.

The ICC prosecutor’s rush to judgment, his refusal to treat Israel
with its independent courts the way other democracies are treated, is
hard to explain by anything other than pure antisemitism.

Ladies and gentlemen, the real war criminals are not in Israel.
They’re in Iran. They’re in Gaza, in Syria, in Lebanon, in Yemen. Those
of you who stand with these war criminals, those of you who stand with
evil against good, with the curse against the blessing, those of you who
do so should be ashamed of yourselves.

We will win because we don’t have a choice

But I have a message for you: Israel will win this battle. We will win this battle because we don’t have a choice.

After generations in which our people were slaughtered, remorselessly
butchered, and no one raised a finger in our defense, we now have a
state. We now have a brave army, an army of incomparable courage, and we
are defending ourselves.

 

As the book of Samuel says in the Bible:

“נֵ֣צַח יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל לֹ֥א יְשַׁקֵּ֖ר”

“The eternity of Israel will not falter”.

In the Jewish people’s epic journey from antiquity, in our odyssey
through the tempest and upheavals of modern times, that ancient promise
has always been kept and it will hold true for all time.

To borrow a great poet’s phrase: Israel will not go gently into that
good night. We will never need to rage against the dying of the light
because the torch of Israel will forever shine bright.

To the people of Israel and to the soldiers of Israel, I say: Be strong and of good courage.

“חִזְק֣וּ וְאִמְצ֔וּ אַל־תִּֽירְא֥וּ וְאַל־תַּעַרְצ֖וּ מִפְּנֵיהֶ֑ם
כִּ֣י ה’ אֱלֹקיךָ ה֚וּא הַהֹלֵ֣ךְ עִמָּ֔ךְ לֹ֥א יַרְפְּךָ֖ וְלֹ֥א
יַעַזְבֶֽךּ”

עם ישראל חי

The people of Israel live now, tomorrow, forever”.