Israel Crushed Iran Nuclear Threat, Is Winning Seven-Front War – Netanyahu to UN
Our Correspondent
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in an address to the United Nations General Assembly, declared that Israel had prevented Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and was prevailing in what he described as a seven-front war.
Addressing the recently concluded UN General Assembly in New York, Netanyahu said 14 years after drawing a red line over Iran’s nuclear programme on the same podium, Israel had acted to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities.
“Devastating Iran’s nuclear facilities was hard… But for me, it was one of the easiest decisions I’ve ever had to make as prime minister. Because if we hadn’t done it, we’d all be dead,” he said.
The Israeli Prime Minister said that in defending itself, Israel was also defending countries whose delegates walked out of the hall during his speech, accusing them of hypocrisy and of privately thanking Israel for the action.
Benjamin Netanyahu revisited the history of the 1967 Six-Day War, saying Israel was then on a tiny sliver of land and was threatened with annihilation.
He recalled returning from high school in Philadelphia to find his brother, Yoni Netanyahu, a paratrooper officer, who told him, “We’re going to win. We have no other choice.”
He linked that phrase to the current war, referencing the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas, in which he said 1,200 Israelis were killed, babies burned alive, women raped, and hostages taken. He said there was not a single Israeli soldier or civilian in Gaza at the time of the attack.
The Prime Minister said Israel has been fighting a seven-front war for three years against Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, Iran, militias in Iraq and Syria, and Palestinian militants in Judea and Samaria, known internationally as the West Bank.
He listed Israeli operations including what he said was the destruction of Hezbollah’s arsenal of 150,000 missiles, the killing of its leadership, and the killing of Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh, as well as Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Iranian leaders.
Netanyahu defended Israeli conduct in Gaza, rejecting genocide accusations as “the greatest lie of the century,” and cited measures including text messages, phone calls and leaflets warning civilians, the delivery of two million tons of food and a million polio vaccinations.
He quoted U.S. urban warfare expert Col. John Spencer as saying Israel “has done more to prevent civilian casualties in war than any other military in history.”
Netanyahu accused Qatar and Turkey of spreading anti-Semitic lies and funding anti-Israel campaigns on university campuses and in media. He described Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as a tyrant who hosts Hamas leaders and seeks to take over Syria.
He also criticized Western European leaders for what he called appeasement of anti-Semitic mobs, and attacked what he described as an eighth front – the war for truth in media and social media.
In a direct reference to New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, Netanyahu said Mamdani had tried to stop him from coming to the UN, accused Israel of genocide, and made Jews feel unsafe in New York.
He also criticized Mamdani’s associates and wife over social media posts related to the October 7 attack.
“Accusing Israel of genocide is the greatest lie of the century… Israel didn’t commit genocide. Israel prevented genocide,” he said.
On Iran, Netanyahu said the regime in Tehran is most afraid of its own people and predicted it would be toppled.
He said he would leave a Starlink communications device for the Iranian delegation.
Netanyahu ended by invoking Jewish history and the phrase “Netsakh Yisrael lo yeshaker – the eternity of Israel will not falter,” saying “We have no other choice.”
20
Post Comment