Netanyahu defies UN ceasefire calls as Israel strikes Lebanon

In a fiery speech to the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country would “win” on multiple fronts and would attack Iran and its proxies anywhere in the Middle East, even if Israeli Air Force planes were. is preparing to hit a complex of buildings in central Beirut that Israel says serves as headquarters for the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group.

Many of the delegates in the UN room stood up and quickly left in a dark audience at the start of his speech – in which he called the UN a “swamp of anti-Semitic bile”.

For days, Arab leaders, including Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, had attacked the Israeli military’s conduct in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and Lebanon.

Abbas told delegates that Israel did not deserve UN membership, given that his government, in his words, had “exploited” the October 7 attack by Hamas in Israel to “launch an all-out genocidal war in the Gaza Strip and committed and continues to commit war crimes recognized by the international community”. Israel has denied committing genocide or other war crimes, arguing that it is fighting to defeat militant groups and defend itself against further attacks.

Netanyahu insisted he traveled to New York after “hearing the lies and slanders brought to my country by many of the speakers on this podium.”

But his trip had been planned long in advance, and although his arrival in New York for the annual General Assembly was slightly delayed by domestic considerations, he told the audience of dignitaries and world leaders that he “decided to come here and set the record straight justice”.

“Israel longs for peace,” Netanyahu continued during his speech on Friday. “Israel has made peace and will make peace again.”

Shortly after his speech, his office said he was returning to Israel from New York early.

But nearly a year after the start of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, the Israeli leader’s behavior during months of cease-fire negotiations has not only angered his political opponents and a sizable portion of his own citizens, but confused. many world leaders.

Critics have often said in recent months that Netanyahu – whose political acumen has helped him repeatedly survive to become Israel’s longest-serving prime minister in history – would agree to show flexibility in negotiations during private meetings , before issuing public statements that block progress during peace talks.

Such contradictions have arisen repeatedly during negotiations brokered by the United States, Egypt, and Qatar regarding the cease-fire in Gaza. And now – according to Israeli media outlets – this form of cover-up for obstruction has reappeared in the recent cease-fire proposal developed by the US and France.

Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, said the government was pushing for certain terms in any deal. “If we can achieve the objectives of the war through diplomacy, we prefer that,” he told the UN Security Council on Friday. “And the goals are to allow the citizens of Israel, 70,000 refugees to move back to their homes. And push Hezbollah out of southern Lebanon.”

Meanwhile, Israel continued its military campaign. Danon said Israeli forces carried out a “precision strike on Hezbollah’s headquarters” in Beirut on Friday.

As the Israeli military calls on new reserves near the northern border and responds to Hezbollah rocket fire with dozens of airstrikes in Lebanon, Netanyahu also remains at the center of a high-profile request for an arrest warrant against him , issued by the chief prosecutor. to the International Criminal Court, which is based in The Hague, Netherlands.

The Israeli prime minister met with his Dutch counterpart during one of several meetings in New York this week and discussed the ongoing proceedings at the tribunal. According to Netanyahu’s office, he insisted during the bilateral conversation that the prosecutor’s actions constituted “a political proceeding based on false smears that endanger every democracy that defends itself against terrorism.”

Michele Kelemen contributed to United Nations reporting.

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