By Patricia Martínez Sastre
United Nations/Jerusalem (EFE).- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated a familiar narrative before the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday: he warned of the global threat posed by Iran, denied that his country is committing genocide in Gaza, launched attacks against Europe, and reiterated that the West Bank belongs to Israel.
Just minutes before he took the floor, representatives from dozens of nations (including Sudan, Tunisia, Lebanon, and Switzerland) walked out of the hall amid loud boos, countered by shouts of ‘Am Yisrael Chai’ (‘The people of Israel live’), an identity slogan that has resurfaced since the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023.
«If there are any other moral cowards who haven’t yet left this hall, please do so now,» Netanyahu said before starting his address.
His speech lasted about 40 minutes, during which the leader distorted facts and even held up a pager, recalling those detonated by Israeli intelligence against Hezbollah in Lebanon in September 2024. He began with Iran and ultimately concluded by returning to biblical references.
«Devastating Iran’s nuclear facilities was hard. It was very hard to do. 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,» the leader stated.
Furthermore, he called it the «ultimate irony» that, after initiating a war against Iran alongside the United States in February, Israel is also «defending» the very countries now refusing to listen to him. He asserted that many had thanked him in private «for taking out Iran’s nukes.»
The prime minister also expressed pride in Israel’s expansion across the Golan Heights (Syria), Gaza, and the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War and the subsequent ongoing occupation, referring to the West Bank as «Judea and Samaria, the heart of the historic homeland of the Jewish people.»
«Mr. Al Sharaa, you should know the Jews have been on the Golan Heights since the days of Moses. You can read it in the Bible,» Netanyahu said, addressing Syrian President Ahmed al Sharaa.
Following this, he criticized France and the United Kingdom for accusing Israel of perpetuating colonial practices in the Palestinian territories. «And who is accusing us? Well, among them are people in Britain and in France. For God’s sake, they invented the term. Their colonies braced the entire globe.»
He further accused Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan of being a “tyrant” who “hosts the Hamas terror chiefs,” and affirmed that the country has become the latest “super spreader of anti-Semitic lies.”
‘The greatest lie of the century’
Regarding the three-year military offensive against the Gaza Strip, which has devastated the enclave by land, sea, and air, forcibly displaced nearly two million Palestinians, and killed over 74,000 people (mostly civilians), Netanyahu denied that his country has committed genocide.
«Accusing Israel of genocide is the greatest lie of the century,» the politician exclaimed, commending the actions of his soldiers in Gaza and reiterating that they had taken «innumerable steps to protect the civilian population.»
«Is this genocide? Of course not. It’s the opposite of genocide,» he added, citing the allowance of food and vaccine shipments for Gaza’s occupied population, which includes one million children and teenagers.
«Do you know any other country the size of New Jersey capable of fighting a seven front war? And for three years: seven fronts, Hamas, the Houthis, Iran, militias in Iraq, militias in Syria, Palestinian terrorists in Judea and Samaria?» he continued.
It was at this point that the Israeli leader accused Hamas of «desperately trying to regroup» and, without factual basis, of trying to kill Israelis in the occupied West Bank «every single day,» where around 700,000 settlers reside in violation of international law.
«Every day they try to murder our people. And in particular they try to murder our people in our historic homeland in Judea. By the way, that’s where the word Jew comes from. Judea. That’s our land,» he said regarding the West Bank: an occupied territory where more than 3.4 million Palestinians live under Israeli military rule, described as ‘apartheid’ by various NGOs and devoid of freedom of movement. EFE
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