Standing at the podium of the United Nations General Assembly last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu looked, above all, like yesterday’s man. It was not only that the props and the schtick seemed old. So did the rhetoric: the stale neoconservative talking points about Israel as the bulwark of the West in its civilizational conflict against Islamist barbarism. The largely empty hall – vacated by most countries’ delegations – conveyed an unmissable message. For almost 30 years Netanyahu has used the same tired language to justify Israel’s actions. The world no longer wants to listen.
