{"id":45332,"date":"2025-09-26T20:55:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-26T20:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/45332\/"},"modified":"2025-09-26T20:55:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T20:55:09","slug":"defiant-netanyahu-says-israel-must-finish-the-job-against-hamas-in-gaza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/45332\/","title":{"rendered":"Defiant Netanyahu says Israel \u2018must finish the job\u2019 against Hamas in Gaza"},"content":{"rendered":"

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu told fellow world leaders at the United Nations that his country \u201cmust finish the job\u201d against Hamas in Gaza, giving a defiant speech despite growing international isolation over his refusal to end the devastating war in Gaza.<\/p>\n

Mr Netanyahu was speaking after dozens of delegates from multiple nations walked out of the UN General Assembly hall en masse on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWestern leaders may have buckled under the pressure,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I guarantee you one thing: Israel won\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

Responding to countries\u2019 recent decisions to recognise Palestinian statehood, Mr Netanyahu said: \u201cYour disgraceful decision will encourage terrorism against Jews and against innocent people everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DelegatesDozens of delegates from multiple nations walked out of the UN General Assembly hall as Benjamin Netanyahu prepared to speak (Stefan Jeremiah\/AP)\n<\/p>\n

As the Israeli leader spoke, unintelligible shouts echoed around the hall. The US delegation, which has backed Mr Netanyahu in his campaign against Hamas, stayed put.<\/p>\n

The few world powers in attendance, the US and the UK, did not send their most senior officials or even their UN ambassador to their section. Instead, it was filled out with more junior, low-level diplomats.<\/p>\n

\u201cAntisemitism dies hard. In fact, it doesn\u2019t die at all,\u201d Mr Netanyahu said. The Israeli prime minister routinely accuses his critics of antisemitism.<\/p>\n

Mr Netanyahu faces international isolation, accusations of war crimes and growing pressure to end a conflict he has continued to escalate. Friday\u2019s speech was his chance to push back on the international community\u2019s biggest platform.<\/p>\n

As he has often in the past, Mr Netanyahu held up a visual aid \u2014 a map of the region titled \u201cThe Curse\u201d.<\/p>\n

He ascended the podium wearing a special hostages pin with a QR code that leads to a site about October 7 that was established specifically for international public diplomacy needs.<\/p>\n

\"IsraelMr Netanyahu was addressing the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly (Richard Drew\/AP)\n<\/p>\n

The members of the prime minister\u2019s delegation, ministers and those accompanying him were also wearing identical pins.<\/p>\n

He frequently praised US president Donald Trump, his chief ally in his political and military approach in the region.<\/p>\n

Mr Netanyahu said the changes across the Middle East had created new opportunities. He said Israel had begun negotiations with Syria aimed at reaching security arrangements with the country\u2019s new government.<\/p>\n

Back in the Middle East, the Israeli government was taking steps to ensure that Gazans and others heard what he had to say.<\/p>\n

The military set up loudspeakers at the Israel-Gaza border to blast his words into the territory.<\/p>\n

And in an \u201cunprecedented operation\u201d, the prime minister\u2019s office said the Israeli army would take over the mobile phones of Gaza residents and Hamas operatives and his speech would be broadcast live through the mobile devices.<\/p>\n

The masses have come to the irreversible realisation that this war was always about the complete ethnic cleansing of Palestine, about the exploitation and the stealing of Palestinian land<\/p>\n

Nidaa Lafi, Palestinian Youth Movement<\/p>\n

It was not immediately clear if this happened, or to what extent.<\/p>\n

Mr Netanyahu said the special measures were taken in an attempt to reach the Israeli hostages still being held in Gaza.<\/p>\n

He spoke in Hebrew at one point, and he read the names of the 20 who are believed to still be alive.<\/p>\n

But much of his speech was also aimed at an international audience that is increasingly critical of Israel.<\/p>\n

The leader\u2019s annual speech to the General Assembly is always closely watched, often protested against, reliably emphatic and sometimes a venue for dramatic allegations. But this time, the stakes are higher than ever for the Israeli leader.<\/p>\n

In recent days, Australia, Canada, France, the UK and others announced their recognition of an independent Palestinian state.<\/p>\n

\"PeoplePeople protested against Mr Netanyahu\u2019s arrival at the United Nations headquarters in New York (Yuki Iwamura\/AP)\n<\/p>\n

The European Union is considering tariffs and sanctions on Israel. The assembly this month passed a nonbinding resolution urging Israel to commit to an independent Palestinian nation, which Mr Netanyahu has said is a non-starter.<\/p>\n

The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant accusing Mr Netanyahu of crimes against humanity, which he denies.<\/p>\n

And the UN\u2019s highest court is weighing South Africa\u2019s allegation that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, which it vehemently refutes.<\/p>\n

As Mr Netanyahu spoke on Friday, hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters gathered a few blocks from the heavily secured United Nations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIsrael has chosen a war against every conscientious human being in this world,\u201d Nidaa Lafi, an organiser with Palestinian Youth Movement, said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe masses have come to the irreversible realisation that this war was always about the complete ethnic cleansing of Palestine, about the exploitation and the stealing of Palestinian land.\u201d<\/p>\n

At a special session of the UN Security Council assembly this week, nation after nation expressed horror at the 2023 attack by Hamas militants that killed about 1,200 people in Israel, saw 251 taken hostage and triggered the war. Many of the representatives went on to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and influx of aid.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s sweeping offensive has killed more than 65,000 Palestinians in Gaza and displaced 90% of its population, with an increasing number now starving.<\/p>\n

While more than 150 countries now recognise a Palestinian state, the US has not, providing Israel with vociferous support.<\/p>\n

But Mr Trump pointedly signalled on Thursday that there were limits, telling reporters in Washington that he would not let Israel annex the occupied West Bank.<\/p>\n

Israel has not announced such a move, but several leading members in Mr Netanyahu\u2019s government have advocated doing so.<\/p>\n

And officials recently approved a controversial settlement project that would effectively cut the West Bank in two, a move that critics say could doom chances for a Palestinian state.<\/p>\n

\"USUS president Donald Trump told reporters on Friday that he believed the US had achieved a deal on easing fighting in Gaza (Julia Demaree Nikhinson\/AP)\n<\/p>\n

Mr Trump and Mr Netanyahu are scheduled to meet during his visit.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, speaking on the White House lawn as he was leaving to attend the Ryder Cup, Mr Trump said he believed the US had achieved a deal on easing fighting in Gaza that \u201cwill get the hostages back\u201d and \u201cend the war\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we have a deal,\u201d Mr Trump told reporters.<\/p>\n

Although his tone was optimistic, the US president has repeatedly suggested that an agreement to calm Israel\u2019s war with Hamas was imminent \u2014 only to have nothing to show for it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu told fellow world leaders at the United Nations that his country \u201cmust finish…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45333,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-45332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45332\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}