posted on X a video<\/a> of himself and Palestinians from Gaza planting an olive sapling on the porch of his home, stating, \u201cMay peace be our future.\u201d<\/p>\nIn a statement to the media after the speech, Mamdani recalled that the International Criminal Court had issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu for his actions against the Palestinians.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs he has done time and again, Prime Minister Netanyahu used his speech to repeat baseless lies meant to sanitize his genocide of Palestinians. Yet no lie can change the fact that he remains the subject of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity,\u201d Mamdani said.<\/p>\n
In the U.N. plenum, Netanyahu said Israel took extensive measures to protect civilian lives in Gaza during the war that followed the attack, including providing food and vaccines, and asked why Israel would do that if it had genocidal intentions.<\/p>\n
Accusing Israel of genocide, Netanyahu said, is \u201cthe greatest lie of the 21st century,\u201d declaring that in Gaza, \u201cIsrael didn\u2019t commit genocide. Israel prevented genocide.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hamas, he said, \u201cused Palestinian civilians as human shields,\u201d stationing themselves in hospitals, schools and mosques while stealing food from Gaza civilians.<\/p>\n
\u201cHamas did everything possible to keep Palestinian civilians in harm\u2019s way, often at gunpoint. Israel did everything possible to get them out of harm\u2019s way,\u201d Netanyahu said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs this genocide? Of course not. It\u2019s the opposite of genocide,\u201d Netanyahu said.<\/p>\n
Several countries, such as Qatar and Turkey, have spent billions \u201cto spread lies about my country,\u201d Netanyahu charged.<\/p>\n
Qatar, which hosts Hamas leaders, has provided funding to U.S. universities and media outlets like Al Jazeera, he contended, so it could \u201cbrainwash young minds to hate Israel, hate America and hate the West.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Turkey, he said, has become \u201ca super-spreader of antisemitic lies\u201d as its president suppresses his own people and illegally occupies northern Cyprus and transgresses against Greece.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow Erdogan wants to take over Syria,\u201d which is not surprising since he also calls for Israel\u2019s destruction and wants to be the \u201cruler of Jerusalem,\u201d Netanyahu said. He declared that Erdogan would not be able to take over his country\u2019s capital, stating, \u201cThis is our country, our city, our eternal capital.\u201d<\/p>\n
Netanyahu spoke of the absurdity of some of the charges against Israel, including that of \u201ccolonialism\u201d leveled against the Jewish state by countries like Britain and France. \u201cFor God\u2019s sake, they invented the term. Their colonies braced the entire globe,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Netanyahu also described how his country rose from one of the darkest days in its history, Oct. 7, 2023, to deliver crippling blows to its enemies on seven fronts. This included assassinating Iranian, Hezbollah and Hamas leaders, as well as injuring thousands of Hezbollah fighters by exploding their beepers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Netanyahu, who is famous for gimmicks during his speeches, held up a beeper to show the audience what he was talking about.<\/p>\n
Netanyahu said there is also an eighth front to the war: Israel\u2019s \u201cwar for truth,\u201d in which it has combated the media and those on social media, which among other things have overly focused on what they call \u201csettler violence.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Netanyahu called the focus on the issue \u201cobsessive\u201d and downplayed the phenomenon, which even his top army commanders have warned against, describing those attacking Palestinian civilians as \u201ca handful of juvenile delinquents.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Netanyahu said he \u201cwon\u2019t stand for vigilantism\u201d but said the impact of a small number of lawbreakers had been exaggerated when compared with Palestinian violence against Israel.<\/p>\n
This week alone a father of six, Israeli-French citizen Netanel Shukron, had been killed by Palestinian terrorists and, in a separate incident, Neria Leiter, the son of Israel\u2019s ambassador to the US, had been seriously injured.<\/p>\n
When it came to Iran, Netanyahu lauded the US president for standing with Israel against the Islamic Republic. \u201cWe\u2019ve had no greater partner than President Trump,\u201d he said, who had understood decades ago the danger the Islamic Republic presented to the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Last year, the US and Israel had bombed Iran\u2019s nuclear facilities. This year, the two armies launched a war against Iran in February that ended with the declaration of a 60-day ceasefire in April intended to lead to a diplomatic resolution. The war did not eliminate Iran\u2019s nuclear program or destroy the Islamic Republic.<\/p>\n
Although the negotiations fell apart, and the two sides have occasionally traded fire, all-out war has not resumed. In the meantime, Israel has been sidelined with Trump taking the lead on the issue of further war with Iran, and has been deliberating between diplomacy or military action.<\/p>\n
The decision last year to bomb Iran\u2019s nuclear facilities, he said, was \u201cone of the easiest decisions I\u2019ve ever had to make.\u201d<\/p>\n
Preventing a nuclear Iran is a step that saves lives, Netanyahu said. He also gave a nod in the direction of Iran\u2019s internal oppression by holding up a Starlink communications device, used to bypass surveillance and help the Iranian people communicate with the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The \u201ctyrants of Iran,\u201d he said, are \u201cmost afraid\u201d of their own people.<\/p>\n
To the UNGA president, he said, \u201cI\u2019m going to leave this device with you so you can give it to the Iranian delegation so when they inevitably defect, they too will be able to freely tell their story on social media.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
One day, he said, \u201cand it may not be far away, the Iranian people will be free.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Detroit Jewish News has been supported by readers like you since 1942. Support independent, local, Jewish journalism with a donation today.<\/p>\n
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