…Speaks at UNGA, blames Iran for aggression
Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday vowed to pound and degrade Hezbollah until its goals along Lebanon’s border is achieved.
Addressing the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York, he told world leaders at the his nation will “continue degrading Hezbollah” until it achieves its goals along the Lebanon border.
Supposedly, his statement further dims hopes for an internationally backed cease-fire to halt the spiral into an all-out regional war.
Shortly after he began his address, delegates from several countries including Saudi Arabia, Iran and many other Arab countries staged a walk out.
According to Netanyahu, his government would no longer tolerate daily rocket fire from the area.
“Israel has every right to remove this threat and return our citizens to their home safely. And that’s exactly what we’re doing … we’ll continue degrading Hezbollah until all our objectives are met,” Netanyahu said.
“Just imagine if terrorists turned El Paso and San Diego into ghost towns … How long would the American government tolerate that?” he said, shaking his fist in emphasis.
“Yet Israel has been tolerating this intolerable situation for almost a year. Well, I’ve come here today to say: Enough is enough.”
Netanyahu, armed with visual aids as he has been in the past, defended his nation’s response to the October 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas on Israel that triggered an Israeli military operation that has devastated the Gaza Strip.
He said he traveled to the United Nations to refute the untruths he had heard from other leaders on the same rostrum earlier in the week.
“I didn’t intend to come here this year. My country is at war fighting for its life,” Netanyahu said. “But after I heard the lies and slanders leveled at my country by many of the speakers at this podium, I decided to come here and set the record straight.”
He insisted that Israel wanted peace but said of Iran: “If you strike us, we will strike you.” He once again blamed Iran for being behind many of the problems in the region.
“For too long, the world has appeased Iran,” Netanyahu said. “That appeasement must end.”
Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 41,500 Palestinians and wounded more than 96,000 others, according to the latest figures released Thursday by the Health Ministry. Mm
The ministry, part of Gaza’s Hamas government, doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants, but more than half the dead have been women and children, including about 1,300 children under the age of 2.
Israel has maintained its military operations are justified and are necessary to defend itself.
“This war can come to an end now. All that has to happen is for Hamas to surrender, lay down its arms and release all the hostages,” Netanyahu said. “But if they don’t – if they don’t – we will fight until we achieve total victory. Total victory. There is no substitute for it. “
The United Nations says over 90,000 people have been displaced by five days of Israeli strikes on Lebanon, bringing the total to 200,000 people who have been displaced in Lebanon since Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel in support of Hamas after it stormed into Israel, sparking the Israel-Hamas war.
As Netanyahu took the stage, there was enough ruckus in the audience that the presiding diplomat had to shout, “Order, please.”
About The Author
