(AFP) – Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, facing a difficult reelection campaign at home, delivered a fiery UN speech Thursday assailing enemies and allies alike — and sparking uproar in the chamber. Locked in a tight race to stay in power in the October 27 elections, Netanyahu used the global platform at the UN General Assembly to attack everyone from the leaders of Iran to New York’s first Muslim mayor and partners Britain, France, and Turkey. Dozens of envoys from across the world walked out, some jeering and booing, while Netanyahu’s own team stood and applauded, and the speaker of the session shouted for order.
“If there are any other moral cowards who haven’t left this hall, please do so now,” Netanyahu told those turning their backs on him. He lashed out at New York’s popular, leftist Mayor Zohran Mamdani as “antisemitic” and claimed that “since you were elected mayor of this city, many Jews no longer feel safe.” Mamdani had threatened to execute an ICC arrest warrant against Netanyahu before conceding he did not have the authority. The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) said in 2024 it had reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu was responsible for war crimes in the Gaza campaign, which responded to Hamas’ deadly October 7, 2023 attacks. Netanyahu denies the ICC claims.
“Netanyahu used his speech to repeat baseless lies meant to sanitize his genocide of Palestinians,” Mamdani said in response. “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.” Adding to tensions, dozens of protesters, some brandishing “stop the genocide” banners, gathered near the UN. Several demonstrators were detained, including Hollywood star actor Susan Sarandon. One of Netanyahu’s fiercest critics, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, was unable to attend the UN gathering after the Trump administration refused him a visa. In a video message played ahead of Netanyahu’s speech, Abbas said, “We reject these unlawful punitive measures, and we reject the accusations and justifications on which they were based.”
Britain and France, historic partners of Israel that have become increasingly outspoken in their criticism, were also in Netanyahu’s firing line. Britain and France have both imposed limited sanctions on Israeli exports from the occupied West Bank. And French President Emmanuel Macron drew Israel’s ire for claiming in his own UN speech that Hamas was not active in the West Bank. Hamas’ stronghold has traditionally been Gaza. Netanyahu attacked Britain and France for their past colonial empires during his turn at the lectern. “They accuse Israel, tiny Israel, of colonialism — some colonialism. And who’s accusing us? Among them are people in Britain and in France. For God’s sakes, they invented the term,” he said. Netanyahu already had poor relations with Macron, who led a push by Western nations at last year’s UN General Assembly to recognize a Palestinian state.
Netanyahu had especially harsh language on Iran, calling it a “murderous dictatorship.” He said the war in which Israeli and US forces have attacked Iran for close to seven months had stopped Tehran from being able to develop nuclear weapons. “I vowed to prevent Iran’s murderous dictatorship from developing atomic bombs, nuclear weapons aimed at destroying Israel, nuclear weapons that could threaten the entire world,” he said. He said the fall of Iran’s leadership, whose envoy at the UN displayed a portrait of slain Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani on their vacant desk, was not “far.” Despite the onslaught, Iran’s government has retained control and continues to defy the United States by effectively blocking the Strait of Hormuz.
During his speech, Netanyahu brandished a pager device like those that Israeli intelligence reportedly engineered with explosives before having them shipped to operatives of the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. They were later detonated, maiming dozens of Hezbollah operatives but also civilian bystanders. He accused Turkey of backing the Iran-backed Islamist group Hamas, going on to call the country’s leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan a “tyrant.” Netanyahu is only making a whirlwind stop in New York before rushing back to Israel, where the election campaign is in full swing. He is not scheduled to meet any top US leaders.
– Gregory WALTON
© 2024 AFP
