Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sharply condemned Western countries on Monday for accepting Palestinian statehood, accusing them of sending a message that "killing Jews pays off," Reuters reported.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sharply criticized Western countries on Monday for accepting Palestinian statehood, accusing them of bowing to pressure from activists and others who have accused Israel of war crimes against Palestinians in Gaza.
Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly, the Israeli leader rejected in the strongest terms yet a series of diplomatic moves by leading US allies that have deepened Israel's international isolation over its nearly two-year war against Hamas militants in Gaza.
"This week, the leaders of France, Britain, Australia, Canada and other countries unconditionally recognized the Palestinian state. They did so after the horrors committed by Hamas on October 7 — a horror that was praised that day by almost 90 percent of the Palestinian population. Do you know what message the leaders who recognized the Palestinian state this week are sending to the Palestinians? It is a very clear message: killing Jews pays off," Netanyahu pointed out.
As more countries support Palestinian independence, Israel's most right-wing government has made its strongest statement yet that there will be no Palestinian state, while continuing its fight against Hamas after the militants' October 7, 2023, offensive in Israel. Hamas-led fighters have killed about 1.200 people, according to Israeli figures, according to Reuters.
The Israeli military response has killed more than 65.000 people in Gaza, according to local health officials, and left much of the territory in ruins.
Netanyahu welcomed at the UN to applause from supporters and boos from state delegations
Netanyahu took the podium at the UN in New York today to applause from his supporters invited into the audience and boos from state delegations who left the hall en masse, reports Beta news agency.
Delegates were called to their turn as Netanyahu began his speech, which is the first on the agenda of the annual session of the UN General Assembly today.
Netanyahu said at the beginning of his speech that Israel wants to "finish the job as quickly as possible" in the war against the Palestinian Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip, which has been going on for almost two years.
He added that loudspeakers in Gaza are broadcasting his speech so that the hostages still being held by Hamas there can hear it.
Mass walkouts of delegates before the speech
Dozens of delegates left the hall as Netanyahu took the stage, while those in the gallery stood up and greeted him with a standing ovation, Reuters reported.
"Over time, many world leaders have caved. They have caved under pressure from biased media, radical Islamist communities and anti-Semitic mobs. There is a famous saying: when the going gets tough, the strong keep going. Well, for many countries here, when the going gets tough — you caved. Behind closed doors, many leaders who publicly condemn us privately thank us. They tell me how much they appreciate Israel's extraordinary intelligence services, which have repeatedly prevented terrorist attacks in their capitals," Netanyahu said.
Frustration over Israel's military siege and US President Donald Trump's unwillingness to rein in Netanyahu boiled over at the annual gathering in New York, where, in a dramatic turn of events, Australia, Britain, Canada and France, along with several other countries, recognized a Palestinian state, Reuters reports.
They said such a decision was necessary to preserve the prospect of a two-state solution and help end the war.
Netanyahu spoke after Arab and Muslim leaders this week accused Israel of genocide and war crimes in Gaza, accusations the Israeli government has vehemently denied.
The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu over alleged war crimes in the Gaza war. Israel rejects the court's jurisdiction and denies it has committed war crimes. Netanyahu today rejected what he called a "false accusation of genocide."
Hamas has offered to release all remaining hostages — it believes only about 20 of the 48 are alive — in exchange for Israel's agreement to end the war and withdraw from Gaza.
Netanyahu addresses hostages from the podium
"Much of the world no longer remembers October 7th. But we do," Netanyahu said.
Speaking in Hebrew, the Israeli leader addressed the hostages still being held in Gaza: "We have not forgotten you — not for a single second."
On Thursday, Trump told reporters he thought a deal to end the war and free the remaining hostages was close — though he offered no explanation for his optimism about overcoming the months-long stalemate in negotiations.
The right-wing Israeli leader, who spoke by phone with Trump on Thursday and will visit the White House on Monday, is facing growing pressure from families of hostages and, according to opinion polls, a war-weary Israeli public.
Netanyahu insists that the fight must continue until Hamas is completely defeated. At the same time, he is wary of losing support from far-right members of his fragile ruling coalition if he softens his stance.
Netanyahu remains firmly backed by the United States, Israel's most important ally and main arms supplier. Trump told the United Nations on Tuesday that moves to recognize a Palestinian state risk rewarding Hamas for "horrific crimes" and could fuel continued conflict.
However, regardless of how many countries recognize Palestine, full membership in the United Nations would require the approval of the UN Security Council, where the US has veto power.
Ahead of Netanyahu's speech, his office announced that loudspeakers had been installed on the Israeli side of the Gaza border to broadcast the speech into the Palestinian enclave.
Speaking via video link after the United States denied him a visa, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday condemned Israel's actions in Gaza as a "genocidal war." He thanked countries that had recently recognized Palestinian statehood, pledged that his Palestinian Authority would be ready to govern Gaza after the war, and called for the disarmament of Hamas and its removal from power.
Some of Netanyahu's hard-right ministers have said the government should respond to growing recognition of a Palestinian state by formally extending Israeli sovereignty to all or part of the occupied West Bank to extinguish hopes of Palestinian independence.
On Thursday, however, Trump said he would not allow Israel to annex the West Bank, which the Palestinians want for their state, along with Gaza and East Jerusalem.
"It's not going to happen," he told reporters in the Oval Office. This followed his talks on the sidelines of the General Assembly, during which several Arab leaders expressed concern about the issue.
Trump's statement could create tensions when he meets Netanyahu — their fourth face-to-face meeting since the US president returned to power in January — in what most analysts expected to be a diplomatic "love fest," Reuters concludes in the text.
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