During an impassioned speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted he seeks peace but said his country will strike back against any entity that strikes it first.
“We face savage enemies who seek our annihilation, and we must defend ourselves against these savage murderers,” Netanyahu said.
Since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, he said Israel has been defending itself on six war fronts organized by Iran, including rocket fire from Hezbollah in Lebanon, drone attacks from Houthis in Yemen, and Shia militias in Syria and Iraq.
“I have a message for the tyrants of Tehran,” he said at the United Nations meeting, where Iran’s representative was absent. “If you strike us, we will strike you. There is no place in Iran that the long arm of Israel cannot reach, and that’s true of the entire Middle East.”
More than 43,000 people have been killed since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, including at least 41,000 Palestinians and more than 1,700 Israelis. Nearly 100,000 people have fled their homes following Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon that began last week, and a string of airstrikes have killed about 600 people over the past two days alone, according to the United Nations.
“Israel will win this battle because we don’t have a choice," Netanyahu said during a 35-minute speech that frequently drew applause and cheers from attendees. "After generations in which our people were slaughtered, remorselessly butchered and no one raised a finger in our defense, we now have a state, an army of incomparable courage, and we are defending ourselves. The people of Israel live now, tomorrow, forever.”
Saying Israel had a choice between a blessing and a curse, Netanyahu showed maps of each option. The blessing, he said, is a world where Israel partners with Arab nations to form a land bridge that connects Asia and Europe between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. In such a scenario, millions of people would benefit from new rail lines, energy pipelines and fiber optic cables, Netanyahu said.
The curse map showed Iran dominating the same area, shutting down trade through international waterways. Netanyahu encouraged other nations to join Israel in its fight against what he called an “evil regime.”
Insisting that Israel is focused on bringing hostages home, he also said, “Hamas has got to go.”
Israel has so far thwarted numerous efforts at a cease-fire deal in Gaza.
“For those who say Hamas has to be part of a post-war Gaza, imagine in a post-war situation in World War II allowing the defeated Nazis in 1945 to rebuild Germany. It’s inconceivable,” he said. “It’s ridiculous.”
He reiterated his stance that Israel will not allow Hamas to have a part in a post-war Gaza, saying it is seeking a demilitarized and deradicalized Gaza.
“This war can come to end now,” said Netanyahu, who was wearing a yellow ribbon on one lapel and an Israeli flag on the other. “All that has to happen is for Hamas to surrender, lay down its arms and release all the hostages.”
He pledged to achieve total victory against Hamas and to defeat Hezbollah in Lebanon. Hezbollah, he said, “is the quintessential terror organization in the world today” with “tentacles that span in all continents.”
Describing Israel's missiong as "holy," the prime minister cited the ancient Hebrew prophet Moses, saying his country faces the same choice that the people of Israel faced thousands of years ago.
“Moses told us that our actions will determine whether we bequeath to future generations a blessing or a curse, and that is the choice we face today: the curse of Iran’s unremitting aggression or the blessing of a historic reconciliation between Arab and Jew.”
Netanyahu said Israel was on the cusp of achieving such a reconciliation when Hamas attacked the country Oct. 7 and took 251 people hostage. Of those, 154 have been returned to Israel, and 37 of them have died.
Speaking directly to the family members of several hostages attending the U.N. General Assembly, he assured them, “We will not rest until the remaining hostages are brought home, too.”