Netanyahu tells UN war in Gaza to continue as Israel’s isolation deepens

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Surrounded by critics and protesters at the United Nations, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told fellow world leaders on Friday that his nation “must finish the job” against Hamas in Gaza, giving a defiant speech despite growing international isolation over his refusal to end the devastating war. “Western leaders may have buckled under the pressure,” he said. “And I guarantee you one thing: Israel won’t.”

Mr. Netanyahu’s speech, aimed as much at his increasingly divided domestic audience as the global one, began after dozens of delegates from multiple nations walked out of the UN General Assembly hall en masse Friday morning as he began.

Responding to countries’ recent decisions to recognize Palestinian statehood, Mr. Netanyahu said: “Your disgraceful decision will encourage terrorism against Jews and against innocent people everywhere.”

As the Israeli leader spoke, unintelligible shouts echoed around the hall, while applause came from supporters in the gallery. Seats allotted to the United States – which has backed Mr. Netanyahu in his campaign against Hamas – and the United Kingdom were filled by low-level diplomats instead of senior ambassadors or officials. Many seats were vacant; by Iran’s empty chairs stood a compilation of photos of children that Tehran said were killed during Israel’s war there in June.

Canada was not part of the mass walkout this morning. The office of Canadian Ambassador Bob Rae says he remained seated during Mr. Netanyahu’s address as dozens of diplomats from other countries walked out of the chamber.

“Antisemitism dies hard. In fact, it doesn’t die at all,” said Mr. Netanyahu, who routinely accuses critics of antisemitism.

Mr. Netanyahu faces international isolation, accusations of war crimes and growing pressure to end a conflict he has continued to escalate. Friday’s speech was his chance to push back on the international community’s biggest platform.

He used it to cast Gaza as the lone remaining front in a wider war, listing recent military missions by Israel to target its enemies and contain threats to its security in Iran, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen.

Those efforts have “opened up possibilities for peace,” he said, noting that Israel has begun negotiations with Syria to reach security arrangements with the new government in Damascus. The final challenge, Mr. Netanyahu said, is to root out what he called the “final remnants of Hamas.”

He frequently praised U.S. President Donald Trump, his chief ally in his political and military approach in the region.

As he has often in the past at the United Nations, Mr. Netanyahu held up visual aids – including a map of the region titled “THE CURSE,” which chronicles Israel’s challenges in its neighbourhood. He marked it up with a large marker. He wore – and pointed out – a pin with a QR code to a site about the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack that led to the war and about the Israeli hostages taken by the militants.

In what Mr. Netanyahu cast as an effort to reach captives still being held in Gaza, the Israeli government set up loudspeakers to blast the speech into the territory, though the military has pushed Palestinians away from its borders. The Prime Minister’s office also claimed that the Israeli army had taken over mobile phones in Gaza to broadcast his message, though AP journalists inside Gaza saw no immediate evidence of Mr. Netanyahu’s speech being broadcast on phones there.

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In Wadi Gaza – near Gaza City, where Israel launched another major ground operation earlier this month – Palestinians who followed the speech responded with a mix of exhaustion and enduring commitment to their long-sought state.

“Whether he likes it or not, sooner or later, the Palestinian people will gain independence,” said Moneir Talib, who has been displaced from Gaza City.

Amjad Abdel Daiym expressed similar feelings but added: “We are psychologically, physically, morally and financially tired from everything. … When he says that he wants to continue the war to eradicate Hamas members, or Hamas movement or the Hamas government, I only see that the war is continuing against poor people like us.”

Hamas, meanwhile, accused Mr. Netanyahu of making false justifications to continue the war. “If he were truly concerned about his captives, he would have stopped his brutal bombardment, genocidal massacres, and the destruction of Gaza City,” Hamas said in a statement on its website. “Instead, he lies and continues to endanger their lives.”

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Mr. Netanyahu’s annual speech to the UN General Assembly is always closely watched, often protested, reliably emphatic and sometimes a venue for dramatic allegations. But this time, the stakes were higher than ever for the Israeli leader.

In recent days, Australia, Canada, France, the United Kingdom and others announced their recognition of an independent Palestinian state. The European Union is considering tariffs and sanctions on Israel. The assembly this month passed a non-binding resolution urging Israel to commit to an independent Palestinian nation, which Mr. Netanyahu has said is a non-starter.

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The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant accusing Mr. Netanyahu of crimes against humanity, which he denies. And the UN’s highest court is weighing South Africa’s allegation that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, which it vehemently refutes.

As Mr. Netanyahu spoke Friday, hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters gathered a few blocks from the heavily secured United Nations.

“Israel has chosen a war against every conscientious human being in this world,” said Nidaa Lafi, an organizer with Palestinian Youth Movement, prompting chants of “shame” from the growing crowd.

Mr. Netanyahu’s message was simultaneously applauded by UN Watch, a non-governmental group long supportive of Israel. “His address had a dual tone: defiance in the face of terror, but also a vision for peace with Arab neighbours, and even with a free Iran one day,” the group’s executive director, Hillel Neuer, said in a statement.

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At a special session of the UN Security Council this week, nation after nation expressed horror at the 2023 attack by Hamas militants that killed about 1,200 people in Israel, saw 251 taken hostage and triggered the war. Many of the representatives went on to criticize the response by Israel and call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and influx of aid.

Israel’s sweeping offensive has killed more than 65,000 Palestinians in Gaza and displaced 90 per cent of its population, with an increasing number now starving.

While more than 150 countries now recognize a Palestinian state, the United States has not, providing Israel with vociferous support. But Mr. Trump signalled Thursday there are limits, telling reporters in Washington that he wouldn’t let Israel annex the occupied West Bank.

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Israel hasn’t announced such a move, but several leading members in Mr. Netanyahu’s government have advocated doing so. Officials recently approved a controversial settlement project that would effectively cut the West Bank in two, a move critics say could doom chances for a Palestinian state. Mr. Trump and Mr. Netanyahu are scheduled to meet Monday, and Trump said on social media Friday that “very inspired and productive discussions” and “intense negotiations” about Gaza are ongoing with countries in the region.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas addressed the General Assembly via video on Thursday after the U.S. denied him a visa. He welcomed the recent announcements of recognition but said the world needs to do more. “The time has come for the international community to do right by the Palestinian people,” he said.

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Mr. Abbas leads the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority, which administers portions of the West Bank. Hamas won legislative elections in Gaza in 2006 before seizing control from Mr. Abbas’s forces the following year.

Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war, then withdrew from Gaza in 2005. The Palestinians want all three territories to form their envisioned state – a process known as the two-state solution. Mr. Netanyahu maintains that creating a Palestinian state would reward Hamas.

In his speech, Mr. Netanyahu insisted that Israel is battling radical Islam on behalf of all nations.

“You know deep down,” he said, “that Israel is fighting your fight.”

With a report from The Canadian Press