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Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to “finish the job” in Gaza and said that the recognition of a Palestinian state was “insane” as delegations walked out of his address to the United Nations.
Just days after the UK, France, Canada, Australia, and other countries broke with the United States to recognise an independent Palestinian state, Netanyahu called a two-state solution “sheer madness. It’s insane, and we won’t do it.”
“Giving the Palestinians a state one mile from Jerusalem after October 7 is like giving al-Qaeda a state one mile from New York City after September 11,” he said. Now 157 of 193 UN member states recognise Palestine as an independent state.
More than 100 diplomats from more than 50 countries walked out as Netanyahu entered the hall, according to a tally by the Washington Post.
Netanyahu gave the speech the morning after Donald Trump said he would restrain Netanyahu from annexing territories in the West Bank in retaliation for the expressions of support for Palestinian statehood. “I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank ... It’s not going to happen,” Trump said.
Rightwing allies of Netanyahu have proposed annexing up to 82% of the West Bank, which is formally governed by the Palestinian Authority. UK officials said that they were concerned the US could endorse the move.
But Netanyahu did not address the controversial plan on Friday, and his office has said he would only respond after the two meet on Monday at the White House. Targeting the UK, France and other countries that recognised Palestine, he said: “You didn’t do something right. You did something wrong, horribly wrong.”
“Your disgraceful decision will encourage terrorism against Jews and against innocent people everywhere,” he said.
In the speech, Netanyahu vowed to continue an offensive targeting Gaza City, ignoring international condemnation that it would worsen a humanitarian crisis in Gaza that prosecutors from the international criminal court have condemned as a war crime.
“The final remnants of Hamas are holed up in Gaza City,” he said, and Israel “must finish the job” to avoid facing attacks like those on 7 October “again and again and again”.
“That is why we want to do so as fast as possible.”
Netanyahu used his speech at the 80th anniversary of the United Nations general assembly to deny that Israel was carrying out a genocide in Gaza, saying: “Would a country committing genocide plead with the civilian population it is supposedly targeting to get out of harm’s way?”
The speech was highly contentious and delivered to a mostly empty room in the general assembly’s grand hall, which has capacity for 1,800 people. Reports said that delegations for the United States and United Kingdom, which remained in attendance, were filled out with junior diplomats as opposed to senior officials.
But Netanyahu claimed foreign leaders who “public condemn us privately thank us. They tell me how much they value Israel’s superb intelligence services that have prevented, time and again, terrorist attacks in their capitals.” He did not say which countries’ leaders had privately thanked him.
Thousands protested the speech on the streets of New York City, including at a main rally at Times Square across midtown.
Netanyahu also issued an ultimatum to the remaining leaders of Hamas, whose ranks have been decimated in the nearly two years since Israel launched its invasion of Gaza following the violent raids by Hamas in Israel on 7 October 2023.
“Lay down your arms,” he said. “Let my people go. Free the hostages. All of them. The whole 48. Free the hostages now.”
“If you do, you will live. If you don’t, Israel will hunt you down,” he added.
The speech was marked with props and publicity ploys. It was broadcast on loudspeakers in Gaza, and Netanyahu’s office claimed it was also transmitted on telephones in the territory that had been hijacked by the Israeli intelligence services. Associated Press reporters inside Gaza said they saw no sign that the speech was broadcast on phones there.
Netanyahu also used visual props, including a QR code that he encouraged viewers to scan: it linked to footage of the 7 October attacks by Hamas.
