An angry Netanyahu at the UN gave the order to kill Hezbollah chief

Any lingering hopes in Washington of an end to the fighting in Gaza and Lebanon were given short shrift yesterday by Israel’s prime minister in his address to the United Nations General Assembly. In an uncompromising speech in which he accused the UN body of a history of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bias, Benjamin Netanyahu laid bare his determination to end the war in Gaza only when Israel’s objectives had been met: the destruction of the Hamas terror organisation and the demilitarisation of Gaza. While the language he used was familiar, he was speaking at a time when the Israeli military appear poised to enter southern Lebanon to drive back Hezbollah, Hamas’s most powerful neighbour and supporter. The Israeli leader was in no mood to discuss ceasefires or concessions. The only way forward, he said, was to destroy the enemies who posed a threat to Israel’s existence. Such expectations in Washington and New York of a possible 21-day ceasefire to halt the burgeoning war between Israel and Hezbollah, but so quickly dashed. Netanyahu had already made it clear to Washington that while he was always ready to negotiate peace, now was not the time to hold back on confronting Israel’s enemies. Hezbollah and Hamas had to be dealt with so that the state of Israel could live without having missiles and rockets fired at Jewish communities every day. He condemned Hezbollah for attacking Israel with rockets the day after Hamas had carried out its massacre in southern Israel on October 7. More than 8,000 rockets had been fired by Hezbollah into Israel since October 8, he said., forcing 60,000 Israelis to abandon their homes in the north, near the border. Netanyahu had to face pro-Palestinian protesters outside the UN building in New York and some diplomats walked out of the chamber before he began his speech. The Palestinian delegations’ seats were empty. But there was scattered applause for him each time he made a particular point or raised his voice to emphasise the challenges facing Israel. Although the focus of Washington’s diplomatic efforts in recent days has been to prevent an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, Netanyahu was keen to emphasis the achievements already made in the war in Gaza. Hamas had begun the war with 40,000 members, 15,000 rockets and an underground tunnel network that was bigger than the New York subway which has 472 stations and 24 different lines. Netanyahu claimed 50 per cent of the total Hamas force had been eliminated, 23 out of the 24 fighting battalions had been annihilated and 90 per cent of the rockets destroyed. . “Now we will mop up,” he said. He claimed Israel Defence Forces had done more than any other army in wartime to protect civilians and prevent deaths and injuries among men, women and children. The casualty statistics put out by Hamas and by the Lebanese health authorities might tend to cast doubt on that claim. Indeed, Kamala Harris, Democratic nominee for the presidency and potentially the next incumbent of the White House, has on several occasions stated that the toll of civilian casualties in Gaza has been unacceptable. The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says 41,500 people have been killed, although Israel would stipulate that half of the deaths involved Hamas members. In Lebanon, more than 700 people are reported to have died since the Israeli airstrikes began on Monday. An unspecified number would have been Hezbollah fighters. Since Israel’s military retaliation against Hamas began after October 7, Netanyahu has had to fight what he sees as another war – a pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel war. This sense of persecution came out in his address to the UN. “I didn’t intend to come here this year. My country is at war , fighting for its life. But after I heard the lies and slanders levelled at my country by many of the speakers at this podium, I decided to come here and set the record straight.” In a direct message to Washington, he likened Hezbollah’s attacks in northern Israel which had driven Israeli civilians from their homes to a similar scenario happening in America. “Just imagine if terrorists turned El Paso and San Diego into ghost towns. How long would the American government tolerate that?” he said. He also had a warning for Iran, the principal sponsor for every act of terror against Israel. “I have a message for the tyrants of Iran. If you strike us we will strike you. There is no place in Iran that the long arm of Israel cannot reach,” he said. This was an angry Netanyahu, a man under huge pressure at home and abroad, committed to destroying Israel’s enemies but still hoping for a better and more peaceful future. He referred to the Abraham Accords, the agreements signed between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain for normalisation of diplomatic relations. But he spoke of the even more significant potential breakthrough still to come: full relations with Saudi Arabia. The October 7 Hamas massacre and the near year-long military action by Israel in Gaza brought the Washington-sponsored negotiations with Riyadh to a shuddering halt. Saudi Arabia wants, in return for diplomatic relations with Israel, the formation of an independent Palestinian state. But Netanyahu left out that crucial ingredient in his address. The future status of Gaza and the wider issue of reconfigured Arab/Israel relations seemed a long way off, as the Israeli leader grew more and more angry at the podium. AND THEN ISRAEL BOMBED THE HEZBOLLAH HQ OUTSIDE BEIRUT AND KILLED THE FOUNDING LEADER HASSAN NASRALLAH!