A Palestinian foreign ministry official slammed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech at the United Nations on Friday as “saturated with lies and falsifications”.
“It was the speech of a defeated man, a desperate leader who once again tried to rally a West that has increasingly distanced itself from a genocidal state, using fear as his only argument,” the director of the ministry’s European affairs department, Adel Atieh, told AFP.
“This speech showed neither vision nor perspective: it only reflected growing isolation, a headlong rush forward and the anxiety of a power that knows it stands on the wrong side of history.”
In Friday’s angry UN address, Netanyahu vowed to block a Palestinian state, accusing European leaders of pushing his country into “national suicide” and rewarding Hamas.
Netanyahu, who said his speech was being partially broadcast on Israeli military loudspeakers in Gaza, vowed to “finish the job” against Hamas even as President Donald Trump said he thought he had sealed a deal on a ceasefire.
Days after Britain, France and other Western powers recognised a state of Palestine, Netanyahu said that they had sent “a very clear message that murdering Jews pays off”.
“Israel will not allow you to shove a terrorist state down our throats,” Netanyahu said.
“We will not commit national suicide because you don’t have the guts to face down the hostile media and antisemitic mobs demanding Israel’s blood,” he said.
Hamas carried out its worst attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, triggering a relentless Israeli offensive in Gaza.
Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas, a rival of Hamas, condemned the attack as well as antisemitism in his own address Thursday, which he delivered virtually after the United States refused him a visa.
Netanyahu - who has opposed a Palestinian state for decades - mocked Western support for Abbas and called the Palestinian Authority “corrupt to the core”.
But Palestinian foreign ministry official Adel Atieh called Netanyahu’s address “the speech of a defeated man”.
Netanyahu did not touch on the issue of annexing the West Bank, which some members of his Cabinet have threatened as a way to kill any prospect of a real Palestinian state.
Trump, normally a staunch ally of Netanyahu, has warned against annexation as he pitches a peace plan on Gaza that would include the disarmament of Hamas.
Netanyahu went out of his way to praise Trump, whom he will meet on Monday (local time) in Washington.
Trump said Friday just after Netanyahu spoke, “I think we have a deal”.
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has been floated in some media reports as a possible leader of a transitional authority for Gaza under the US proposals.
With Netanyahu facing an International Criminal Court arrest warrant over war crime allegations, including using starvation as a weapon, the Israeli PM took an unusual route to New York that included flying over the narrow Strait of Gibraltar.
As he walked up to the General Assembly rostrum many delegations walked out. Protesters marched nearby in Times Square calling for his arrest.
“War criminals don’t deserve any peace of mind. They don’t deserve any sleep,” said Andrea Mirez, a young woman who kept up an overnight noisy protest outside Netanyahu’s hotel.
Netanyahu in his address aggressively challenged allegations that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza, noting Gazans were repeatedly urged to flee.
However, humanitarian law also considers forced displacement to be a war crime. Nearly the entire population of the Gaza Strip has been displaced during the war.
The October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas killed 1219 people, also mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally from Israeli official figures, in the deadliest day in the country’s history.
Israel’s offensive has killed more than 65,549 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to health ministry figures in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable.
On Friday, 20 people across Gaza were killed ahead of Netanyahu’s speech alone, Gaza’s civil defence agency reported.
Medical charity Doctors without Borders said Friday it had been forced to suspend its work in Gaza City because of the ongoing Israeli offensive.
Netanyahu said that his speech was broadcast in part on loudspeaker in hopes of reaching Hamas leaders and hostages still held since the October 7, 2023, attack.
“We have not forgotten you - not even for a second,” Netanyahu said in Hebrew.
A number of hostage families have criticised Netanyahu’s renewed military campaign and sought a ceasefire to save their loved ones.
Netanyahu spoke months after he ordered a major bombing campaign of Iran’s nuclear sites.
During his speech he showed a map of the Middle East, taking out a pen to cross out adversaries Israel has killed. Iran boycotted the speech.
Israel’s UN ambassador said it was a “a staged performance” co-ordinated by Palestinians.
Netanyahu also hit out at countries – including Australia – which have recognised Palestine claiming “murdering Jews does pay off”.
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will this morning confirm whether New Zealand will join other Western nations in recognising Palestine.
Peters is due to make his statement around 11am after weeks of deliberation within Cabinet over the issue.
NZ Herald will publish the announcement live.
- Agence France-Presse