Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had originally intended not to come to the UN General Assembly this year but after hearing the “lies and slander” levelled against his country by other leaders, he decided that he should come and “set the record straight”.

“I decided to come here to speak for my people, to speak for my country and speak for the truth,” he stated, stressing that Israel yearns for peace.

“We face savage enemies who seek our annihilation, and we must defend ourselves against these savage murderers, [who] seek not only to destroy us but also destroy our common civilization and return all of us to a dark age of tyranny and terror.”

He recalled his address to the general debate last year, when he had stated that Israel faces the same timeless choice that Moses put before its people thousands of years ago, “that our actions will determine whether we bequeath future generations a blessing or a curse.”

“And that is the choice we face today,” he emphasized, citing “the curse of Iran’s unremitting aggression or the blessing of a historic reconciliation between Arab and Jew.”

In the days that followed, that “blessing” approached in the form of a normalization deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel, “but then came the curse of 7 October” as thousands of Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists burst into Israel, committing “unimaginable atrocities”, including brutally murdering 1,200 people, including children; sexual violence against women; and kidnapping 251 people from different countries.

“Scenes reminiscent of the Nazi holocaust,” Prime Minister Netanyahu stressed.

Further in his address, Prime Minister Netanyahu said that following that attack, his country was forced to defend itself on six more fronts, organized by Iran in Lebanon, Yemen, Syria and Iraq.

He also stated that if Iran should “strike us, we will strike you. There is no place in Iran that the long arm of Israel cannot reach and that is true of the entire Middle East.”

Holding up two maps, he contrasted the “blessing” of development for Israel and its “Arab partners” with the “curse” of Iran’s influence in the region, warning that “Iran seeks to impose its radicalism beyond the Middle East and threatens the entire world.”

Noting that the Israel Defense Forces continue fighting Hamas, he warned that if that group stays in power, “it will regroup, rearm and attack again”. 

He rejected “any rule for Hamas in a post-war Gaza”.

Israel does not seek to resettle Gaza, he continued, noting that it wants a “demilitarized and de-radicalized” Gaza.

“Only then can we ensure that this round of fighting will be the last,” Netanyahu said, adding that the war can come to an end only if Hamas surrenders and releases all hostages.

“If they do not, we will fight until we achieve total victory. There is no substitute for it,” he underscored, stating also Israel must defeat “the quintessential terror organization”, Hezbullah in Lebanon.

“We will not accept a terror army perched on our northern border ready to carry out another 7 October style massacre,” he said.