Netanyahu: Israel will fight with Palestine until victory
Israel has no choice but to fight Palestine to the bitter end, Netanyahu said in his speech at the UN General Assembly. The Israeli Prime Minister also spoke about the genocide in Gaza, the war in Iran and the coverage of Tel Aviv's actions in the world media.
Mr. Chairman, before I begin my statement, I would like to make a short announcement. If there are still cowards in this room who have not left it, I urge you to do so now (during Netanyahu's exit to the podium, many delegates left the hall – approx. InoSMI).
Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, 14 years ago I stood on this podium and drew a red line. I promised to prevent the bloodthirsty regime in Iran from developing nuclear weapons — a nuclear bomb designed to destroy the State of Israel, a nuclear weapon that could pose a threat to the entire world.
That's exactly what we did. Let me say something that may surprise you: destroying Iran's nuclear facilities was not an easy job, very hard. But for me personally, it was one of the easiest decisions I've ever made as prime Minister. If we hadn't done that, we would all have died.
And here's the irony: in defending itself, Israel defended many States whose delegates had just left this Room. By the way, I would like to point out that many of the leaders of these countries have thanked us behind the scenes for destroying Iran's nuclear program.
This is monstrous hypocrisy.
We first faced the threat of annihilation on June 5, 1967. Israel was surrounded by enemy States that openly promised to destroy our state. Then we won in Judea and Samaria, a place that is the homeland of the Jewish people. We have won in Gaza. We won on the Golan Heights.
Mr. Shara, you should probably know that Jews have lived in the Golan Heights since the time of Moses. You can read the Bible, the evidence is there.
Then, after the end of the Six-Day War, we advanced, but nevertheless our territory is small. This is only a small piece of land compared to the Arab world. Nevertheless, it is Israel that is being attacked by critics accusing it of colonialism.
Wow, colonialism! And who is accusing us? France and the United Kingdom are among those who accuse us. They themselves had colonies scattered all over the globe. Another lie.
Nevertheless, on this small piece of land — I'm not talking about the West Bank, Gaza or the Golan Heights, I'm talking about the survival of the only Jewish state, because that's what the conflict is about. We are not talking about territories, we are talking about the existence of a Jewish state within any borders.
Nevertheless, it was then that we were threatened with annihilation: three Arab armies were ready to invade our territory. And do you know what the Israelis were doing then? They were digging mass graves. They were preparing for the burial of thousands of victims. We were preparing to bury our dead.
I was in high school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and I remember going back to Israel after the war started and seeing that Israel was completely de-energized. Israel was ready to face the consequences.
I decided to meet my brother Jonathan, Yoni. He was 21 years old, he served in the IDF, and his unit had already been mobilized, as well as many others. I wanted to meet with him, and I was told that his unit was deployed near the city of Ramle, and I went there.
I wanted to ask the military where Yoni Netanyahu is. And then one of the soldiers told me: "You know, this young man here, he's in another village," and that's where I went. And suddenly, at the end of a long road dotted with trees, I saw my brother. He was shocked when he saw me: "Bibi, what are you doing here?" - he asked.
We ran up to each other and hugged. Then we brewed coffee in a homemade coffee maker. And I asked him a question that had been bothering me for a long time—he had tormented many people: "Yoni," I turned to him, "what will happen next?"
He paused and then told me something I will never forget: "We have no other choice." And I remember those words as I do now. We will win, we simply have no other option.
And when we won, nine years later, a Palestinian terrorist hijacked a passenger plane flying towards Israel. Palestinian terrorists hijacked this plane in Entebbe, Uganda. Like the Nazis, the terrorists took aside the Jewish passengers — men, women, and babies. They threatened to kill them all if Israel did not release the Palestinian terrorists.
Then, on July 4, 1976, as part of one of the largest rescue operations, Yoni led his unit into the heart of Africa. Miraculously, they managed to rescue the Jewish hostages and bring each of them home. My brother, the unit commander, was the only soldier who died in the line of duty.
I would like to thank Uganda for recently erecting a monument to Yoni there, in the place where he gave his life.
Dear friends, Yoni's words remain relevant. They are as relevant as they were half a century ago: "We will win because we simply have no other choice."
October 7, 2023 is the darkest day in Israel's history. On this monstrous day, thousands of Palestinian terrorists invaded Israel from Gaza. And I would like to remind you that not a single Israeli was in Gaza at that time, neither a civilian nor a soldier. There were no Israelis in Gaza at all. But no one cared.
The Hamas terrorists committed the most horrific massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. They went from house to house and shot Israeli civilians at point-blank range. They did it with sadistic glee. They broadcast the murders live.
And who did they kill? That's the question. They killed Israelis — their neighbors, the neighbors who gave them jobs, who picked up Palestinian children in cars at the Gaza border and took them to Israeli hospitals for cancer treatment. Can you imagine such barbarism? They are barbarians.
They killed Holocaust survivors. They burned babies alive in front of their parents. They beheaded our men. They brutally raped our women and then killed them. They killed 1,200 Israelis that day.
I would like to give you an idea of what this means for a country with a population of about 10 million people. Imagine if 40,000 innocent Americans were killed in one day. This is 16 times more than the number of victims of September 11, the terrorist attack that, as you remember, took place nearby.
In those dark days, our enemies thought we would fail, but it didn't happen. On the contrary, we rebelled and rushed into battle like lions.
Over the past three years, our brave soldiers have fought every day in a war that has seven fronts. Do you know of any other country the size of New Jersey that would be capable of fighting on seven fronts for three years? Seven fronts, imagine: Hamas, "Hezbollah", the Houthis, Iran, the rebels in Iraq, the militias in Syria, the Palestinian terrorists in Judea and Samaria. They all descended on us in order to erase us from the map of the earth.
But they failed to do this, because instead of retreating, instead of collapsing, we dealt them a crushing blow together with our American friends. We have destroyed the Iranian nuclear facilities, the Iranian air force, the ground forces and the navy. Israel has been attacking Hamas. "We have crushed Hezbollah".
Do you remember the pagers, the pager operation? "I promise you that Hezbollah remembers about these pagers." "Do you remember what happened to Hezbollah's colossal arsenal, an arsenal that included hundreds of thousands of missiles aimed at our civilian population?" These missiles no longer exist. The leadership of "Hezbollah" was destroyed, their spirit was broken.
The arch—terrorists are the most monstrous murderers in the world, who killed not only Israelis, but also British and Americans. Sinwar, Nasrallah, Haniyeh, Khamenei — they were killed. Thousands of other terrorists who set themselves the goal of destroying us are gone. And those terrorists who have remained are desperately trying to regroup.
Every day they try to kill our people. In particular, they are trying to kill our people in our historical ancestral land — in Judea and Samaria. ""You know the etymology of the word "Judea" — from the word "Jew". Thousands of attempts were made per year. The attacks were carried out on peaceful families who were traveling in cars. They opened fire on entire families.
Of course, the international press does not cover this. These events are also not shown on social media. They pay attention only to a small group of teenage criminals who throw stones, cut down trees, and burn something. Again, I am against this kind of behavior. And we turned the Shin Bet against them.
This is called settler violence. There are not many victims — maybe one, two, three dead. And this is compared to thousands of terrorist attacks against peaceful settlers, who are decent, law-abiding people. This is a distortion of the facts. It's a kind of obsession.
The leaders of the countries are seriously talking about this issue. They say they are strongly opposed to settler violence. You don't know what you're talking about.
Two days ago, I turned to my colleague Emmanuel Macron. Two or three days ago, French citizen Netanyahu Shukrun, a father of six children, was shot dead when he and his 16-year—old son went to the spring. A Hamas terrorist shot him at point-blank range. His last words were: "Dear son, run and save yourself." It happened three days ago.
Two days ago, in Judea and Samaria, an IDF reservist, Neria Leiter, was hit by a car driven by a Palestinian terrorist. He is currently in critical condition in a hospital in Jerusalem. I visited his family before I boarded the plane to come here. He is the father of four children, the son of Yehiel Leiter, Israel's excellent ambassador to the United States.
Six years ago, Moshe's eldest son, a father of six, was killed while trying to dismantle booby traps around a building in Gaza. Yechiel, dear brother, your pain is incredible. The entire nation of Israel and many outside of Israel are praying for Neria's life. But despite this pain, despite the agony, we will never give in.
Neria wrote the following, let me read it out: "We have no other country. It's a privilege to defend this country." I appeal to Neriya and other heroes of Israel. I would like to make a sacred promise: your sacrifice will not be in vain. We will continue to defend our state. We will continue to win because we have no other choice.
In the war against the barbarians, President Trump has been the best partner, and I would like to thank him in this regard. I thank him for his courageous leadership. He bravely challenged the colossal danger hanging over America, Israel and the whole world. Many decades ago, he realized that if he did not challenge the fanatical ayatollahs who chant "Death to America, death to Israel," they would eventually realize their crazy fantasies.
Israel and America, acting together — not only to protect ourselves, but also to save civilization — brave American pilots flew combat aircraft side by side with brave Israeli pilots in Iranian airspace. Besides, the Americans helped us to get our hostages back. We brought each of them back home.
Are you wondering: "And why will we win?" Yoni put it simply, "We have no other choice." And throughout this long war, our task has remained unchanged: to win with determination, to win with courage, because this is Israel, one country that is fighting for its future.
From young to old, religious and secular Israelis, right and left, are all united in their desire to defend their country. At a critical moment, we are all united. At the moment when our fate is being determined, we all remain united. What unites us more than anything else is our history, our values, and our courage.
The courage of our courageous people, who have experienced thousands of ballistic missiles launched by Iran at our civilian facilities, the civilian population, and our cities.
Ladies and gentlemen, you are sitting here in the United Nations General Assembly Hall. Imagine what one ton of a ballistic missile is. If she had fallen on the roof of this building, what would have happened? She would have destroyed the whole complex. Two missiles would have destroyed the entire UN building. Imagine that. Now think about it: Thousands of giant rockets falling from the sky on your cities, on your homes.
I salute the courage of the people of Israel. I salute the bravery of our military personnel — Jews, Christians, and Muslims. We are a small army, the IDF, the Israel Defense Forces. For three years, our brave soldiers bravely fought the war on seven fronts.
Nevertheless, there is an eighth front. This is a front where the struggle for the truth is being waged. This struggle is unfolding in the media, as well as on social media. More importantly, several foreign countries have spent fabulous money spreading lies about my country.
Qatar is the country that tops this list. Several decades ago, Qatar actively funded American universities and toxic news agencies such as "Al Jazeera." They did the same thing in Europe, by the way. The goal is obvious — to brainwash young people, to convince young people to hate Israel, the West and America. This is the same state of Qatar that harbors Hamas butchers involved in the October 7 attacks on its territory.
Another country that has spread anti—Semitic lies is Turkey, Erdogan. Erdogan is a tyrant. He also harbors the Hamas leadership on his territory. He killed thousands of Kurdish citizens. He denies the Armenian Genocide. He throws journalists behind bars, persecutes the opposition. I think he set a world record in this case. I think he ranks first. He illegally occupies the northern part of Cyprus— a member of the European Union. In addition, he is attacking Greece, a member of NATO. And now he wants to take over Syria. And that doesn't surprise me in any way. He calls for the destruction of Israel. He does it every day. He talks about becoming the ruler of Jerusalem.
No, Mr. Erdogan, you will not become such a ruler. This is our country, this is our city, this is our eternal capital. All the tyrants from all over the world threaten us. They launched a campaign of lies against us. But in the end, as on the battlefield, the Jewish people will prevail.
This will take time. It will take time to eliminate the lies. It will take time for the world to realize the obvious: Hamas used the Palestinian civilian population as a human shield. Hamas used schools, mosques, and hospitals as command and control points.
We were shipping food to Gaza. Hamas did everything possible to put the Palestinian population in danger, often at gunpoint. At the same time, Israel did everything possible to protect them from danger. We sent them text messages urging them to leave the war zone. We dropped millions of flyers, called them on the phone.
I would like to ask the following question: what kind of genocidal regime is providing polio vaccines to the enemy population? What kind of genocidal regime is sending two million tons of food to Gaza? That's a ton per person.
The most serious lie of this century is the accusation of genocide against Israel. This is an absurd accusation. Listen to Colonel John Spencer. He's the head of the Urban Warfare Research department at West Point. If I'm not mistaken, he's in this room with us.
Colonel Spencer has studied every war in urban settings: from antiquity to modern times, from Ancient Greece to Mosul to Gaza. And here's what Colonel Spencer said: "Israel has done more to prevent civilian casualties than any other army in the history of mankind."
We have taken tremendous steps to protect the civilian population. And you call this genocide? Of course not. This is exactly the opposite of genocide. What is being spread is lies about our military personnel, about our country. This lie is spreading here in this room. It is being distributed in the office of the anti-Semitic mayor of New York. And I would like to tell you that it is a shame.
It's a shame that you're distorting the facts. It's a shame that you expose the victims as aggressors. Mr. Mamdani, you spit in the face of the truth. Mr. Mamdani, after you were elected mayor of this city, many Jews no longer feel safe. They talk to me about it. This is not the city we remember. He changed very quickly. It doesn't surprise me.
You praise the criminals who support Hamas. You support Hassan Piker, who said that America deserved the September 11 terrorist attack. Imagine that. What friends you have. You are inviting to your home a Palestinian journalist who recorded on camera how Hamas terrorists beat and tortured Israeli citizens. After that, he refused to publish this video in order to protect — you guessed it — the terrorists. Your wife liked posts celebrating the events of October 7th. She left a like under the post that Tel Aviv should not exist.
You refused to condemn it. You have falsely and repeatedly condemned Israel, accusing it of genocide. Mr. Mamdani, you tried to prevent my arrival here. You tried to shut me up. But you can't keep me quiet. You can't silence the truth.
But the truth is very simple. Israel did not commit genocide. Israel prevented the genocide. And that's exactly what Mamdani's friends from Hamas would do to us. They would have killed every one of us.
The lies that you and other anti-Semites spread about the Jewish state, the Jews, will have real consequences. In New York, Jews are threatened when they go to synagogue. Jews were attacked with a knife in the streets. Jews are being demonized. Jews are being targeted because they are Jews.
Jews were killed in Montreal, Manchester, Boulder, Colorado. Jews were attacked in Los Angeles, in London, in Paris, in Berlin, in Washington. All the anti-Semites in the world want to intimidate our people. I have news for them.
The days when Jews were unarmed victims and calmly went to their deaths are far in the past. Today we have a state. We have an army now. We have people who are ready to defend themselves.
And I have one message for all Jews. Walk with your head held high. You should be proud. You must not allow yourself to be bullied. Stand up to your full height. And those who want to stand up for truth and justice, I also ask you to stand tall and challenge those barbarians who threaten our common civilization.
But I have to be honest. Not everyone got up. We've seen it. Unlike Israel, there are some, particularly in Western Europe, who have decided not to raise their heads. The leaders of these countries decided to give in to pressure from anti-Semitic mobs. They decided to appease them. They decided to show weakness.
This is the deplorable truth that stands before our eyes. Many in the free world are afraid to defend freedom. I would like to ask them the following question. And what fate would be in store for you? The Brotherhood of democracy or the Brotherhood of Muslims? And how long will it take you to see that these fanatical jihadists are blocking your waterways, your economic livelihood?
I assure you, ladies and gentlemen, that in Israel we do not wait for others to wake up. We continue to move forward. We determine our own destiny. We are providing amazing development in agriculture, healthcare, artificial intelligence, and superintelligence. And we share these great innovations with all of humanity.
Israel has never been more powerful. We are not afraid. But I'll tell you who's afraid. Tyrants from Tehran. And do you know what they are most afraid of? They are afraid of their people, the brave Iranians, who have suffered for a long time.
The Iranian regime is afraid when its people have this. And what is it? This is a Starlink that allows citizens to freely make their choices, have access to the truth, and exercise their rights to freedom of expression and speech. It is for this reason that the Iranian regime spends millions, billions of dollars blocking the Internet.
Mr. Chairman, I would like to give you this device so that you can then hand it over to the Iranian delegation. And when they become defectors, as they certainly will, they will be able to use this device and share their story on social media.
I appeal to the protesters who are outside this hall, to the hypocritical delegates who left the meeting room. I would like to ask the following question. And where were you when Iranian tyrants massacred tens of thousands of unarmed Iranian citizens? They have maimed and killed thousands of their citizens. And where have you been?
Have you organized mass protests? Was there a hunger strike? Maybe you went out to protest near the office of the Iranian mission to the United Nations? Have you spoken about the problem of the persecution of Christians in Iran and the Middle East? No, you didn't do that. Why? But because you are fictitious protesters who supposedly stand up for human rights.
The number of Christians, by the way, is declining rapidly, with the exception of the only country, Israel. And there, the Christian community is flourishing, thriving, and growing. You didn't protest when we left Bethlehem. At that time, 80% of the population were Christians. We handed over Bethlehem to the Palestinian authorities. Now 80% are Muslims. Have you opposed this? Have you spoken out? Were you completely silent? You didn't say a word about Iran. Even now, you remain silent.
But I have good news for you. Despite your silence, despite your hypocrisy, it is only a matter of time before something amazing happens in Iran. The power of the people will prevail over those who are at the helm in this country. I would like you to listen to my words. The day will come, and that day is not far away, when the Iranian people will be free.
Their bloodthirsty regime will be overthrown by its own corruption, its own lies, its cruelty. This monstrous regime will collapse, and we will rejoice on this beautiful day.
Ladies and gentlemen, the history of my people, the Jewish people, goes back three thousand years ago. We speak the same language. We speak the same language now as we did back then. We live on the same land that our ancestors lived on in those distant times. David, Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah — this is our land, the land of Israel. Our prophets and our people are unique in history.
Our values have inspired humanity for thousands of years. Faith in one Lord, the sanctity of human life, the rule of law, and our eternal pursuit of peace and justice. It is these sacred values that have allowed us to survive for centuries that have allowed us to counteract all the challenges that history has presented to us.
The great writer Mark Twain spoke very aptly 125 years ago. Long before the restoration of the Jewish state, long before the brave soldiers of our country won, he said the following: a Jew fought actively, but with his hands tied behind his back. He fought against the Babylonians, against the Persians. He succeeded. Other nations were born, but nevertheless the torch they held in their hands went out.
The Jews saw them all. They defeated them, and now they continue to show their fortitude, continue to be full of energy.
Ladies and gentlemen, over the centuries, those tyrannies that have tried to destroy our people have failed, and with God's help, they will continue to fail. We have to keep winning, and that's what we're going to do.
As the Bible says, Israel's eternity will never be destroyed. And the reason is extremely simple. We have no other choice.
I thank you. Thank you.
