NEW YORK (Realist English). Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, addressing the United Nations General Assembly on September 26, declared that Israel had dealt a decisive blow to Iran and its regional allies, destroying key elements of Tehran’s nuclear and missile programs. He said that through Operation Rising Lion, Israeli pilots, alongside American B-2 bombers, neutralized Iranian air defenses and struck uranium enrichment facilities.
Netanyahu thanked US President Donald Trump for his “bold and decisive action,” stressing that Israel had removed “an existential threat” to itself and “a mortal threat to the civilized world.” Over the past year, he claimed, Israel had “crushed most of Hamas’s terror machine, crippled Hezbollah, destroyed Assad’s arsenals in Syria and eliminated half of the Houthi leadership in Yemen.”
The prime minister urged the UN Security Council to immediately restore sanctions against Iran and warned world leaders against “appeasing evil.” He dismissed accusations of genocide and deliberate starvation in Gaza as “blood libels,” noting that Israel had facilitated more than 2 million tons of humanitarian aid deliveries to the enclave.
Netanyahu highlighted the plight of hostages still held by Hamas, saying 48 remain in captivity, about 20 of them alive. In a symbolic gesture, he addressed them directly via loudspeakers placed along the Gaza border: “Release the hostages, and you will live. If not, Israel will hunt you down.”
Sharp criticism was directed at countries that recognized a Palestinian state following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack. “The world rewarded the most savage terrorists,” Netanyahu said. “Israel will not allow a terror state to be forced upon us. We will not commit national suicide.”
At the same time, he left open the possibility of peace talks with Syria and Lebanon and expressed hope for an expansion of the Abraham Accords. He predicted that in the future, “a free Iranian people will restore friendship with Israel.”
Concluding his speech, Netanyahu described Israel’s campaign after October 7 as “one of the most stunning military comebacks in history,” vowing to finish the war and secure “a brilliant future of prosperity and peace” for the Jewish state.