“We will defeat Hezbollah. UN? Anti-Semitic swamp” –

Today was the day of the speech by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the UN General Assembly. Tension in the Middle East is running high. The leader of the Jewish state said that the war in Gaza could end at any moment, as long as Hamas surrenders, frees the hostages and lays down its weapons. Otherwise, Israel will continue until “total victory.” The same goes for Lebanon where “Israel will defeat Hezbollah – Netanyahu promised – eliminating the global threat it represents”. The prime minister, after underlining that 60,000 residents of northern Israel “have become refugees” due to the attacks by the Shiite paramilitary organization, asked: “How long would the American government tolerate something like this?” Therefore, he added, «I came here to say enough: we will not stop until our citizens return safely to their homes. For 18 years Hezbollah has brazenly refused to implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701: its militiamen hide a missile in every kitchen, a rocket in every garage”, endangering their own people.

For Netanyahu, “As long as Hezbollah chooses the path of war”, Israel has every right to keep its citizens safe. Therefore, “we will continue to weaken Hezbollah until all our objectives are achieved,” the prime minister said. With regard to the criticism against the Jewish State also rained down by the UN leaders, Netanyahu defined these positions as “a moral stain on the United Nations”, which – in his opinion – would have transformed the institution into a “swamp of anti-Semitism”. «What hypocrisy. What double standards. What a joke,” he said, asserting that the ongoing struggle has Israel’s very existence at stake. Speaking about the ICC prosecutors’ request for arrest warrants against him and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Netanyahu spoke of an action “fueled by anti-Semitism”.

«The real war criminals – he added – are in Gaza, Syria, Iran and Yemen. Those who stand with them should be ashamed of themselves. But Israel will win this battle because we have no choice. Israel will not go meekly into that good night,” he added, paraphrasing the poet Dylan Thomas. Also worth underlining is Netanyahu’s hope that Israel will reach “a historic peace agreement with Saudi Arabia”. “What a blessing such peace with Saudi Arabia would bring,” Netanyahu said, explaining that it would be a boon for tourism, trade, energy, artificial intelligence and much more. “It would be a real pivot of history,” he says, imagining “a reconciliation between Mecca and Jerusalem.”