Netanyahu says all Israelis reject Palestinian state, denounces Gaza genocide as 'blood libel'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a combative speech to a nearly empty UN General Assembly hall on Friday, where he portrayed himself as the standard-bearer of mainstream Israel in rejecting the creation of a Palestinian state and denouncing Israel's genocide in Gaza as “a joke”.

Netanyahu criticised countries that recognised a Palestinian state at the UN this week, and said his position is unfairly portrayed in the western media. 

"It’s not the prime minister who himself is extreme or… held hostage by extreme parties to his right, it’s over 90 percent of Israelis," Netanyahu said. 

“My opposition to a Palestinian state…is the policy of the state of Israel,” he said.

As Netanyahu’s speech began, dozens of world leaders and diplomats walked out of the assembly hall in protest, even as US diplomats cheered him.

The Israeli leader’s speech comes at a critical time for his country.

Israeli soldiers are attacking Gaza City, where Palestinians are recounting the devastation of Israel’s onslaught. Meanwhile, staunch supporters of Israel, like Canada, France and the UK, have recognised a Palestinian state.

Within the Middle East, Israel is more isolated from traditional US Arab allies like Saudi Arabia, which recently signed a mutual defence deal with nuclear-armed Pakistan.

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On Monday, Netanyahu is set to meet US President Donald Trump at the White House to discuss Gaza’s post-war future. This week, Trump has hosted key Muslim leaders like Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, before Netanyahu.

Netanyahu began his speech praising Trump for supporting Israel. He held up a map of the Middle East where Iran, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and occupied Palestine were covered in red, and recounted the leaders of Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis who Israel assassinated. He also took credit for the fall of the Assad government in Syria, without mentioning the Turkish and Qatari backing of the rebel offensive that led to its collapse. 

Netanyahu thanked Trump for his “bold and decisive action” for joining in Israel’s surprise attack on Iran in June, saying: “President Trump and I promised to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons and we delivered on that promise.”

He called on the UN Security Council to approve the so-called snap-back sanctions on Iran tomorrow.

'Massive loudspeakers in Gaza'

Netanyahu framed Israel’s assaults across the region as proof of one of the most “stunning military comebacks in history”, in an apparent reference to the Hamas-led 7 October 2023 attack on southern Israel.

As has become customary for the Israeli leader, Netanyahu included a number of props in his speech.

He wore a large QR code on his suit lapel, which he encouraged watchers to scan in order to see the impact of the 7 October attack. The QR code did not work when Middle East Eye tried to scan it.

Netanyahu then said he would address the Israeli captives in Gaza directly. Roughly 20 living captives - all military-aged men - are still believed to be alive in Gaza after several rounds of prisoner exchanges between Hamas and Israel.

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“I have surrounded Gaza with massive loudspeakers connected to this microphone in the hope that our dear hostages will hear my message. ‘We have not forgotten you,’” Netanyahu said.

Earlier on Friday, Trump said after meeting Turkey’s Erdogan at the White House that he would not allow Israel to annex the occupied West Bank, which members of Netanyahu’s government have called for in response to the recognition of a Palestinian state.

Netanyahu refrained from directly discussing annexation of the occupied West Bank in his speech.

On Gaza, Netanyahu said Israel would maintain “overriding security control” as part of any deal to end the war. He said a “peaceful civilian authority would be established by Gazans and others committed to peace with Israel.”

Netanyahu’s comments come as Trump has backed off his so-called “Riviera” plan for Gaza, which experts say is cover for the forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza as a condition to end the war.

Instead, Trump appears to be looking for Arab and Muslim states to take over control of Gaza with the backing of some Palestinians.

Israeli media and the BBC reported on Friday that former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair is being considered to lead a transitional authority in Gaza as part of a US-backed plan.

'Radical Islamist surge'

Netanyahu’s speech stuck to a script he has relied on for over two decades in politics. With near-flawless American English, he pitched Israel to listeners as a defender against “jihadists”.

“Our enemies hate all of us with equal venom,” he said, adding that a “radical Islamist surge” was taking over his listeners' societies and that “Israel is fighting your fight”.

“Behind closed doors, many of the leaders who publicly condemn us, privately thank us,” he said, saying that Israel has prevented “terrorist attacks” in their capitals without providing specifics, and claiming that Israel was the equivalent of “five CIAs” to the US.

Netanyahu also suggested that Iran was behind two failed assassination attempts on Trump without providing any evidence.

His praise for Trump contrasted with his condemnation of other world leaders, who he accused of being “weak-kneed” under the cosh of “biased media” and “radical Islamist constituencies”.

“In the days immediately following 7 October many of them [leaders] supported Israel, [but] when the going got tough, you caved,” Netanyahu said. “For much of the past two years, Israel has had to fight a seven-front war against barbarism with many of your nations opposing us.”

The growing Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement (BDS) clearly riled Netanyahu, who said other countries, “condemn us, [sic] embargo us, and wage political and legal warfare against us”.

Netanyahu’s speech comes as more countries, historians and legal experts condemn Israel’s genocide in Gaza. In September, a UN commission of inquiry declared Israel was committing genocide in the besieged enclave.

Netanyahu vigorously denied what he called the “false charge of genocide”. He made his argument by invoking the Nazi Holocaust of Jews in World War Two.

'Did the Nazis kindly tell the Jews to get out?'

“Would we [Israel] tell them [Palestinians] get out, if we were trying to commit genocide?” Netanyahu said. “Did the Nazis kindly tell the Jews to get out?”

At least 65,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel in Gaza, mainly women and children, according to Palestinian health authorities. Israel has also issued widespread forced displacement orders against Palestinians.

Genocide experts and scholars say that forced displacement by itself can be an act of genocide if it is done with the intention of destroying a national, ethnic or religious group.

Netanyahu said the genocide charge was “a joke” and a “Blood libel”, adding “antisemitism dies hard, in fact, it doesn’t die at all”.

Israel’s isolation at the UN was on full display during Netanyahu’s speech and the Israeli leader lashed out at countries that recognised a Palestinian state at a conference co-hosted by Saudi Arabia and France earlier this week.

“You know what message the leaders who recognised a Palestinian state said to the Palestinians, murdering Jews pays off,” he said. “Your disgraceful decision will encourage terrorism against Jews and people everywhere.”

Netanyahu reiterated that he will prevent the formation of a Palestinian state. He also attacked the Palestinian Authority - the Palestinian entity that coordinates security with Israel and which many countries view as the bedrock of a future state.

'Not a fringe position'

“The Palestinian Authority is corrupt to the core… they teach their children to hate Jews,” he said.

Many analysts in the US and Western officials have said that Netanyahu is continuing to attack Gaza in order to stay in power and appease far-right lawmakers in his government. But the Israeli leader portrayed himself to an international audience as deeply in step with mainstream Israel in opposing a Palestinian state.

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“I say this not only in my name or in the name of my government but on behalf of all the people of Israel…It’s not a fringe group. It’s not the prime minister who himself is extreme or… held hostage by extreme parties to his right, it’s over 90 percent of Israelis.”

Netanyahu also addressed Israel’s attacks on Syria and Lebanon; two neighbours where Israel has carved out chunks of territory and launched air strikes at will.

Netanyahu said that Israel and Lebanon could reach a “peace deal” if Beirut takes “genuine and sustained action to disarm Hezbollah”.

On Syria, Netanyahu doubled down, portraying Israel as the outside defender of the Druze population there. Reuters reported recently that Israel has begun arming and paying Druze militias in southern Syria where Netanyahu is pushing for a demilitarised zone.

Israel and Syria are in engaging in direct, public talks brokered by the US.

“An agreement can be reached that respects Syrian sovereignty,” Netanyahu said, referring to a potential security agreement there.