BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, Prime Minister of Israel, said that after hearing numerous lies and slander, he decided to come personally “to set the record straight” and “to speak for the truth”.  As his country faces “savage enemies who seek our annihilation”, he stressed that “Israel seeks peace, Israel yearns for peace.”  Comparing the “unimaginable” atrocities committed by Hamas on 7 October to “the Nazi Holocaust”, he said:  “They savagely murdered 1,200 people, they raped and mutilated women, they beheaded men, they burnt babies alive.”  Israel has brought home 154 of 251 people taken hostage by Hamas and dragged into the “dungeons” of Gaza, he said, adding:  “We will not rest until the remaining hostages are brought home safely.”

Following the 7 October attack, Israel has been forced to defend itself on six more warfronts organized by Iran in Lebanon, Yemen, Syria and Iraq, he noted.  In response to Iran’s first-ever direct assault on Israel, he warned:  “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.”  Demonstrating 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.”  The world should “join Israel in stopping Iran’s nuclear weapons”, he said, calling on the UN to “snap back” sanctions against Iran.  “We must all do everything in our power to ensure Iran never gets nuclear weapons,” he emphasized.

Noting that the Israel Defense Forces continue fighting Hamas, he warned that if the group stays in power, “it will regroup, rearm and attack again.”  Therefore, he rejected “any rule for Hamas in a post-war Gaza”, adding that it would be “inconceivable” if the defeated Nazis were invited to rebuild Germany in 1945. “We do not seek to resettle Gaza,” he underscored, emphasizing that Israel wants a “demilitarized and de-radicalized” Gaza, adding that “only then can we ensure that this round of fighting will be the last.”  More so, he stressed 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 not a substitute for it,” he underscored.  He further stressed that Israel must defeat “the quintessential terror organization” Hizbullah in Lebanon, and “will not accept a terror army perched on our northern border ready to carry out another 7 October style massacre.”

Recalling the Abraham accords of four years ago, he said that the path towards achieving a historic peace agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia must continue as it would build a foundation for a broader global alliance of countries, who choose “the blessing of peace”.  Looking forward, he asked the audience to make a choice of standing with Israel, democracy and peace or with the brutal dictatorship of Iran.  “We are defending ourselves, but we are also defending you against a common enemy that, through violence and terror, seeks to destroy our way of life,” he said.  Voicing indignation about Israel being “absurdly accused” of committing genocide by the International Court of Justice, he criticized “the UN house of darkness” for passing more resolutions against Israel than resolutions against the entire world combined.  “What a hypocrisy.  What a double standard.  What a joke,” he said, adding that “until this anti-Semitic swamp is drained”, the UN will be viewed “as nothing more than a contemptuous farce.”  The real war criminals are in Iran, Gaza, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen, he said, stressing that his country will “win this battle because we do not have a choice.”