Netanyahu addresses UN General Assembly: As it happened

Flight data shows the Israeli PM took a circuitous route to New York, recognising the risk of his plane being potentially ordered to land while in Spainish airpsace. He has neverthless arrived in New York and is expected to begin his speech shortly.

As soon as Netanyahu got on stage, what appears to be a majority of the UNGA delegates walked out of the hall in protest. Many of those who opted to remain applauded those leaving.

Netanyahu has thanked US President Donald Trump for his “bold and decisive action” during Israel’s conflict with Iran in June.

“Israel’s 12-day war will go down in military history. Our daring pilots and American B-2 pilots bombed Iran’s nuclear enrichment sites,” he said.

Speaking about the conflict in the Gaza Strip, Netanyahu has claimed that “Israel rebounded from its darkest day to deliver one of the most stunning comebacks in history.”

“We are not done yet. The final remnants of Hamas are holed up in Gaza City. They vow to repeat the atrocities of October 7 [2023] again and again and again. That is why we want to finish the job as fast as possible.”

The Israeli PM revealed the meaning of a badge with a QR-code that he had been wearing on his jacket lapel. It will take users to a web page that will explain “why we fight and why we must win,” he said.

The website details the attack on Israel by Hamas on October 7, 2023, in which around 1,200 people were killed and 250 others taken hostage.

Netanyahu repeated his claims that Palestinian armed group Hamas had “beheaded men. They raped women. They burned babies alive in front of their parents.”

“Who takes grandmothers hostage. Hamas does,” he said.

The PM also read out the names of the remaining 20 Israeli hostages in Gaza, who are still believed to be alive.

Netanyahu addressed the leaders of Hamas from the UN stage, urging them to “lay down” their arms.

“Let my people go. Free the hostages now. If you do you will live, if you don’t Israel will hunt you down. If Hamas agrees to our demands the war could end right now. Gaza would be demilitarized. Israel would retain overriding security control,” he said.

The Israeli PM has claimed that “behind closed doors, many of the leaders who publicly condemn us, thank us.”

“Our enemies hate all of us with equal venom. They want to drag the modern world back to the past, to an age of violence and terror. You know deep down that Israel is fighting your fight,” Netanyahu stated.

Netanyahu has accused some global leaders of “buck[ling] under the pressure of a biased media, radical Islamist constituencies, and anti-Semitic Imams” by recognizing Palestinian statehood.  

“For many countries here, when the going got tough, you caved,” he claimed. “And here’s the result, for much of the last two years Israel has had to fight a seven-front war against barbarism and you oppose us… I say to the reps of those nations, this is not an indictment of Israel, it’s an indictment of you… you can’t appease your way out of Jihad.”

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Netanyahu has claimed that the charges of genocide being levied against Israel over its military operation in the Gaza strip are “false.”

“Israel is accused of deliberately targeting civilians. Ladies and gentlemen, the opposite is true,” he said.

The PM insisted that Israel applies protective measures in the Palestinian enclave and asks “the people nicely to leave.” He claimed that there is a two-to-one combatant to civilian death rate in Gaza, despite the UN saying that most of those killed are civilians, mainly women and children.