Israel Despite pressure for ceasefire: Netanyahu wants to continue attacking Hezbollah
According to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli army will continue its actions against the Lebanese Hezbollah militia regardless of the ceasefire demanded by a group of states. "We will continue to put pressure on Hezbollah until all our goals are achieved," Netanyahu told the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The USA, Germany and other countries are calling for a three-week ceasefire in order to achieve a diplomatic solution to the conflict.
27.09.2024, 17:22
SDA
The Hezbollah militia has been shelling Israel almost daily since the beginning of the Gaza war almost a year ago. It wants to support Hamas in the Gaza Strip in its fight against Israel and achieve a ceasefire in the Gaza war. Israel fired back on a similar scale for a long time. However, the country has recently massively stepped up its air strikes in Lebanon. Hundreds of people have been killed.
Netanyahu addresses the Lebanese
Addressing the Lebanese people, Netanyahu said: "We are not at war with you. We are at war with Hezbollah, which has captured your country and is threatening to destroy ours." As long as Hezbollah chooses the path of war, "Israel has no other choice", Netanyahu said. He added that Israel has "every right to remove this threat and return our citizens safely to their homes, and that is exactly what we are doing".
Hezbollah is an Iranian-backed militia and a strong political force in Lebanon. Meanwhile, Netanyahu threatened Iran with harsh retaliation: "I have a message for the tyrants in Tehran: if you attack us, we will attack you". The international policy of appeasement towards Iran must come to an end, he said.
"We are facing ferocious enemies"
Netanyahu reaffirmed that he would continue to defend his country in the face of many enemies. Israel strives for peace and longs for peace. "But we are facing fierce enemies who seek our destruction. And we must defend ourselves against these savage murderers. Our enemies don't just want to destroy us. They want to destroy our common civilization and take us all back to a dark age of tyranny and terror."
As long as Hamas does not lay down its arms and release the Israeli hostages, the conflict will continue. "If they don't, we will fight until we achieve victory, total victory. There is no substitute for that," said Netanyahu. Israel invaded the Gaza Strip after the devastating terrorist attack by Islamist Hamas in Israel almost a year ago. The war claimed more than 41,000 lives, including many civilians. Israel is internationally criticized for its conduct of the war.
Netanyahu presented the military operation in New York as a success and emphasized that the Israeli army had killed or captured more than half of the members of Hamas. Before the terrorist attack, the organization had almost 40,000 members and more than 15,000 rockets. This arsenal had been 90 percent destroyed
Criticism of the UN - "swamp of anti-Semitic anger"
At the beginning of Netanyahu's speech, representatives of numerous countries left the hall on New York's East River in protest against Israel. During the speech, camera footage showed empty chairs of the Iranian and Saudi delegations, among others. There were pro-Palestinian protests near the UN site. But there were also a number of loud supporters of Netanyahu in the hall, including his wife and son as well as families of the hostages. Guests of Israel also sat in the stands and cheered on the Prime Minister.
Netanyahu said that he had not actually wanted to come to New York. "But after hearing the lies and slander that many speakers on this podium were spreading about my country, I decided to come here and set the record straight." He criticized the United Nations and its members: "In this swamp of anti-Semitic anger, an automatic majority is ready to condemn the Jewish state for anything."
