Netanyahu vows to continue Hezbollah attacks, rails against Israel's critics in UN speech
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the U.N. on Friday that his country will not back down in its fight with Hezbollah, and said he will not rest until all its hostages kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7 are returned from the Gaza Strip.
In a fiery and bombastic address to the U.N. General Assembly, Netanyahu said the key to making that happen is to completely dismantle the militant group in the enclave and its allies like Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Netanyahu also had a direct message for what he called the "tyrants of Tehran."
"If you strike us, we will strike you," he said.
The speech comes as the international community has urged Netanyahu to consider a U.S.-backed cease-fire plan for Hezbollah in Lebanon, where Israel has launched attacks against Hezbollah commanders. Israel has hinted in recent days that it's on the verge of authorizing a ground incursion to root out Hezbollah tunnels and missile-launching sites in Lebanon.
The Pentagon announced Monday that it is bolstering its forces in the Middle East as tensions between Israel and Hezbollah spike.
Hezbollah has launched thousands of missiles against northern Israel since Oct. 7 last year, when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and kidnapping 251. Hezbollah has claimed it is acting in solidarity with Hamas. Its missile barrage has forced up to 60,000 Israelis who live near the border with Lebanon to flee south.
Israel and Hezbollah have traded airstrikes and rocket-fire for the past week at the highest intensity since Hamas' Oct. 7 surprise attack on Israel sent tensions soaring in the Middle East.
More than 800 people in Lebanon have been killed in Israeli airstrikes since Monday.
But Netanyahu did not mention the Lebanon cease-fire proposal in his address Friday, which called for stopping the fighting for 21 days and was backed by the U.S., European Union, and nine other nations.
Instead, he railed against Iran, calling its long-simmering feud with Israel a "battle between good and evil." And he lashed out at critics of the war in Gaza, where he said Israel's Defense Forces in the year since Hamas perpetrated its attacks have now killed or captured "more than half" of the militant group's fighters.
"We will not stop," Netanyahu said. "We are winning."
As Netanyahu started speaking, some leaders walked out in protest.
Ahead of Netanyahu's address, thousands of protesters marched to the U.N. headquarters and held demonstrations around New York. Police made multiple arrests, according to news reports.
Netanyahu regularly uses his overseas speeches to highlight Iran, which Israel and many of its western allies see as the key country causing instability in the Middle East. In addition to funding Hezbollah and Hamas, Iran supplies its proxies ? militant groups like the Houthis with whom it is aligned ? in Yemen and Iraq with weapons and finance.
Netanyahu has repeatedly said returning Israel's hostages is one of his main priorities.
Some of his critics don't believe him.
Middle East tensions: Israel shoots down first Hezbollah missile aimed at Tel Aviv as group says it targeted spy agency
'Anger and frustration'
Nimrod Novik, a former foreign policy adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres and now a fellow with the Israel Policy Forum, said that as he watched Netanyahu's address, he pictured "anger and frustration" from the families of hostages who have been pleading with Netanyahu to agree a cease-fire and hostage deal with Hamas.
Israel's leader did not touch on that prospect.
Novik said he heard a prime minister bent on "continuing the war in the south, expanding the one in the north, risking it spilling over into the West Bank and possibly to regional conflagration."
He said he expected senior White House officials were likely "scratching their heads" over the speech's meaning and what Netanyahu will do next.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Netanyahu vows to continue Hezbollah attacks in UN speech