Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made an impassioned and powerful speech at the UN perfectly articulating Israel’s right to defend itself and the global dangers of supporting terrorism. Unfortunately, he spoke to a mostly empty chamber after several delegations walked out when he began to speak.
The UN continues to hurt its credibility as a reliable partner to solve international conflict and promote peace due to its biased treatment towards Israel. Even if delegations believed that Israel was committing human rights violations, a claim which has been proven factually inaccurate many times, the UN is a place where everyone is supposed to be heard. The US delegation has sat through many speeches over the years from those who chant death to America. Many authoritarian dictators with truly atrocious human rights records have been given a platform at the UN under the guise that the UN is a place where any member nation is allowed to make their case in the spirit of open debate. However, this principle has never extended to Israel and the organization has only gotten more antisemitic in its 80-yearlong existence with some of the worst offenses happening under the current Secretary General Gutierres.
Netanyahu knew he was walking into the pit of globalist anti-Israel rot at the UN and could have chosen to phone it in, or he could have skipped the exercise altogether. However, he chose to come instead with the full force of morality and show strength in the face of international bullying. What at first may look like a wasted effort, was actually a highly strategic move on the part of the Israeli Prime Minister. He used the UN for the only thing it’s good for anymore: garnering international press and sympathy. He showed Hamas that he can play the game they invented better than they can. Instead of directing his speech at the useless bureaucrats assigned to UN delegations, he chose to implement a public diplomacy campaign in New York City the week that the whole world was watching. While Hamas spreads false information on the status of humanitarian aid in Gaza via the mainstream media and uses civilians as human shields, Netanyahu brought the facts and the receipts directly to the Gazan citizens and the international press.
First, before even arriving to the UN HQ, he started with a media blitz in the heart of NYC. He used a fleet of billboard trucks and plastered his message all over Times Square. The message was simple yet powerful, “Remember October 7th #neveragain” but there was more. Each sign contained a QR code with a link to a website called https://saturday-october-seven.com/ a website that the Israeli prime minister's X account described as, “a public diplomacy campaign in New York…The goal of the campaign is to remind world leaders and the public about the atrocities perpetrated by Hamas and the unbelievable brutality of the terrorist organization that continues to hold 48 hostages in captivity in Gaza.”
Next, the prime mininster broadcast his speech directly into Gaza in an unprecedented move. The Israel Defense Forces seized the telephones of Gaza residents and Hamas members and placed speakers along the border as well, projecting his speech into the heart of Gaza. This served an even more important purpose than speaking to the hopeless UN delegates because it delivered the truth to Gaza residents who have been subject to non-stop Hamas propaganda since the day this war started. This may encourage many civilians to seek refuge via the humanitarian corridors provided by Israel if they haven’t already. It is also a strategic battle move, because it signaled to the Hamas leaders who received the broadcast that Israel has operational control of Gaza which may encourage some fighters to lay down their arms.
Then, Netanyahu wore a pin with the QR code for the October 7 website, during his speech and gave a call to action to those that were in the audience to use their phones to visit the website, again confronting those who deny that Hamas is a terrorist organization with the truth. And finally, after his speech instead of spending his time at the UN in useless meetings or working groups to be chastised by the globalist elites, he met with influencers and supporters and discussed ways to use social media to fight back against disinformation campaigns perpetrated by Hamas and their allies.
Of course, the content of the speech itself was also very important and Netanyahu made many practical points directed at the global community.
In one line he stated, “But I am sure there are people in New York, London, Melbourne and elsewhere who are probably thinking – what does all of this have to do with me? The answer is…everything! Because our enemies are your enemies.”
He reminded the world that rewarding terrorism has far reaching consequences, which is important since many nations have preemptively recognized a Palestinian state which de facto marks October 7th as Palestinian Independence Day. At the UN, an organization that is supposed to uphold international norms and international law, many nations have forgotten or ignored the horrific precedent that would set for terrorist groups around the world to use as a way to gain territory.
As Trump pointed out during his visit to the UN on Tuesday, the organization still has potential but seems lost and unable to use it right now. Netanyahu showed the world one way to use it on Friday, and although it took some creativity, his approach succeeded. Hopefully in the future, the UN can return to an organization that serves as a place for respected debate based on facts, where everyone is welcome to make their case, and others are open to listening. But that will take some serious reform.