By David Israel • September 24, 2026
Jerusalem, 24 September, 2026 (TPS-IL) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the UN General Assembly on Thursday, opening with a callback to a warning he first issued from the same podium 14 years ago. “I drew a red line. I vowed to prevent Iran’s murderous dictatorship from developing atomic bombs, nuclear weapons aimed at destroying Israel, nuclear weapons that could threaten the entire world,” he said. “That’s exactly what we did.”
Netanyahu acknowledged that “devastating Iran’s nuclear facilities was hard,” but called the decision to do so “one of the easiest decisions I’ve ever had to make as prime minister, because if we hadn’t done it, we’d all be dead.” He added that Israel’s action benefited far more than itself: “Israel is also defending many of the countries whose delegates just left this hall. In fact, many of their leaders even thank us privately for taking out Iran’s nukes.”
Recalling His Brother’s Uganda Heroism
Netanyahu turned personal, recounting a conversation with his late brother Yonatan before the 1967 Six-Day War. “I asked him… What’s going to happen? He paused, and then he said something I’ll never forget. We’re going to win, he said. We have no other choice.”
On July 4, 1976, Yoni led the storming party that rescued 103 hostages in Entebbe, Uganda, and was the mission’s only fatality. Netanyahu thanked Uganda for recently erecting a statue in Yoni’s honor, closing with his brother’s words: “We’re going to win. We have no other.”
He noted that before the 1976 Entebbe rescue, the Palestinian hijackers who had taken over a plane started separating Jewish passengers for execution, echoing Nazi selections.
Slamming Macron and Europe Over Arab Terrorism
Netanyahu accused European leaders, naming French President Emmanuel Macron, of ignoring terrorism against Israeli settlers while amplifying isolated Israeli “settler violence.” He said thousands of attacks occur annually against “peaceful families driving along the roads,” compared with what he called roughly two or three annual casualties from settler violence, which he called “an obsession” for world leaders.
Citing recent attacks, Netanyahu described a French citizen and father of six shot at point-blank range at a spring in front of his son, and a reserve officer, son of Israel’s ambassador to Washington Yahia Lider, “mowed down” in a vehicle attack and now fighting for his life. Quoting the officer’s own words before the attack, “We have no other country. It is a privilege to defend it.” Netanyahu vowed: “Your sacrifice will not be in vain. We will continue this battle against the barbarians.”
Attacking Erdogan as ‘the Latest Antisemite’
Netanyahu accused Qatar of spending “untold billions” to fund universities and outlets like Al Jazeera to “brainwash young minds to hate Israel, hate America, and hate the West,” while hosting Hamas leaders. He then turned to Turkey, calling President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a “tyrant” who “hosts Hamas terror chiefs,” has “murdered thousands of Kurdish civilians,” denies the Armenian genocide, “illegally occupies Northern Cyprus,” and “transgresses against Greece.”
Addressing Erdogan’s ambitions in Jerusalem directly, Netanyahu said: “He says he is going to be the ruler of Jerusalem. No, sir. You won’t. This is our country.”
‘Shame on You,’ Netanyahu Tells Mamdani
Netanyahu rejected accusations of genocide against Israel, arguing the country has taken “innumerable steps to protect the civilian population,” and turned his fire on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani by name, calling him “the antisemitic mayor of New York.”
He accused Mamdani of befriending commentator Hasan Piker, “who said America deserved 9/11,” and hosting a journalist who filmed Hamas torturing hostages and admitted withholding the footage to protect the perpetrators. He also cited social media posts liked by Mamdani’s wife praising the October 7 massacre and questioning Tel Aviv’s existence, which Mamdani has not condemned.
“Since you were elected mayor of this city, many Jews no longer feel safe in New York,” Netanyahu said, adding that Mamdani had tried to block his UN appearance: “You can’t silence me. You can’t silence the truth.” He listed antisemitic attacks on Jews in Sydney, Manchester, Montreal, Boulder, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Berlin and Washington, declaring: “The days when Jews were defenseless victims marched to the slaughter are over… Raise your head high. Be proud. Be confident. Don’t be intimidated. Stand up.”
Condemning the Walkout
Addressing delegates who walked out during his speech and protesters outside, Netanyahu asked where they were “when the Iranian tyrants butchered and maimed tens of thousands of unarmed Iranian civilians,” and when Christians were persecuted across the Middle East. He noted Israel’s Christian population has grown even as the community shrinks regionally, pointing to Bethlehem, once 80-90% Christian under Israeli control and now majority Muslim under the Palestinian Authority. “Did you protest that? Did you speak about it? Nothing. Nada,” he said, adding that the same delegates “said nothing about Iran just now.”
