Beneath the defiant rhetoric and military vows, Benjamin Netanyahu’s UN speech was a plea for the world to see the conflict from his perspective. By using a QR code to show footage of the October 7 attacks and drawing a direct parallel to 9/11, he attempted to reframe the narrative around Israeli victimhood and self-defense.
“Giving the Palestinians a state one mile from Jerusalem after October 7 is like giving al-Qaeda a state one mile from New York City after September 11,” he argued. This was the central pillar of his argument against the recognition of Palestine, which he called “insane.”
However, this plea was largely rejected by its intended audience. A mass walkout by over 100 diplomats demonstrated that, for much of the world, the narrative has been irrevocably shaped by the nearly two years of devastating war in Gaza and the immense humanitarian suffering.
While he vowed to “finish the job” in Gaza, the empty hall suggested that the world has already reached a different conclusion about the conflict, one that is no longer aligned with Netanyahu’s justification of unending war.
Netanyahu’s UN Plea: A Call to See the Conflict His Way
