OPINION:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to the United Nations General Assembly was partly performance but mostly profound.
The performance part included a QR code on his lapel, on which delegates were invited to zoom in with their camera phones and see atrocities committed by Hamas that are too gruesome for TV networks to show. He also arranged for his statement that Israel has not forgotten the hostages to be blasted over loudspeakers set up in the Gaza Strip for that purpose.
The profound part included repetition of what he had said before with some twists. Mr. Netanyahu reminded the delegates that Israel’s battle against terrorism is not limited to the region but that the terrorists want to return the entire world to the “Dark Ages.”
A few excerpts from his speech:
“Iran’s aggression, if it’s not checked, will endanger every single country in the Middle East, and many, many countries in the rest of the world, because Iran seeks to impose its radicalism well beyond the Middle East.”
“Hamas steals the [humanitarian aid] and then they hike the prices … and that’s how they stay in power.”
“Israel must also defeat Hezbollah in Lebanon. … It has tentacles that span all continents. It has murdered more Americans and more Frenchmen than any group since bin Laden. It’s murdered the citizens of many countries represented in this room. And it has attacked Israel viciously over the last 20 years.”
“For 18 years, Hezbollah brazenly refused to implement U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which requires it to move its forces away from our borders. Instead, Hezbollah moved right up to our border. They secretly dug terror tunnels to infiltrate our communities and indiscriminately fired thousands of rockets into our towns and villages.”
“In this battle between good and evil, there must be no equivocation. When you stand with Israel, you stand for your own values and your own interests.”
“We see this moral confusion [about which side is good and which side is evil] when Israel is falsely accused of genocide when we defend ourselves against enemies who try to commit genocide against us. We see this too when Israel is absurdly accused by the ICC prosecutor of deliberately starving Palestinians in Gaza.”
“No army has done what Israel is doing to minimize civilian casualties. We drop flyers. We send text messages. We make phone calls by the millions to ensure that Palestinian civilians get out of harm’s way.”
Mr. Netanyahu strongly criticized the United Nations, which he said hasn’t changed its hostile attitude toward Israel since he first spoke from the same platform 40 years ago. At the time, he was Israel’s ambassador to that body. He said: “The real war criminals are not in Israel. They’re in Iran. They’re in Gaza, in Syria, in Lebanon, in Yemen. Those of you who stand with these war criminals, those of you who stand with evil against good … should be ashamed of yourselves.”
President Trump said Friday he is optimistic that his 21-point peace plan for Gaza, which includes the release of the remaining hostages, will be accepted by Hamas and Israel. Unless Hamas and other terrorist groups renounce their charters, which call for Israel’s destruction and the elimination of the Jewish people (and, most important, declare that their god has changed his mind about such things), any agreement will be written in the diplomatic equivalent of disappearing ink.
Sellers of stocks, bonds and precious metals are required to tell prospective buyers: “Past performance is no guarantee of future results.” The opposite is true when it comes to the enemies of Israel, who are constantly on display at the United Nations, on many U.S. college campuses and in many nations.
• Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com. Look for Cal Thomas’ latest book, “A Watchman in the Night: What I’ve Seen Over 50 Years Reporting on America” (Humanix Books).
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