Netanyahu tells UN Israel seeks peace even as it is ‘fighting for its life’

JERUSALEM/BEIRUT - Israel is seeking peace despite fighting for its life in the face of “savage enemies” who want its annihilation, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a closely watched address to the United Nations on Sept 27.

“My country is at war, fighting for its life,” Mr Netanyahu said in a speech at the UN General Assembly.

“We must defend ourselves against these savage murderers. Our enemies seek not only to destroy us, they seek to destroy our common civilisation and return all of us to a dark age of tyranny and terror,” he said.

Mr Netanyahu said operations against the militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon would continue.

“As long as Hezbollah chooses the path of war, Israel has no choice, and Israel has every right to remove this threat and return our citizens to their home safe,” he said, adding that operations against the militant group would “continue until we meet our objectives”.

He sought to pin blame for the conflict on Israel’s archenemy, Iran, which backs Hezbollah. He said Israel was defending itself against Tehran on seven fronts.

“There is no place in Iran that the long arm of Israel cannot reach. And that is true of the entire Middle East. Far from being lambs led to the slaughter, Israel soldiers have fought back with incredible courage,” Mr Netanyahu said to applause, while some delegates, including the Iranians, walked out.

“I have another message for this assembly and for the world outside this hall: We are winning,” he said.

Mr Netanyahu said earlier on Sept 27 that Israel would press on with discussions on ceasefire proposals for Lebanon in the days ahead, as Washington warned that further escalation would only make it harder for civilians on both sides to return home.

Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz on Sept 26

rejected global calls for a ceasefire

with Hezbollah.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military pressed ahead with air strikes that have already killed hundreds in Lebanon and heightened fears of a regional war.

An Israeli strike on Sept 27 killed nine members of a family, including four children, in the Lebanese border town of Shebaa, Mayor Mohammad Saab told Reuters.

Israeli attacks have killed more than 600 people in Lebanon since Sept 23, the Health Ministry said.

Hezbollah said it fired rockets into Israel on Sept 27 at Kiryat Ata, near the city of Haifa, some 30km from the border, and the city of Tiberias, declaring the attacks a response to Israeli strikes on villages, cities and civilians.

Though Israeli air defences have shot down many of Hezbollah’s rockets, limiting the damage, the group’s attacks have shut down normal life across much of northern Israel as more areas fall into its cross-hairs.

The Israeli military said it intercepted four unmanned aircraft that crossed from Lebanese territory into the maritime space off the coast of Rosh Hanikra at the Lebanese border.

The conflict between Israeli forces and the heavily armed Hezbollah is their worst in more than 18 years, and is part of the regional spillover of the Gaza war.

Syrian state media reported that an Israeli air strike on Sept 27 killed five soldiers in Syria, where Israel has intensified a years-long campaign aimed at rolling back the influence of Iran and Hezbollah.

The US and France proposed an immediate 21-day truce on Sept 25, and said negotiations continued, including on the sidelines of the UN meeting in New York.

Mr Netanyahu said on Sept 27 that Israeli teams had meetings to discuss the US ceasefire proposals a day earlier, and would continue discussions in the days ahead, adding that he appreciated the US efforts.

“Our teams met (on Sept 26) to discuss the US initiative and how we can advance the shared goal of returning people safely to their homes. We will continue those discussions in the coming days,” he said in a statement.

The US-led diplomatic push is seen as a last-ditch attempt to prevent this week’s escalation of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah from spiralling into a full-scale conflict.

Israel has said it was preparing to stage a potential ground invasion of neighbouring Lebanon, which would risk dragging in key ally Washington, as well as Hezbollah’s sponsor Iran.

Blinken stresses importance of ceasefire

Israel says its campaign aims to secure the return home of tens of thousands of Israelis who have been forced to evacuate areas near the Lebanese border over the last year of hostilities with Hezbollah.

Hezbollah began firing at Israel on Oct 8 as the Gaza war began, declaring solidarity with the Palestinians displaced and killed as Israel besieged Gaza in retaliation for

Hamas’ attack on Oct 7.

Hezbollah has said it will only cease fire when Israel’s offensive in the enclave ends.

In Lebanon, more than 90,000 people have been reported as newly displaced this week, according to the UN International Organisation for Migration, adding to more than 111,000 already uprooted by the conflict.

The UN refugee agency UNHCR said 30,000 people had crossed from Lebanon into Syria in the last few days, 80 per cent of them Syrians. Well over a million Syrians fled to Lebanon during the Syrian civil war that erupted in 2011.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Israel on Sept 26 that further escalation of the conflict

will only make it harder for civilians to return home

on both sides of the border, the State Department said.

“The Secretary discussed the importance of reaching an agreement on the 21-day ceasefire across the Israel-Lebanon border,” the State Department said in a statement, referring to talks between Mr Blinken and Israeli Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer.

“He underscored that further escalation of the conflict will only make that objective (of civilian return) more difficult.”

The State Department added that Mr Blinken also discussed efforts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and steps that Israel needs to take to improve delivery of humanitarian assistance in the enclave, where nearly the entire 2.3 million population is displaced and faces a hunger crisis. REUTERS