The Israeli prime minister used his address to call out Western leaders recognizing a Palestinian state as ‘giving the ultimate reward’ for terror
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a stark warning to Hamas in a historic United Nations address Friday morning. “Free the hostages now or lose your lives,” he declared in a speech the Jewish state broadcast directly into Gaza.
“Lay down your arms,” Netanyahu told the terror group through a series of “massive loudspeakers” strategically placed throughout Gaza. “Let my people go. Free the hostages. All of them, the whole 48, free the hostages now. If you do, you will live. If you don’t, Israel will hunt you down.”
Israel’s security services livestreamed Netanyahu’s speech to cellphones inside Gaza through a hacking operation, ensuring his message would reach both Hamas leaders and the remaining Israeli hostages still in the terror group’s possession.
“This is Prime Minister Netanyahu speaking to you live from the United Nations,” the Israeli leader said to his abducted countrymen. “We have not forgotten you, not even for a second. The people of Israel are with you. We will not falter and we will not rest until we bring all of you home.”
He read the names of every remaining hostage in both Hebrew and English, letting the Israelis held in Hamas tunnels know they had not been forgotten.
Netanyahu went on to chastise Western governments that oppose his efforts to eradicate Hamas, accusing their “weak-kneed leaders” of handing the terror group a reward for the Oct. 7 attacks by recognizing a Palestinian state. The United Kingdom, France, Australia, and Canada all unilaterally recognized a Palestinian state without preconditions last weekend ahead of a U.N. gathering that has focused on the issue.
Netanyahu, like President Donald Trump in his Tuesday address, described these efforts as a farce.
“Israel has had to fight a seven-front war against barbarism, with many of your nations opposing us,” the prime minister said. “As we fight the terrorists who murdered many of your citizens, you are fighting us. You condemn us. You embargo us. And you wage political and legal warfare.”
He continued, speaking directly to governments that oppose Israel’s war against Hamas.
“This is not an indictment of Israel,” Netanyahu said. “It’s an indictment of you. It’s an indictment of weak-kneed leaders who appease evil rather than support a nation whose brave soldiers guard you from the barbarians at the gate. When will you learn you can’t appease your way out of jihad, and you won’t escape this storm by sacrificing Israel?”
Netanyahu wore a QR code on his lapel that enabled viewers to instantly access gruesome footage from Hamas’s Oct. 7 terror spree.
He added that the U.N.’s push to recognize a Palestinian state sends a “very clear” message: “Murdering Jews pays off.”
“I have a message for these leaders: When the most savage terrorists on Earth are effusively praising your decision, you didn’t do something right,” Netanyahu said. “You did something wrong, horribly wrong. Your disgraceful decision will encourage terrorism against Jews and against innocent people everywhere. It will be a mark of shame on all of you.”
Netanyahu also cited polls showing that nearly 90 percent of the Palestinian population supports the Oct. 7 attacks and drew a comparison between that reaction and the reactions among Palestinians in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.
“They celebrated,” he said. “They danced on the rooftops. They threw candies.”
Netanyahu emphasized that a society that rewards terrorism and preaches the elimination of Jews can never have a state.
“What you’re doing is giving the ultimate reward to intolerant fanatics who perpetrated and supported the October 7 massacre,” he said. “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. This is sheer madness. It’s insane. And we won’t do it.”
Israel, he added, “will not allow you to shove a terror state down our throats. We will not commit national suicide because you don’t have the guts to face down a hostile media and anti-Semitic mobs demanding Israel’s blood.”
