Netanyahu Calls UN General Assembly a 'Swamp of Anti-Semitic Bile' As IDF Targets Nasrallah in Beirut

AP Photo/Richard Drew

Don't hold back, Bibi -- tell us how you really feel. 

Not that Benjamin Netanyahu has ever been mistaken as a shrinking violet. He did start his speech by declaring that he hadn't planned to attend this session of the United Nations General Assembly, however, as "savage murderers" had attacked Israel. Only the litany of lies and slanders from other UNGA speakers convinced Netanyahu that he needed to "correct the record" at Turtle Bay. 

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Netanyahu recounted the October 7 massacres, calling them scenes "reminiscent of the Nazi Holocaust," and pledged to get the rest of the hostages out of Gaza. However, Netanyahu quickly expanded on that to the "seven front war" that Iran has launched against Israel. "For too long," Netanyahu declared, "the world has appeased Iran ... and that appeasement must end now."

Bibi doesn't expect much from the UN General Assembly, however, which he called a "swamp of anti-Semitic bile," as well as an "anti-Israel Flat Earth Society." Bibi also had a warning for Iran:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the United Nations General Assembly as a “swamp of antisemitic bile” during a fiery address Friday morning — as dozens of diplomats walked out in protest ahead of the speech.

Netanyahu slammed the mounting criticism of Israel’s handling of the nearly year-long war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. ...

One of the missing delegations was Iran, to whom Netanyahu spoke directly in his speech.

“If you strike us, we will strike you,” Netanyahu warned.

“There is no place in Iran that the long arm of Israel cannot reach. And that is true of the entire Middle East.”

In order to emphasize that point, the IDF finally took aim at the head of the snake -- in Beirut, anyway. An aerial strike in Lebanon's capital reportedly hit Hezbollah's main headquarters, located underground below a residential building in the group's stronghold of Dahiyeh. They didn't bother to hide their intent:

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Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah was reportedly the target of the strike, Israeli media reported, however there have been no official statements corroborating this.

"Hezbollah's central headquarters was intentionally built under residential buildings in the heart of the Dahiyeh in Beirut as part of Hezbollah's strategy of using Lebanese people as human shields," IDF Spokesman R.-Adm. Daniel Hagari stated in an evening address.

He said that this building was the epicenter of Hezbollah's terror activities. 

The IDF hit several targets in Dahiyeh. If this is indicative of the power behind the strikes, Hezbollah won't have much left as meeting quarters regardless of whether Nasrallah happened to be present in any of them:

If Israel has decided to target Nasrallah, that itself delivers a very pointed message -- to Tehran, certainly, but also to Washington DC. It means that they don't want to negotiate with the existing terrorist leadership, and indeed doesn't see any value in keeping a chain of command in place that could call a halt to hostilities. That carries a message of a war aim of complete victory, and an intent to sever Tehran from control of its largest proxy army.

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Did they succeed in taking out Nasrallah? We'll see; he'd likely have hidden himself in a diplomatic mission rather than Hezbollah HQ, perhaps in Syria's embassy, after the IDF began targeting Dahiyeh. But Nasrallah hasn't exactly proven himself a strategic genius either, so stay tuned for updates on that question.

In the meantime, here's the full speech from Netanyahu, starting with his introduction to the conclusion. Watch it all, and notice how many UNGA delegates wouldn't even listen to his speech. Even as a debating society, the UN General Assembly is worthless. 

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Ed Morrissey 12:40 PM | December 16, 2024
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