‘Murdering Jews pays off’: Netanyahu accuses Albanese, others of caving to pressure

Washington: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the decision by Australia and others to recognise a Palestinian state tells terrorists that “murdering Jews pays off”, and has accused Western leaders of buckling to media pressure and antisemitism.

In a blistering speech to the United Nations in New York, Netanyahu said giving Palestinians a state a mile from Jerusalem after the October 7, 2023, massacre was akin to giving al-Qaeda a state a mile from New York City after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

“This is sheer madness, it’s insane, and we won’t do it,” he said. “Israel will not allow you to shove a terrorist state down our throats. We will not commit national suicide because you don’t have the guts to face down a hostile media and antisemitic mobs demanding Israel’s blood.”

Dozens of delegates staged a mass walkout before Netanyahu’s address, leaving him to speak to a mostly empty General Assembly Hall. But remaining delegations, especially Israel’s, clapped and cheered loudly in key parts of the Israeli leader’s speech.

Netanyahu explicitly referred to Australia twice, mentioning Jews had been the victim of antisemitic incidents there, and saying there were likely people in New York, London and Melbourne thinking: What does all of this have to do with me?

“The answer is: everything. Because our enemies are your enemies,” he said, referring to radical Islamists. “Our enemies hate all of us with equal venom ... You know, deep down, that Israel is fighting your fight.”

He added that behind closed doors, “many of the leaders who publicly condemn us privately thank us”, saying Israeli intelligence had thwarted terrorist attacks in their capital cities.

Australia joined Canada, France, the United Kingdom and other nations in recognising a Palestinian state at the UN meeting, though this has little practical effect.

Part of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s rationale for the decision was that it would build momentum for a two-state solution, and that Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority that has partial control of the West Bank, had given direct undertakings to Australia about holding democratic elections and enacting significant reforms to governance, finance and education.

But Netanyahu argued promises by the Palestinian Authority were meaningless, accusing the body of endemic corruption and celebrating violence against the Jewish people, including paying terrorists to kill Jews.

“We’ve heard these promises for decades. They always promise, they never deliver,” he said. “They haven’t held elections in 20 years. They use the same textbooks as Hamas. They teach their children to hate Jews and destroy the Jewish state.

“These are the people you want to give a state to? What you’re doing is giving the ultimate reward to intolerant fanatics who perpetrated and supported the October 7th massacre.”

Netanyahu said his objection to a Palestinian state was not a fringe position or the result of pressure from political actors to his right. Rather, it was the policy of the Israeli people, and he spoke on their behalf.

He said the “uncomfortable truth” was that the decades-long conflict is driven by the Palestinians’ persistent rejection of a Jewish state in any form, and it was “amazing” that Western leaders could not understand that.

“How can they not see this basic truth when it is repeated again and again and again, ad nauseam?” he said.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump told reporters he believed a deal to return the remaining hostages and end the war in Gaza was close. Netanyahu is due to visit Trump at the White House on Monday.

Later, Trump said on Truth Social that intense negotiations had been going on for four days, involving “all the countries within the region”. There was more goodwill and enthusiasm than he had seen before, he added.

At the UN, the Israeli PM also condemned Western leaders for wavering in their support for Israel’s campaign against Hamas and other Islamist terrorist groups, casting it as an existential battle between good and evil.

“There’s a familiar saying: when the going gets tough, the tough get going,” he said. “Well, for many countries here, when the going got tough, you caved.

“For much of the past two years, Israel has had to fight a seven-front war against barbarism with many of your nations opposing us … This is not an indictment of Israel, it’s an indictment of you.

“They’re already penetrating your gates. When will you learn? You can’t appease your way out of jihad. To overcome that storm, you have to stand with Israel. But that’s not what you’re doing.

“Western leaders may have buckled under the pressure. I guarantee you one thing: Israel won’t,” he said to applause.

At one point, Netanyahu directed his remarks at the 48 remaining hostages held by Hamas, saying he was speaking to them via loudspeakers that had been set up around Gaza and were tuned to his speech.

Then he said that special efforts by Israeli intelligence had enabled him to broadcast a message directly to the cellphones of Gazans, including Hamas leaders.

“Lay down your arms. Let my people go,” he said. “Free the hostages, all of them. If you do, you will live. If you don’t, Israel will hunt you down. If Hamas agrees to our demands, the war could end right now.”

Australia and Albanese have also called for the hostages to be returned. But he argued at the UN that the best and only way to end the cycle of violence afflicting both Jews and Palestinians was by establishing a homeland for the Palestinian people, one in which Hamas could play no role.

The Palestinian Authority, supported by the Arab League, must demilitarise, hold elections, “undertake wholesale reform” and reaffirm Israel’s right to exist in peace and security, he said.

Albanese spoke to Netanyahu before Australia announced it would join the coalition of nations recognising Palestine, and “gave him the opportunity to outline what [alternative] political solution there was”.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who led the recognition push, told this masthead in New York that Australia’s decision to join the movement was “bold and important”.

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