Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ‘ignored’ his torn nation in his address to the UN General Assembly, opposition head MK Yair Lapid charged following the conclusion of the prime minister’s speech in New York.
Lapid, who offered a “summary” of Netanyahu’s address, said that the prime minister “ignored Saudi intention to become a nuclear state, ignored the Palestinian agreement of an interim agreement, ignored the US demand to halt the judicial reform.
“[Netnayahu] ignored the fact that Israel is being torn apart due to his government and he is not even trying to heal the wounds and unite the nation. Sad,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Friday.
סיכום נאום נתניהו: מתעלם מהדרישה הסעודית להפוך למדינת סף גרעינית, מתעלם מההסכמה הפלשתינית ללכת להסכם ביניים, מתעלם מהדרישה האמריקאית לעצור את ההפיכה המשטרית, מתעלם מזה שמדינת ישראל קרועה בגלל הממשלה שלו, לא מנסה אפילו לאחות את השברים ולאחד את העם. עצוב.
— יאיר לפיד – Yair Lapid (@yairlapid) September 22, 2023
Netanyahu ‘ignored judicial reform, peace with Palestinians’
Labor MK Rabbi Gilad Kariv also attacked Netanyahu’s speech, which he claimed missed the “two most crucial aspects for the future of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state: Stopping the rapacious judicial overhaul and restarting negotiations with the Palestinian Authority.
“With all due respect to his visions of artificial intelligence and visual tricks, most Israeli citizens and world Jewry will now feel even more disheartened by the religious manipulation.”
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who spoke directly after Netanyahu, said there is “flagrant hypocrisy” in dealing with the Palestinians and called on the international community to speak out about human rights abuses against them.
: “The vision of peace in the Middle East, with Saudi Arabia at its center, is a historic alternative to the Iranian-led Middle East nightmare,” President Issac Herzog, whose birthday was on Friday, wrote.
“This is an important message conveyed in the prime minister’s speech and I welcome it. Shabbat Shalom.”
חזון השלום האזורי כשסעודיה במרכזו הוא החלופה ההיסטורית לאיום הבלהות האיראני למזרח התיכון, כשאיום הגרעין האיראני במרכזו. זהו מסר חשוב בנאומו של ראש הממשלה בפני עצרת האו״ם ואני מברך עליו. שבת שלום
— יצחק הרצוג Isaac Herzog (@Isaac_Herzog) September 22, 2023
Smotrich, Levin: Israel will accept peace for peace
Netanyahu also received congratulatory posts from key coalition members Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
“I would like to congratulate the prime minister on an excellent address to the UN General Assembly,” Levin said. “We are leading peace in exchange for peace, carrying out a vision of peace between Israel and the Arab world.”
In a message to Netanyahu that the government will not accept any concessions to the Palestinians, Smotrich said that “together, we will bring peace for peace while continuing to keep Israel secure, spread its settlements and open it to the Middle East and the entire world.
“Thank you, prime minister, for the impressive representation of Israel at the United Nations.”
Tovah Lazaroff contributed to this report.
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