After his address at the United Nations General Assembly, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attended a Friday night Shabbat reception at the Israeli Consulate in New York, where he said the war in the Gaza Strip is “nearing its end.”
He then joked with those around him: “My wife writes all my speeches, she decides everything, even when to strike.” Half in jest, he added that critics who claim his wife makes the key decisions would now say: “It’s recorded, he admitted it, Netanyahu slipped up.” Turning serious, he continued: “She is a partner, like every one of you, in the desire to truly see the rebirth of Israel in our war of rebirth.”
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a Shabbat reception at the Israeli Consulate in New York
Netanyahu told the audience, “The slander against the Jewish people continues, that is the truth. That is how Jews always lived. What is the difference? Today we have a sword. What happened especially in the last year is that we lifted that sword against those who came to destroy us — and we defeated them.”
He stressed that “there is still work to do,” but said, “We are nearing the end — bringing our hostages home, defeating our enemies, and building peace with our neighbors, with the sword in hand. That is what we are doing now. This will continue into next week in Washington and afterward back in Israel. But this stage of the war — for justice, for truth — is very important.”
The prime minister thanked New York Consul General Ofir Akunis, Israel’s ambassador to the UN Danny Danon, Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman and the consulate and Israeli delegation staff.
He recounted the battles of the Jews against the Roman Empire, adding: “In the end, it was the Arabs who expelled the Jews from the Land of Israel. We were the majority in our land, and when the Arabs invaded, they simply took our land, and Jews became a minority in our homeland.”
Explaining why he raised the point, Netanyahu said: “The first lie is that we expelled the Arabs from their land, while the truth is the Arabs expelled us from our land after thousands of years.” Standing beside him, his wife Sara Netanyahu added: “This is very important. No one knows this. There is no advocacy about it.” Netanyahu concluded: “The struggle for truth continues all the time. In the defamation against us, in the distortion of history — including last week’s — we are in a constant struggle.”