Israel’s Netanyahu defies UN walkout, vows to ‘finish the job’ in Gaza against Hamas
The speech was given amid ICC accusations and a genocide case, leading many delegates to walk out just as Israel’s leader was about to speak
Defiant Netanyahu says Israel will ‘finish the job’ in Gaza as Trump seeks end to war
The split screen moment casts doubt that an end to the Gaza war is likely anytime soon.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Sept. 26, 2025. | Richard Drew/AP
UNITED
NATIONS — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Friday that
Israel would “finish the job” in Gaza as President Donald Trump
expressed fresh optimism that a deal to end the fighting in the enclave
was near.
Netanyahu’s
remarks to the United Nations General Assembly cast doubt on an
imminent breakthrough.
- While Qatar had been mediating between the Hamas
militant group and Israel with U.S. support, those talks have largely
stalled after Israel earlier this month bombed Hamas leaders in Doha.
Defiant Netanyahu says Israel will ‘finish the job’ in Gaza as Trump seeks end to war
The split screen moment casts doubt that an end to the Gaza war is likely anytime soon.
Speaking to reporters at the White House on Friday moments after Netanyahu’s remarks, Trump said a deal on Gaza is “very close.”
- “I think it’s a deal that will get the hostages back.
- It’s going to be a deal that will end the war,” he said.
Netanyahu’s message to the U.N. was very different. He said Israel’s military was “not done yet” and would continue its operation to rout Hamas from Gaza City.- “The final remnants of Hamas are holed up in Gaza City.
- They vow to repeat the atrocities of Oct. 7,” he said.
- “That is why Israel must finish the job. That is why we want to do so.”
Netanyahu will meet with Trump on Monday at the White House, where the U.S. leader will brief him on his conversations with Gulf and Arab leaders on his administration’s 21-point plan for how Gaza will be run and reconstructed when the war ends.
Trump told those leaders in a meeting on the sidelines of the U.N. earlier this week that he would not allow Netanyahu to annex the West Bank. But his government has already done much to extend and solidify its control of the West Bank, including expanding Jewish settlements in the occupied territory and tightening its security presence there.
The Israeli premier also slammed France, the U.K. and other countries’ recognition of a Palestinian state.
He said an independent Palestinian state is “sheer madness, it’s insane and we won’t do it.”
- “What you’re doing is giving the ultimate reward to intolerant fanatics who perpetrated and supported the Oct. 7 massacre,” he said.
- In former President Barack Obama’s first term, Netanyahu for a moment suggested openness to two states, but other than that brief aberration, he has long been a forceful opponent of and vowed never to allow the so-called two-state solution.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who is leading the Palestinian statehood effort, has said the move would begin an international reorientation toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and could be the first step toward negotiating a two-state solution. Macron has been frustrated by the United State’s unwillingness to pressure Israel to end the war in Gaza and fears that the chance for the creation of an independent Palestinian state is on the verge of disappearing forever.
Netanyahu argued the diplomatic campaign was motivated by Western leaders’ cowardice.
“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,” Netanyahu told the U.N.
Dozens of diplomats from Middle Eastern, African and European nations walked out from the U.N. General Assembly hall in protest before Netanyahu began speaking.
UAE Issues Gaza Ultimatum to Netanyahu in High-Stakes Meeting
Sheikh Abdullah stressed
the urgent need to stop the Gaza war and reiterated UAE support for a
two-state solution during talks with Netanyahu.
NEWS BRIEF
UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed urged Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the Gaza war during a meeting on the
sidelines of the UN General Assembly, marking their first high-level
talks since Israel’s strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar drew Emirati
condemnation. The UAE reaffirmed its commitment to a two-state solution,
even as Netanyahu rules out Palestinian statehood.
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