Benjamin Netanyahu tells UK: ‘You have rewarded the worst antisemites on Earth’ with recognition of Palestinian state

He also read out the list of names of the hostages still held in Gaza, and confirmed reports that the speech was being broadcast across speakers there, in the hope, he said, that “our dear hostages hear our message”.

Relaying the message first in Hebrew, he said: “Our brave heroes, this is Prime Minister Netanyahu speaking to you live from the United Nations. We have not forgotten you, not for a second. The people of Israel are with you. We will not rest and we will not falter until we bring all of you home.”

Netanyahu added that the speech was also being streamed live to the Gazans and warned them that if they failed to return the hostages, “We will hunt you down.”

Addressing the remaining Hamas leaders and those holding the hostages captive, Netanyahu demanded: “Lay down your arms. Let my people go. Free the hostages. All of them. The whole 48. Free the hostages now. If you do, you will live. If you don’t, Israel will hunt you down.”

In a blistering attack aimed at the Western countries that in recent days have formally recognised a state of Palestine, he said: “For many countries, when the going got tough, you caved. Israel has had to fight a seven-front war against barbarism, with many of your nations opposing us.

“Astoundingly, as we fight the terrorists that murdered many of your citizens, you are fighting us. You condemn us. You embargo us, and you wage political and legal warfare against us.”

“This is not an indictment of Israel, it’s an indictment of you. It’s an indictment of weak leaders who appease evil rather than support a nation whose brave soldiers guard you from the barbarians at the gates. They’re already penetrating your gates.”

He added: “When will you learn? You can’t appease your way out of jihad, and you won’t escape the Islamist storm by sacrificing Israel. To overcome that storm, you have to stand with Israel.”

Reflecting on Israel’s military achievements in the wake of October 7, he held up a map showing Iran’s “terror axis” that he brought to his address at the previous General Assembly a year ago. He said: “Half of the Houthi leadership in Yemen, gone. Yahya Sinwar in Gaza, gone. Nasrallah in Lebanon, gone. The Assad regime in Syria, gone. Militias in Iraq, deterred, and its leaders will be gone if they attack Israel. Iran’s top military commanders and its top atomic bomb scientists, they’re gone too.”

He also remarked: “We paged Hezbollah, and they got the message.”

Bibi said of Israel’s 12-day war with Iran, dubbed Operation Rising Lion: “We removed an existential threat to Israel; an immortal threat to the civilised world. We lifted a dark cloud that could have claimed millions and millions of lives.”

He likened giving the Palestinians a state a mile from Israel following October 7 to giving Al-Qaeda a state next to the US following 9/11, branding it “madness”.

And he declared: “Israel will not allow you to shove a terror state down our throats” or “commit national suicide” because “you don’t have the guts” to stand up to the media or antisemites on the streets.

Addressing the allegation that Israel’s conduct in Gaza constitutes a “genocide”, as a recent UN-commissioned inquiry deemed it to be, he said: “Would a country committing genocide plead with the civilian population it is targeting to get out?… Did the Nazis ask the Jews to get out [to spare them from death]?”

Israel is not starving Gazans, it is “deliberately feeding them”, he insisted, in response to numerous reports of famine and widespread starvation in the territory.

This is a breaking news story and is being updated