After the opening of the weeklong UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must carefully consider the message he wants to convey to world leaders increasingly concerned about a regional war escalating in the Middle East.
Israeli airstrikes against Hezbollah reportedly killed 500 people on Monday, making it the deadliest day in nearly a year of exchanges.
“No country stands to gain from further escalation in the Middle East,” G7 countries said in a statement. “The cycle of actions and reactions risks escalating the spiral of violence and plunging the entire Middle East into a regional conflict with unimaginable consequences.”
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warned: “I can say that we are almost on the brink of total war.”
Netanyahu signaled on Monday that Israel was not interested in an escalation when he issued a direct message to the people of Lebanon, urging them to get out of harm’s way.
War with Hezbollah
“Israel’s war is not with you. It’s with Hezbollah,” he said. “For too long, Hezbollah has been using you as human shields. It placed rockets in your living rooms and missiles in your garage. Those rockets and missiles are aimed directly at our cities, directly at our citizens. To defend our people against Hezbollah strikes, we must take out those weapons.... Please, get out of harm’s way now. Once our operation is finished, you can come back safely to your homes.”
Foreign Minister Israel Katz urged the UN Security Council to take action against Hezbollah and Iran, demanding the full enforcement of Resolution 1701, which mandates the disarmament of Hezbollah and prohibits armed groups in southern Lebanon.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in an interview that the United Nations could not mediate conflicts in which the parties themselves did not seek mediation, such as Russia and Ukraine or Israel and Hamas.
“We will not solve all the problems of the world,” he told the Financial Times. “The challenges are huge and probably many would give up, but I can tell you we will not give up. We have no power, we have no money... but we have a voice, and we have some convening capacity.”
An unnamed American official said the United States would present “concrete ideas” at the UN General Assembly to lower tensions on the Israel-Lebanon border while opposing an Israeli ground invasion to attack Hezbollah.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, who took office on Monday, called for an urgent Security Council meeting to discuss the escalating situation between Lebanon and Israel.
“At this moment, my thoughts are with the Lebanese people, as Israeli strikes have just caused hundreds of civilian casualties, including dozens of children,” he said. “France calls on the parties and their supporters to de-escalate and avoid a regional flare-up that would be devastating for all, especially for civilian populations.”
Take a new approach
On Tuesday, Netanyahu issued a sarcastic statement under the category, “This can only happen at the UN,” noting that ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan had met the previous day with “two great champions of human rights” – “Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, renowned for slaughtering Kurdish civilians and jailing journalists, and with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who denies the Holocaust and pays terrorists who murder Jews.”
He added: “Rather than issuing arrest warrants for war crimes against Erdogan and Abbas, Khan remains obsessed with casting as war criminals Israel’s democratically elected leaders, who are pursuing a just war with just means against genocidal terrorists. What a joke!”
I repeat and reiterate: Israel does not seek war. But we have the right and the duty to defend our people. Here’s just an example of the threat we face. This IDF video shows how Hezbollah stores and launches missiles in civilian areas and homes. Thousands and thousands of long… pic.twitter.com/mqQryzD8Er
— יצחק הרצוג Isaac Herzog (@Isaac_Herzog) September 23, 2024
In response to the real concern in the international community over a regional war, Netanyahu might want to adopt a more serious tone by taking a leaf out of President Isaac Herzog’s book. Sharing an IDF video that shows how Hezbollah stores thousands of long-range missiles in civilian homes, then launches them with the sole intention of killing Israelis, Herzog declared: “Israel does not seek war. But we have the right and the duty to defend our people.... What nation would accept its citizens living under such a threat from its neighbors?”