JERUSALEM — From the dais of the UN General Assembly just one year ago, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu successfully heralded a new peace that he said would sweep the Middle East. A year later, when he returned to the same world stage, his vision was shattered.
The devastating war in Gaza is about to reach the one-year mark. Israel is on the cusp of a wider regional war with the Iranian-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah. And the country has become increasingly isolated internationally and led by a polarizing leader whose handling of the conflict has sparked protests in global capitals and on the streets of his own country.
And it’s not just regional conflicts that are mushrooming weighing on Israel. Netanyahu will move to New York also burdened with what could be an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court, which would put him in contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin and former Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir.
“He is almost persona non grata,” said Alon Liel, the former director general of Israel’s Foreign Ministry and a critic of Netanyahu.
Netanyahu is set to address the General Assembly on Friday. A gifted orator, he has long seen speeches from his revered perches as the optimal way to get his message across and score political points with Israelis who are impressed by his English delivery and perfect fire. In July, he championed Israel’s case for war on Gaza in front of a joint session of the US Congress, where he received a standing ovation and praise even from some critics at home.
“In his view, any trip to New York, to the big stage of world affairs, he considers an advantage,” said Yossi Shain, a professor of international relations at Georgetown University and Tel Aviv. He said Netanyahu’s speeches abroad are often meant to impress audiences at home, and this one was no different.
Netanyahu is well known for his performances at the United Nations and has repeatedly used the pulpit to try to shape his ideology and policies. In a speech in 2012, Netanyahu famously presented a placard with a cartoon bomb to illustrate what he said was Iran’s race toward nuclear weapons. In 2009, he shared a copy of the plans for the Nazi death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, used to highlight what Iran’s former leader said was “antisemitic”.
Last year, he focused on what appeared to be normalization with Saudi Arabia which he said showed how broader Middle East peace did not depend on resolving the conflict with the Palestinians. He held up a prop, a map of the area, and used the word “peace” 42 times. The map showed Gaza and the West Bank — areas claimed by the Palestinians for a future state — surrounded by Israel.
But Netanyahu arrives at the UN this week at a time when his own diplomatic capital and legitimacy, as well as that of the country he represents, are running low. Critics say that while neither is in the spotlight, it is unclear what Netanyahu will do with the visit.
“He is very confident in his speeches,” said Tal Schneider, an Israeli political commentator. “He thinks that if he gives a speech in English, he can convince people in the right way,” he said, adding that he is “disconnected from reality.”
Netanyahu’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Miki Zohar, a Cabinet minister close to Netanyahu, said the UN was a “very important step” in enforcing Israel’s position and hoped the speech would boost international support.
At the UN, Netanyahu will try to convince the world that is increasingly exasperated by Israel’s war in Gaza which is righteous. He can try to galvanize the world behind Israel’s war against Hezbollah. And he may blame the region’s chaos on Iran, a recurring focus of his speeches at home and abroad. That he made the trip, at a time of heightened violence with Hezbollah, underscored the importance of the speech.
But Netanyahu’s words may fall on deaf ears.
Israeli leaders “rightly believe that UN speeches have a transformative effect on history. They don’t,” said Alon Pinkas, Israel’s former consul general in New York. Netanyahu’s visit, Pinkas added, because Israel is now considered globally as “on the brink of a condemned pariah state” with its leader seen as a “rogue war criminal.”
Protests are expected during the visit. New York is home to Columbia University, the site of some of the strongest campus demonstrations in recent years this spring – by students protesting the bloodshed in Gaza.
Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving leader, has been an internationally divisive figure for years, with his hardline approach to the Palestinians particularly frustrating world leaders. But the handling of the war in Gaza has further stained the global perception.
The war began with a Hamas attack on October 7, which killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and dragged 250 hostages into Gaza. Many Israelis blame Netanyahu and his policies for allowing Hamas to develop its military capacity because it can attack Israel’s defenses and attack them.
The war has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, according to health officials in Gaza, and often destroyed multiple members of the same family. This has displaced most of the 2.3 million inhabitants of small areas, in many cases, and has led to a humanitarian crisis resulting in hunger and lack of access to basic services. US-led ceasefire efforts have stalled, and at home, Netanyahu has been criticized for failing to bring home the estimated 70 hostages believed to be alive and the bodies of 30 others.
After the unprecedented attacks by Hamas, Israel initially had the support of its allies to punish the militant group. But the ferocity of the revenge attacks and the staggering number of civilian casualties have soured the international mood against Israel. Over time, the Biden administration grew increasingly impatient and slowed down arms shipments. Britain said earlier this month it was suspending some arms exports to Israel because of the risk their use could violate international law.
A request by International Criminal Court prosecutors for an arrest warrant against Netanyahu will also loom large during the visit and could make the leader who considers himself an international statesman a global pariah. Liel thought that some heads of state would agree to meet him on the sidelines of the meeting and that the visit could be a blow to Netanyahu’s chest.
“There’s no doubt that he knows how to give a speech,” Liel said, adding: “I think the world is getting smaller.
___
See more AP coverage of the UN General Assembly at https://apnews.com/hub/united-nations
