Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is headed to Manhattan to address the United Nations at the end of the month as pressure mounts at home and abroad to accept a cease-fire deal, a report says.
News of Netanyahu’s expected Sept. 26 appearance at the UN surfaced the day after two of Israel’s staunchest allies appeared to falter in their support — with President Biden saying the PM had not done enough to secure the release of the hostages and the UK ordering a cutback on arms to the Jewish state.
The embattled Israeli leader is preparing to speak at the UN’s upcoming session to address growing concerns particularly after the deaths of six hostages, whose bodies were discovered in Gaza on Saturday, the Times of Israel said.
Netanyahu has received the bulk of the blame over the deaths after he rejected a condition in the stalled cease-fire negotiations that called on the Israel Defense Forces to abandon the Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border.
Israeli officials slammed Netanyahu’s stance as one that puts his goal to destroy Hamas above the safety of the hostages, triggering nationwide protests Sunday and Monday.
Now the Jewish state is bracing for an allegedly non-negotiable deal being pushed by Qatari, Egyptian and American mediators who have been trying for months to reach a compromise between Israel and Hamas.
“I think that what will happen in the end [is] there will be a kind of take-it-or-leave,” Israeli Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman Yuli Edelstein told the Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.
Edelstein warned that the latest proposal will likely include less favorable terms for Israel compared to the original US-backed deal that had been on the table last month.
White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters Tuesday that Biden believes the deal is still possible and is needed now more than ever after the hostages’ deaths.
“I think what happened over the weekend should serve as a reminder to everyone how evil Hamas is and how deadly, how lethal the situation is for all those hostages, and it should underscore for everybody … how important it is to get this deal in place and to get those hostages released,” Kirby said.
Netanyahu’s speech at the UN will also come after Israel appeared to lose the trust of the United Kingdom, which ordered an immediate suspension of 30 of its 350 arms exports licenses with Israel on Monday over concerns that they would be used to commit serious humanitarian violations.
The UK said it was suspending the licenses over concerns that they would be used to commit serious humanitarian violations.
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy claimed that while the government does support the Jewish state, it has no guarantees on how certain arms will be used.
“It is with regret that I inform the House today the assessment I have received leaves me unable to conclude anything other than that for certain UK arms exports to Israel, there does exist a clear risk that they might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law,” Lammy told lawmakers.
Among the items listed for suspension are the components for military aircraft, including fighter jets, helicopters and drones, he said.
Lammy assured Parliament that the suspension would not have a sizable impact on Israel’s security, given that British exports amount to less than 1% of the total weapons Israel receives.
Netanyahu slammed the decision as “shameful.”
He said it signified that the UK has chosen to stand on the wrong side of history in Israel’s war against Hamas terrorists, who killed more than 1,200 people in Israel on Oct. 7, including more than a dozen British citizens.
“Just as Britain’s heroic stand against the Nazis is seen today as having been vital in defending our common civilization, so too will history judge Israel’s stand against Hamas and Iran’s axis of terror … With or without British arms, Israel will win this war and secure our common future,” Netanyahu wrote on X.
The prime minister scoffed at the notion that Israel would use the arms in a way that violates humanitarian law.
“Israel is pursuing a just war with just means, taking unprecedented measures to keep civilians out of harm’s way and comporting fully with international law,” he added.
Israel’s military actions in Gaza have garnered renewed criticism after Hamas killed the six hostages, including American-Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin, last week during the IDF’s advance in Rafah.
As the IDF continues to fight in southern Gaza, it has repeatedly been accused of launching airstrikes at civilian buildings where Hamas gunmen are hiding, allegedly killing non-combatants along with the terrorists.
The death toll in Gaza is approaching 41,000, according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health, which does not differentiate between civilians and terrorists.
The IDF estimated last month that about 17,000 Hamas targets have been killed, roughly 56% of the terror group’s estimated manpower.
With Post wires
