Protests erupt as Netanyahu gives inflammatory UN speech - The Latest

0:00This is The Guardian.

0:14Is this genocide? Of course not. It's the opposite of genocide.

0:36Thank you.

1:00there were mass protests on the streets with a number of famous faces, but also a number of arrests. What was the sort of scale of those protests? Hi, Lucy. Yes, that's right. There were these protests both ahead of Netanyahu's visit and indeed yesterday when he spoke last night. The latest is that 100 people or thereabouts were arrested, including, as you say, some quite famous names like Susan Sarandon, a Democratic congressional candidate, a New York City Council member. And there were sort of multiple different groups that held protests, which sort of coalesced at some points beyond the fact that there were these demos.

1:40And we've seen those in recent years when Netanyahu has appeared ever since the war in Gaza started. I think it sort of speaks increasingly to Israel's sort of international isolation. Yeah, so much like the protests, every time Netanyahu has visited New York since the events of October 23 and the subsequent Israeli response, he has faced mass walkouts as he's begun his address, which is what happened yesterday. Yesterday, there was a specific call from Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the Palestinian Authority, because the Palestinian delegates for the second year in a row had their visas rejected.

2:20So that call was honoured in very, very big numbers. What was the atmosphere in the Assembly Hall like? Yes, that's right. So there was this, you know, big walkout, a stream upon stream of delegates walking out. And as you say, we have seen that in recent years. And, you know, indeed, Israel and Netanyahu expected this. They anticipated it. And indeed, you know, one of Netanyahu's first kind of points before he even started his speech was to call on the, in his words, moral cowards, any other moral cowards, as he put it, to leave the room. That's how he described the people walking out. He sort of tried to frame them as sort of hypocrites.

3:02and indeed he sort of suggested that some of those who'd walked out of the room had behind the scenes, you know, their governments had behind the scenes, supported him particularly in the endeavours with Iran, in the war with Iran. So publicly they were putting on this show but behind the scenes they were doing something else is what he claimed. So he wasn't speaking to a totally empty room but it was substantially emptier and it felt like a speech that was inflammatory by design Netanyahu spoke about Israel's activities in Gaza as the opposite of a genocide. What else did he have to say to those that remained in that assembly hall?

3:44Yeah, that's right. He addressed sort of, you know, directly the genocide accusations and allegations and claimed that Israel was a benign country in this. And, you know, what other country provides sort of food trucks for the enemy? That was one of his points and sort of tried to counter the genocide claims by saying it is looking after people inside the Gaza Strip, which, you know, has been very, very heavily contested. And the whole issue of Israel's blocking of aid has been a long held issue for months, years. Indeed, Macron addressed it himself earlier this week at the UN. The fact that humanitarian corridors still haven't opened up.

4:27So, you know, those claims that Israel is allowing wholesale access to aid are heavily contested. But that was Netanyahu's argument about the genocide claims. Indeed, he described it as the greatest lie of the century. Goodness. That Israel was committing a genocide. He also talked about the West Bank. And on that, he sort of tried to dismiss the notion that there was a kind of wholesale mass campaign against Palestinians in the West Bank. He described it more as a few sort of rabble rousers who delinquents, I think is the word he used, who were throwing stones and kind of causing chaos, but in quite a minute way and said that the Israeli government doesn't support these people and that it is a country that is upholds the rule of law.

5:12But again, you know, that is heavily contested, the notion that this is just a few kind of rabble rousers doing their thing independent of a broader structure. And indeed, you know, we saw our very own governments around the world and our very own British government have effectively concluded that, saying that this is going on with the kind of support of the Israeli government. And it's a massive wholesale campaign. It's not just a few people doing this. Yeah. And the last time we spoke to our colleague, Emma Graham Harrison, she said, you know, the complicity of Israeli police with West Bank settlers is something that is no longer being concealed in the way that it was before, as per her reporting.

5:54So who was this speech aimed at, do you think? Because it felt like a sort of campaign speech in a way as he really fights for his political survival. It's not looking good for him in the Israeli elections that are due to be held at the end of October. So do you think he was speaking to an Israeli national audience more than anything? Yes, I think that's right. I mean, the timing of these things has to be kind of watched in any assessment of what the speech is trying to do and what his intentions are there. And absolutely. I mean, this was, one suspects, primarily designed for a domestic audience.

6:28He repeated many of his talking points. There wasn't really anything new there in terms of policy. But he tried to sort of frame it as, you know, under his leadership, Israel has sort of enacted all these great successes. You know, it's held Iran to account is how he tries to frame the war on Iran. He sort of praised Trump in that respect and said that the two of them had together, you know, saved civilization is effectively how he put it. by going to war with Iran. And, you know, we know that the war in Iran is generally popular in Israel. So he was trying to sort of frame his successes in the last few years.

7:05And yeah, it feels very much like it was designed for a domestic audience at a time where he really is under pressure at home too in Israel. There's a lot of Israelis who do not support him. Yeah, and the personal stakes for him are enormous given that he faces charges of corruption at home and international arrest warrants for war crimes. So if he loses this election, that could come at great personal cost, which is something that has been raised by the new, well, relatively new New York mayor, Zoram Mamdani, who has previously said Netanyahu wouldn't be welcome in New York and has called for his arrest for war crimes.

7:43Our sister podcast, Stateside with Kyn Carter, did a really good in-depth look at that and his relationship with Mamdani, which I would urge people to listen to. But it's not just Mamdani, it's Donald Trump as well, isn't it? Because the two are quite distant from each other in a way that the US-Israeli relationship has never really been before in terms of their falling out, we could say, or disagreements over the very complicated war in Iran that has very much not gone to plan. Yes, absolutely. And, you know, I think it's sort of telling that this was a very quick trip for Netanyahu, which speaks both to his view of the UN.

8:20You know, he's made it very clear, Israeli officials have made it very clear they don't value the UN's insights on foreign policy, on geopolitics in the Middle East. And indeed, it was a UN commission that found he, you know, there was evidence to support the genocide allegations. But beyond that, you know, he didn't meet Trump. So Trump is busy with President Xi of China. And it feels like that is very much where Trump's focus wants to be at the moment. You know, that's what he wants to pay attention to, sort of being part of this, you know, big boys club of big countries that are sort of both rivals.

8:56But also, he has made it very clear, he wants to see, he sees opportunities to sort of work with China. And we know that when Trump went to visit Xi and China, you know, it was all a bit of a love-in from the sort of American point of view, from the Trump point of view. This doesn't feel like something that Trump wants to be a priority for him. And I think it is telling that the pair didn't meet. I mean, you know, I wouldn't want to overstate that, but it does feel sort of, you know, of note that they didn't meet this time round. There is reporting within Israel of people who are concerned increasingly that their country is becoming a kind of pariah state and is slashing ties internationally with people, countries like the US, like the UK, that were considered former allies and that this Israeli government has sort of gone too far in all sorts of regards.

9:47What do you think yesterday's appearance showed about quite how much that has kind of become a reality for this Israeli government? I think it shows that, you know, Netanyahu sort of leaning into that, you know, he's not shying away from that idea and he's not trying to pretend he has friends where he doesn't. Yeah, that's interesting. And this has long been a sort of message of his that there are all these Western countries that have sort of swallowed the lies about Israel and that he and a few others are sort of fighting this fairly lonely battle against sort of, you know, he used the word barbarians in his speech, fighting against the sort of barbarians who want to destroy civilization.

10:26And he's one of the few sort of upholders of it. And that's how he sort of tried to frame this entire debate about the war, both in Iran and, you know, closer to home for Israel, the war in Gaza. Yeah, yeah. Sort of chest beating strongman politics. But it does seem like increasingly the tide is turning against him. Devika, thank you so much. Thanks for having me on. That's it for today. My huge thanks again to Devika Batt, The Guardian's UK global editor. You can keep up with all our reporting on this story over at theguardian.com. And I recommend listening to our sister podcast, Politics Weekly America.

11:05Jonathan Friedland is exploring that whilst Trump seems weaker these days, it might be dangerous to underestimate him. We'll also put a link to the show notes of the great episode of Stateside with Kai and Carter that we mentioned in the episode. Thanks for listening to this episode of The Latest. Today in Focus will be back in your feeds as usual on Monday morning. The Latest will be back on Monday night. Have a lovely weekend. This episode was produced by Angus Neal. The senior producer was Ryan Ramgobin. The executive producer was Zoe Hitch. And it was presented by me, Lucy Hoth.

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