Amid the escalating tensions in West Asia, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the United Nations General Assembly in New York with two maps in his hands – one painted green and the other painted black. The greener map, named as 'The Blessing', showed countries Egypt, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, and India. The other map painted black had countries like Iran, Iraq, Syria and Yemen. Netanyahu referred to the black map as 'The Curse'.
As Netanyahu showed the maps from the UN podium, it was highlighted that there was no reference to Palestine. The maps carried by Netanyahu showed territories – the West Bank and Gaza – as part of Israel.
"Israel has every right to remove this threat and return our citizens to their home safely. And that's exactly what we're doing," Netanyahu said, eliciting applause from supporters in the gallery of the General Assembly. "We'll continue degrading Hezbollah until all our objectives are met," he said.
#WATCH | At the UNGA, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu displayed two maps showing a group of countries as ‘The Curse’ and another group as ‘The Blessing’. ‘The Curse’ map showed Iran, Iraq, Syria and Yemen painted in black and ‘The Blessing’ map showed Egypt, Sudan,… pic.twitter.com/5UBO4TiBtV
— ANI (@ANI) September 28, 2024
What Netanyahu Said?
Netanyahu pointed a finger at Iran for being a destabilising force in the region, noting its support for both Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Houthis in Yemen. He said that while the green map gives hope, the black one shows an arc of terror.
"The Blessing map shows Israel and its Arab partners forming a land bridge connecting Asia and Europe between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Across this bridge, we will lay rail lines, energy pipelines, and fibre optic cables, which will serve the betterment of 2 billion people. The second map, ' The Curse', shows an arc of terror Iran has created and imposed from the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean. Iran's malignant arc has shut down international waterways. It cuts off trade, destroys millions of nations from within, and inflicts misery on millions," said Netanyahu.
"On the one hand, there is a bright blessing, a future of hope and on the other hand, a dark future of despair is there. If you think this dark map is only a curse for Israel, then you should think again, because Iran's aggression, if it's not checked, will endanger every single country in the Middle East and many countries in the rest of the world because Iran seeks to impose its radicalism well beyond the Middle east. That's why it funds terror networks on five continents and builds ballistic missiles for nuclear warheads to threaten the entire world," he added.
Israel Strikes Hezbollah HQs In Beirut, Netanyahu Cuts Short US Trip
Shortly after the prime minister spoke, blasts rocked the Lebanese capital Beirut and the Israeli military said it had struck Hezbollah's headquarters. The exact target wasn't immediately clear, but it appeared that Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, who was reportedly present inside the building at the time of the attack.
The strike marked the most intense bombardment on Beirut in the past year, levelling six buildings and sending massive clouds of orange and black smoke over the city.
Later, a source close to Nasrallah said that he was "fine". Nasrallah was unreachable following Israel's strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs on Friday evening, reported Reuters. Meanwhile, Hezbollah had not made a statement on his fate.
Meanwhile, the Israeli strikes prompted Netanyahu to cut short his trip to New York by a day and make unusual travel on the Jewish Sabbath to get home. Netanyahu was supposed to stay in New York till Saturday night.