Netanyahu at UN makes 'nuclear threat' to Iran, his office retracts it

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
22 Sep 2023 19:10
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Israeli occupation PM Benjamin Netanyahu says Palestinians must not be given a right to veto new normalization agreements with Arab states.

Israeli occupation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during the United Nations General Assembly on September 22, 2023, in New York City (AFP)

Israeli occupation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the United Nations on Friday that "Israel" is on the "cusp" of normalizing ties with Saudi Arabia, adding that Palestinians should not get to "veto" the move.

Addressing the General Assembly in New York, Netanyahu said US-brokered deals in 2020 to establish formal ties with three other Arab nations had already "heralded the dawn of a new age of peace."

"But I believe that we are at the cusp of an even more dramatic breakthrough -- a historic peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia," he added.

The Israeli occupation Prime Minister claimed that "such a peace will go a long way to ending the Arab-Israeli conflict. It will encourage other Arab states to normalize their relations with Israel."

He rejected the insistence of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, in his own UN speech on Thursday, that there could be no peace in the Middle East "without the Palestinian people enjoying their full, legitimate national rights."

"We must not give the Palestinians a veto over new peace treaties with Arab states," Netanyahu stressed.

US President Joe Biden's administration has been leading talks between "Israel" and Saudi Arabia, whose crown prince and de facto ruler, Mohammed bin Salman, recently said the two sides were getting closer to a normalization agreement.

"Every day we get closer," Bin Salman said in an interview for Fox News when asked to describe the discussions focused on normalizing diplomatic ties between Saudi Arabia and "Israel".

In 2020, the Israeli occupation normalized ties with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco,

Touching on the Iranian nuclear program, Netanyahu said that "above all -- above all -- Iran must face a credible nuclear threat."

"As long as I'm prime minister of Israel, I will do everything in my power to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons," he added, despite the Israeli occupation possessing an undeclared nuclear program.

As of January, "Israel" was believed to possess a stockpile of around 90 nuclear warheads, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

Later, the Israeli occupation Prime Minister's office claimed he had misread his speech and meant "credible military threat" instead of "credible nuclear threat."

"It was misread as credible nuclear threat. The prime minister stands by the original text of the speech," Netanyahu's office alleged.