Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his leadership strained by conflicts on two fronts, took to the UN General Assembly podium on Friday and said he had decided to travel to the New York session to refute what he characterized as “lies and slanders” he had heard from other leaders this week from the same podium.
Netanyahu, armed with visual aids, forcefully defended his nation’s response to the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks led by Hamas on Israel that triggered a military operation that has devastated the Gaza Strip.
Netanyahu said Israeli forces have destroyed “90 per cent” of Hamas’s rockets and killed or captured half of its forces.
“We are winning!” he said of Israel’s response.
He added that any role in a post-war Gaza for Hamas, considered a terrorist group by several Western nations, must be rejected.
Netanyahu said the operation in Gaza is being guided by the “sacred mission” of returning all hostages taken to Gaza nearly …