Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a speech to the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Monday, just days after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas spoke to the same assembly. In the speech, the Prime Minister stated his view that “Hamas is ISIS and ISIS is Hamas” and sought to link the two groups with Iran by saying that they all fall under the umbrella of militant Islam. Netanyahu also offered an impassioned defense of Israel’s tactics in Operation Protective Edge, the military campaign
While the speech was largely a restatement of what the Prime Minister has been saying this summer and before, it launched a conversation within the Jewish community and the Israeli community. Below you’ll find what some have said about the Netanyahu’s speech:
- Nahum Barnea of Yedioth Aharonoth praises Netanyahu’s rhetoric, but questions the connection the Prime Minister drew between Hamas and ISIS
- The Jewish Daily Forward’s J.J. Goldberg argues that Netanyahu missed an opportunity to unite Arab nations against Hamas
- The Anti-Defamation League praised the Prime Minister for speaking “truth to power”
- In the Times of Israel, the Associated Press evaluates the chances of Netanyahu’s call for Arab nations to make peace with Israel
- Marissa Newman from the Times of Israel notes how the speech polarized Israeli leaders, earning praise from right-wing Members of Knesset (MKs) and condemnation from left-wing MKs
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