Yair Lapid to UN on Iran and Hamas: ‘Put down your weapons and there will be peace’
Prime Minister of Israel Yair Lapid addressed the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York on Thursday afternoon.
Israel’s PM Yair Lapid address United Nations General Assembly Photo: Ovi Ohayon (GPO)
He spoke about Israel’s desire for peace and his willingness to accept a two-state solution with the Palestinians, but only if their state is a peaceful one – not a terrorist state run by an organisation like Hamas. And among other things, Lapid reiterated Israel’s warning to the world not to allow Iran to become a nuclear state.
The Prime Minister began his remarks by speaking about a terrorist attack that occurred in Israel a few months ago when the country hosted the Negev Summit – a meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Israel, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and the American Secretary of State.
When the news of the terror attack came, Lapid recounted, he told the foreign ministers gathered, “We have to condemn this terror attack, right now, together. We have to show the world that terror will not triumph.” One of the Arab Foreign Ministers then said, “We are always against terror, that’s why we are here.”
Five minutes later, they put out a joint statement from the six of us condemning the attack and sanctifying life, cooperation and our belief that there is a different way.
”The people of the Middle East, the people of the entire world, should look around and ask themselves,” Lapid told the UNGA, “Who is doing better? Those who chose the path of peace or those who chose the way of war? Those who chose to invest in their people and country, or those who chose to invest in the destruction of others? Those who believe in education, tolerance and technology, or those who believe in bigotry and violence?”
The Prime Minister then described Israel as a country that “combines breathtaking innovation with a deep sense of history” and a “vibrant democracy. A country in which Jews, Muslims and Christians live together with full civic equality.” A country with “Arab [cabinet] Ministers… an Arab party as a member of our coalition… Arab judges in our Supreme Court. Arab doctors saving lives in our hospitals. Israeli Arabs are not our enemies, they are our partners in life.”
The Prime Minister then turned to what he called the two major threats that are endangering the world’s democracies and peaceful nations. The first, he said, referring to Iran in particular, is the nuclear threat. The fear that terrorist states and terrorist organisations will get their hands on nuclear weapons. The second threat, Lapid said, is the demise of truth.
”Our democracies are slowly being poisoned by lies and fake news,” the Prime Minister told the UNGA. “Reckless politicians, totalitarian states and radical organisations are undermining our perception of reality.”
”We should know there is no country in the world that faces this phenomenon more than Israel. There is no country that has come under a greater attack of lies, with such a vast amount of money and effort being invested in spreading disinformation about it.”
”I am not a guest in this building,” he continued. “Israel is a proud sovereign nation and an equal member of the United Nations. We will not be silent when those who wish to harm us, use this very stage to spread lies about us.”
”Antisemitism is the willingness to believe the worst about the Jews without questioning. Antisemitism is judging Israel by a different standard than any other country.”
”Conducting this orchestra of hate, is Iran,” charged Lapid. “For more than forty years now, in the town squares and on the streets of Iran, demonstrators have been photographed burning Israeli and American flags. Ask yourselves: Where are the flags coming from? How did they get so many of our flags?”
Lapid charged that the Iranian regime is one that systematically deals with hatred.
“They even hate their own people,” he said. “Young Iranians are suffering and struggling from the shackles of Iran’s regime, and the world is silent. They cry for help on social media. They pay for their desire to live a life of freedom — with their lives.”
The Prime Minister went on to accuse the Iranian regime of hating Jews, women, gay people and the West, adding that it also hates and kills Muslims who think differently, like Salman Rushdie and Mahsa Amini.
“Their hate is a way of life,” he declared. “It is a way to preserve their oppressive rule.”
”The country that wants to destroy us is also the country that founded the largest terrorist organisation in the world, Hezbollah,” he added. “Iran funds Hamas and Islamic Jihad and is behind mass terrorist attacks from Bulgaria to Buenos Aires. It is a murderous dictatorship that is making every effort to get a nuclear weapon. If the Iranian regime gets a nuclear weapon, they will use it.”
Prime Minister Lapid told the UNGA that the only way to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon is to put a credible military threat on the table and only then to negotiate a stronger nuclear deal with it.
“It needs to be made clear to Iran,” he said, “that if it advances its nuclear program, the world will not respond with words but with military force. Every time a threat like that was put on the table in the past, Iran stopped and retreated.”
As for a final peace agreement with the Palestinians, Yair Lapid said that it would be based on two states for two peoples, calling this the right thing for Israel’s security, for Israel’s economy and for the future of its children.
”Peace is not a compromise,” he said.”It is the most courageous decision we can make. Peace is not weakness. It embodies within it the entire might of human spirit. War is surrender to all that is bad within us. Peace is the victory of all that is good.”
But the Prime Minister laid down one condition for such a peace deal: That a future Palestinian state will be a peaceful one. That it will not become another terror base from which to threaten the well-being and the very existence of Israel. And that Israel will have the ability to protect the security of all of its citizens at all times.
”We want to live in peace but only if it gives us security, not if it threatens us even more,” he said. Yair Lapid then used what happened in Gaza as an example, explaining that when it pulled out of the area and dismantled all of its settlements there 17 years ago, Israel did everything the world asked of it,
“We even left them 3,000 greenhouses so they could start to build an economy for themselves,” he explained. “What did they do in response? In less than a year, Hamas, a murderous terror organisation, came to power. They destroyed the greenhouses and replaced them with terrorist training camps and rocket launch sites. Since we left Gaza, over 20,000 rockets and missiles have been fired at Israel. All of them at civilians. All of them at our children.”
Lapid promised that Israel would lift all restrictions and embargoes that it has imposed on Gaza the moment that Hamas is gone and there is a guaranteed end of the terror that continues to emanate from it.
”Put down your weapons and prove that Hamas and Islamic Jihad are not going to take over the Palestinian state you want to create,” Lapid said. “Put down your weapons, and there will be peace.”
Prime Minister Lapid concluded his remarks by declaring that Israel seeks peace with its neighbours, all of its neighbours.
“We are not going anywhere,” he said. “The Middle East is our home. We are here to stay. Forever. And we call upon every Muslim country — from Saudi Arabia to Indonesia — to recognise that and to come to talk to us. Our hand is outstretched for peace.”
