Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to address the UN General Assembly on Thursday with his country facing unprecedented international criticism and a little more than a month to go before the general election.
The Middle East is at the top of US President Donald Trump’s agenda at the annual gathering of world leaders in New York, as hostilities involving Iran and Houthi rebels in Yemen continue to drive up global oil prices, posing a significant threat to his administration in the November midterm elections. Despite the high stakes, Israeli media reports there are still no plans for Mr Trump and Mr Netanyahu to meet.
Mr Netanyahu has said he will use the US trip to “tell the truth” about Israel’s military actions against Palestinians and address allegations by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who called him a “war criminal and an architect of a horrific genocide of the Palestinian people” during a CNN interview this week.
The apparent lack of a scheduled meeting with Mr Trump is a blow to Mr Netanyahu, who used to boast about being the global leader with the most access to US presidents and the most experience in managing them. It has been a big part of his sales pitch to voters over many election campaigns.
Backlash of wars
Mr Trump returned to Washington after delivering his address to the General Assembly on Tuesday, but not before sitting down with a host of leaders from Gulf and Arab states to discuss the Iran war, as well as holding meetings with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.
Mr Trump did not stand up for Israel when Mr Burnham defended his country’s sanctions against illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank during their meeting, saying only that he did not know about the move.
It was a stark contrast to the unity and military co-ordination that the US and Israel trumpeted when they launched the Iran war at the end of February. According to a Pew Research Centre survey released in July, 62 per cent of US adults now view the Israeli government unfavourably, up from 43 per cent in 2022. A new CNN poll has found almost two thirds of Americans do not believe that their country is winning the Iran war.
Despite the lack of friends, Israel’s officials have not held back at UNGA so far. On Monday, they criticised British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband for a video he posted about the UK’s harder line on Israel over the situation in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. On Wednesday, Mr Saar attacked Austria's President Alexander Van der Bellen for his comments on the West Bank.
“Someone who represents a country whose past is bound up with the gravest crimes against humanity and the Jewish people dares to level a false accusation against the Jewish state, which is still fighting a jihadist axis that relentlessly tries to eliminate it,” Mr Saar wrote in a post on X.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry also criticised King Abdullah of Jordan for his comments at UNGA on the current situation for Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
Mr Netanyahu, before even arriving in New York, condemned French President Emmanuel Macron, who told the General Assembly that “Hamas was never very active in the West Bank”. The Israeli Prime Minister said the comments were a “grotesque absurdity”.
Criticism over Israel’s treatment of Palestinians indicates yet another tough issue from which Mr Netanyahu will have to face fallout. Mr Trump’s Board of Peace is reportedly planning to unveil on Wednesday a $2.45 billion plan for Gaza's recovery from a devastating two-year war between Hamas and Israel. Despite the board being created and backed by Mr Trump, Israeli leaders have increasingly railed against its proposals.
The UN General Assembly is a well-known stage for Mr Netanyahu, whose performances there are still widely quoted and referenced, particularly in relation to what he has said about Iran. With his country facing unprecedented isolation, he will need to draw on every ounce of that experience to get his message across, even to allies.
