00:00Dan, tell us a bit more about this address that we got from Netanyahu.
00:05Well, this was his 15th address to the General Assembly as Prime Minister,
00:09and it may have been his last. If he loses the Israeli election next month,
00:13Netanyahu does not want to lose. He wants to win. He's fighting for political survival.
00:18So it would appear that much of the content, much of his remarks were actually directed
00:22at voters back home. This was televised live and watched by many Israelis, even though it was 9 p.m.
00:29here. He also invaded familiarly against Israel's foes, its adversaries. He named and shamed
00:36Western critics of Israel, including most notably the New York mayor, Zoran Mamdani,
00:42who's been very vocal in his personal opposition to Netanyahu, contributed to quite a heated atmosphere
00:48in New York and demonstrations in which there are dozens of arrests. So this was a short trip by
00:54Netanyahu, a very short trip, unusually so, to New York. Apparently there are security concerns.
00:59It would appear that his aims were achieved, given that his Likud party, within a couple hours of him
01:05delivering the speech, was already clipping highlights of it and issuing it as part of the
01:11election campaign messaging.
01:14What's the climate around next month's elections, Dan?
01:20Well, rather envenomed, it's not just the election next month. It's the third anniversary of the October 7th
01:26attack on Israel by Hamas, that shock attack which set off a multi-front war that has yet to be
01:33concluded. Netanyahu insists it will be won, but it's exacted a major toll on Israelis and obviously
01:39on surrounding areas, the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Iran, etc. So the opposition is really playing up
01:46that strategic failure on the part of Israel's longest serving prime minister, who really
01:52presents himself as an expert on national security, something of a prophet of the ills and the dangers
01:59facing the Jewish people. He is arguing that he's still the man to run the country, that his experience
02:05and his handling of the ensuing war after October 7th proved that. And I think he hopes that his speech
02:11at the UN, his telegenic English, his rhetorical flourishes will contribute to that. It's such a close
02:18election that even a speech at the UN across the world may give him the edge he needs to survive
02:24this election.
