Netanyahu at the UN
Netanyahu at the UNFlash 90

While Knesset Members from the leftist side of the political map rejected Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s speech at the United Nations General Assembly as having “missed the mark”, nationalist MKs welcomed Netanyahu’s comments on Monday.

MK Ze'ev Elkin (Likud), chairman of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said, “I congratulate the Prime Minister on his appropriate response to the lies and slanders of [Palestinian Authority Chairman] Mahmoud Abbas, and am calling the Prime Minister and the Cabinet to move from words to actions!”

“Mahmoud Abbas should know that continuing the war of slander and attacks against Israel in the international arena will involve a painful price that he and the PA leadership will have to pay. It is inconceivable that Abbas, who depends on us every step of the way for almost everything, will continue to enjoy our help while conducting a diplomatic war against us,” he added.

Deputy Minister Ofir Akunis (Likud) said, “While Abbas used the UN podium to distribute the well-known Palestinian lies, Prime Minister Netanyahu revealed the most basic truth about the reality in the Middle East and delivered the truth.”

Akunis continued, “It is good that the Prime Minister held up a mirror in front of the western world and emphasized the immediate dangers that Iran, Hamas and ISIS place before it. As always, the truth is stronger and more effective than false propaganda.”

Deputy Transportation Minister Tzipi Hotovely (Likud) also welcomed the Prime Minister's speech at the UN and said, “This is a formal declaration on the part of Israel that talks with the Palestinians have ended. Promoting relations with the moderate Arab world will be done directly because of shared interests rather than on the building of another terrorist state on Israeli territory."

MK Motti Yogev (Jewish Home) said that Netanyahu’s speech “reflected the reality in the Middle East. It was an answer to the Iranian speech of deception and the incitement speech of the Palestinian Authority”.

“Netanyahu also correctly reflected on the relation between the radical Islamic terrorist organizations and the Iranian nuclear threat to Israel and the entire world,” said Yogev, who added that “the thoughts about an enemy Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria endanger the security of the State of Israel and belong in the garbage can of the tumultuous history of the Middle East.”

Deputy Education Minister Avi Wortzman (Jewish Home) also welcomed Netanyahu’s speech and compared it with the speech by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who accused Israel of “genocide” and “war crimes”.

“Abu Mazen continues to lie on every possible platform. The left continues to strive for an agreement with Arafat's successor, but we discover again and again that these are nothing but pipe dreams,” he said.

“It's time to end the dialogue with the terrorist, Hamas’s partner, who goes around wearing a suit,” added Wortzman.