The argument unheard

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NICK EICHER, HOST: Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: And I’m Lindsay Mast.

World leaders gathered at the United Nations last week for the annual General Assembly. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used his turn to defend Israel’s conduct in war—and challenge its critics. Here’s WORLD commentator Cal Thomas.

CAL THOMAS: There’s an old saying: “There are none so blind as those who will not see.”

At the United Nations last week, dozens of delegates demonstrated the point.

UN OFFICIAL: Order in the hall, please. Order in the hall, please. I request an order in the hall, please…

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: Mr. President. Before I begin, just a quick announcement. If there are any other moral cowards who haven’t yet left this hall, please do so now. Thank you very much.

They walked out rather than listen to Israel’s prime minister.

Netanyahu proceeded anyway.

He began with Iran—and his decision, with American help, to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities.

NETANYAHU: Devastating Iran’s nuclear facilities was hard. It was very hard to do. But for me, it was one of the easiest decisions I’ve ever had to make as prime minister. Because if we hadn’t done it, we’d all be dead.

President Masoud Pezeshkian insists Iran wasn’t building a nuclear weapon and never intended to.

Netanyahu doesn’t believe him. And he had something to say about the countries whose representatives had just walked out.

NETANYAHU: In defending itself, Israel is also defending many of the countries whose delegates just left this hall. In fact, I want you to know that many of their leaders even thank us privately for taking out Iran’s nukes.

Netanyahu called that “mind-blowing hypocrisy.”

Hypocrisy appears to be the main diet for many at the UN.

Then Netanyahu went back to 1967.

Israel had not yet taken control of the West Bank, Gaza, or the Golan Heights. And yet three Arab armies were preparing for war.

NETANYAHU: Just the very survival of this one and only Jewish state, because this is what this conflict is about. It’s not about territories. It’s about the existence of a Jewish state at any boundaries.

That history matters.

Israel’s enemies have changed names over the decades. The PLO. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Hezbollah. Hamas.

Different organizations, different times. But Israel has repeatedly faced enemies committed to destroying the Jewish state.

And now Netanyahu says there’s another front.

NETANYAHU: For three years, our brave soldiers have been valiantly fighting a seven-front war. But there is an eighth front to this war. It’s the war for truth.

The war for truth.

That’s not fought with missiles. It’s fought with facts.

Netanyahu spent much of his speech answering charges against Israel and challenging the people making them. There was plenty there for his critics to dispute.

But the delegates who walked out didn’t dispute him.

They didn’t even listen.

Which brings me back to where I started: “There are none so blind as those who will not see.”

You can’t make people understand the truth if they choose to ignore it.

For WORLD, I’m Cal Thomas.

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