Netanyahu departs for UN General Assembly speech expected to be overshadowed by war diplomacy

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu departed for New York City around 3 a.m. on Thursday, with his departure immediately being overshadowed by intensified efforts to reach a truce in the conflict with the Hezbollah terrorist organization in Lebanon.

Netanyahu had originally planned to spend most of the week and the weekend in New York to attend the UN General Assembly (UNGA) and deliver a speech that was expected to focus on the Gaza War.

However, the escalation of the fighting against Hezbollah first overshadowed the event, and then threatened to derail it, with the prime minister weighing whether to cancel the trip altogether.

The chances that the entire trip would have been canceled were described as “50-50” by an official on Wednesday.

Opposition leaders criticized Netanyahu for leaving the country during the ongoing fighting, while coalition ministers from the ultra-Orthodox parties slammed reports suggesting he was considering returning during the Jewish Sabbath, right after his speech.

In the end, the trip was shortened, and the speech moved and then returned to its original timeslot. It is now set to be delivered on Friday, according to the Times of Israel, after which Netanyahu will spend the Sabbath in New York before departing for Israel after sundown.

Netanyahu has nominated Foreign Minister Israel Katz to act in his stead, however, this is a largely ceremonial move and is not expected to have real consequences.

The prime minister’s speech will be drastically different from the one he gave just one year ago when he described the region as being on the cusp of a broad, regional peace.

This year, his appearance will coincide nearly with the anniversary of the Oct. 7 massacre in southern Israel, while fighting in Gaza continues. In addition, the U.S. has begun an aggressive diplomatic offensive to stop the Israeli offensive in Lebanon in its tracks.

However, some things appear to be eerily similar. Relations with the Biden administration are once again at a low point, after being revived for a short time in the aftermath of Oct. 7.

In recent days, Politico and Axios reported that Biden administration officials were deeply frustrated and disappointed that Israel intensified its airstrikes in Lebanon despite their repeated warnings.

The wave of pager explosions, widely attributed to Israel, began just one day after White House envoy Amos Hochstein departed Israel, with Axios reporting he was “livid” after his warnings were openly ignored by Israeli officials.

Some of Biden’s advisors saw the pager attack as “a reckless march to war,” according to Axios.

As Netanyahu was flying across the ocean to New York on Thursday morning, the United States and several allied nations presented a 21-day truce plan aiming to end the fighting in Lebanon and prevent the conflict from escalating into a regional war.