The deep chasm between Israel and the world was laid bare at the UN, where two fundamentally different realities of the Gaza conflict were presented. The world, through a mass diplomatic walkout, signaled it sees a catastrophic humanitarian crisis. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in his speech, insisted he sees a job that “must be finished.”
For the 157 nations recognizing Palestine and the dozens of delegations that walked out, the nearly two-year war is a source of immense suffering and a driver of regional instability. It is a crisis demanding a political solution, humanitarian aid, and adherence to international law.
For Netanyahu, the narrative is one of national security and righteous self-defense. The war is a necessary, if difficult, task to eradicate a terrorist threat. The humanitarian consequences are regrettable but secondary to the primary mission of dismantling Hamas to prevent another October 7.
These two realities cannot be reconciled. The UN event showed that dialogue between them has all but collapsed. One side is pleading for the violence to stop, while the other is promising to see it through to its bloody conclusion.