29 April 2025
The representative of Israel, criticizing the Council for a narrow focus on the region that misses the “broader forces at play”, urged to widen the lens and see the threats that seek to reverse progress through growing violence and extremism.
Highlighting a powerful opportunity in Lebanon — where there are public calls for an end to Hizbullah’s tyranny — he called for “more than rhetorical” support to Lebanon’s Government in reclaiming sovereignty and dismantling the “army of terrorists”. He further urged the Council to act before Syria becomes a “permanently fractured State governed by guns” as Iranian-backed forces operate there with impunity”.
“The one thread connecting the instability” across the region — from Hizbullah in Lebanon to Hamas in Gaza, militias in Iraq and Syria, and the Houthis in Yemen — is Iran, he said, accusing Tehran of constructing a deliberate network of violence. On Iran’s nuclear ambition, he stressed: “Israel will not allow Iran to obtain nuclear weapons. We will not waver. We will not retreat.”
Regarding the war in Gaza, he stated that “Israel did not seek this war — it was forced upon us on 7 October [2023].” With 59 hostages remaining in Gaza, he underscored Israel’s duty “to dismantle Hamas’s military and governing infrastructure, to ensure Gaza can never again be used as a launchpad for atrocities” and to “first and foremost” bring the hostages home. The only path for peace is for Hamas to release the hostages and lay down the weapons, he said.
Therefore, the upcoming High-Level Conference risks “doing more harm than good” by creating false expectations while ignoring the underlying dysfunction of the Palestinian Authority. Instead of amplifying failed approaches, the international community should focus on confronting the radical acts led by Iran and its terror proxies. “We cannot speak of reconstruction without security […] one cannot claim to stand for peace while legitimizing the forces that slaughtered families in their homes,” he said.