Netanyahu's UN Speech: Iran, No Surprises

Alone Without a Friend

Though the two leaders whose relationship has seen ups and downs won't meet, there's a tight connection between Trump and Netanyahu in the UN context: both are arriving in the midst of election campaigns, making this a golden opportunity to blend global diplomacy with domestic politics.

The problem is that the American president and Israeli prime minister have very little new to offer in global diplomacy, so they're directing their speeches toward the "common denominator" that can always be counted on to generate noise and headlines at the UN: Iran.

It was predictable and even embarrassing to hear reporters who flew to New York reporting, based on briefings from Netanyahu's office, that the prime minister's speech at the UN annual assembly will focus on the Iranian threat and present evidence of the Tehran regime's efforts to rebuild its nuclear program for developing weapons of mass destruction.

Netanyahu has been delivering essentially the same speech at the UN for years, just in different words. For several years now, since the Abraham Accords, he's had no significant international achievement to boast about except the fight against Iran. Even that achievement he must share with President Trump, who most of the time has had to restrain Israeli aspirations, led by Netanyahu, to strike everything possible on Iranian soil, as well as Israel's attempts to convince the US to intensify international pressure and set a deadline for the final destruction of Tehran's current regime.

Chess Without a Winning Move

Prime Minister Netanyahu arrives at the UN with poor opening positions on the international chessboard:

The Syrian rook is crying out about Israeli strikes on the presidential palace, refuses to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, and claims Israel is blocking the signing of a security understanding agreement with Syria.

The French knight is playing defense attorney for Hamas in the form of President Macron, who claims the terrorist organization hasn't operated in Judea and Samaria, apparently forgetting that Hamas terrorists murdered a French citizen there.

The pawn that reluctantly surrendered before the king, Iranian President Pezeshkian, will quietly deliver, as always, the robbed Cossack's speech, as they try to diplomatically snatch from him the only means of defense and power he has left besides oil, which he must share with other countries chasing black gold no less than they chase the Iranians.

The least regal king of all, Trump, tried to keep his hidden moves for after the midterm elections and hope that the simple Iranian pawn would do the work for him.

And there's Netanyahu, who on the virtual chessboard of the current UN assembly represents the queen, but in this case without a crown and positioned far from where he stood when he stood beside King Trump at the game's opening.

Israel's prime minister arrives at the UN podium with hostile relations and high-level antagonism from outside and from the White House, and it's uncertain whether the Iranian card he's played in previous speeches will suffice this time.

To generate any interest whatsoever, Netanyahu must pull out a significant rabbit with a hint of "an unprecedented new cooperation agreement" in the Middle East. Otherwise, the UN assembly in New York will be for him nothing more than a routine campaign event at a community center in Or Yehuda.