Date: September 21, 2017
Host: Jim Schneider
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The General Assembly of the United Nations is underway. General debate began September 19th and runs through the 25th. It’s an occasion for world leaders to gather in New York City to discuss and debate global issues.
On Tuesday, President Trump spoke along with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. This edition of Crosstalk presented excerpts of those speeches, the reactions that even included threats, along with an excerpt of a speech by Vice President Mike Pence who respectfully but firmly took issue with the U.N. Human Rights Council.
In President Trump’s 40 minute speech he had very stern words of warning for both Iran and North Korea. He described North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as ‘Rocket Man’ and communicated that if the U.S. ‘…is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea.’
As he wrapped up his speech he called for ‘a great reawakening of nations’. He also called for the nations ‘to defeat the enemies of humanity and unlock the potential of life itself.’
Jim noted sources that praised the president’s speech but perhaps the most encouraging response came from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who called it ‘…the most courageous address he has ever heard delivered to the United Nations.’
In his address, the Prime Minister went into brief detail about Israel’s standing among the nations. It’s improving because nations are realizing what Israel can do for them. He described Israel as ‘…the innovation nation; the place for cutting edge technology in agriculture, water, in cyber-security, in medicine, in autonomous vehicles…you name it, we’ve got it.’
Prime Minister Netanyahu also described how the epicenter of global anti-Semitism has been at the U.N. However, he’s confident that the revolution concerning Israel’s ties with other countries will ultimately be reflected in that hall of nations.
Like President Trump, the prime minister also spoke about Iran. He applauded President Trump who called the nuclear deal ‘an embarrassment’. He communicated how Iran has vowed to destroy Israel and how they are ‘conducting a campaign of conquest across the Middle East’ and how they are ‘developing ballistic missiles to threaten the entire world.’ He pointed to a ‘sunset clause’ in the nuclear agreement that allows the restrictions of the agreement to be removed; not by a change in the behavior of Iran as a nation, but simply by a change in the calendar.
