tear down iran's global terror network. [ applause ] >> ladies and gentlemen, israel is working closely with our arab peace partners to address our common security challenges from iran and also the security challenges from isis and others. we're also working with other states in the middle east as well as countries in africa, in asia, and beyond. many in our region know that both iran and isis are our common enemies, and when your enemies fight each other, don't strengthen either one, weaken both! [ applause ] >> common dangers are clearly

bringing israel and itself arab neighbors closer, and as we work together to thwart those dangers, i hope we'll build lasting partnerships, lasting partnerships for security, for prosperity, and for peace. but in israel, we never forget one thing, we never forget that the most important partner that israel has, has always been and will always be the united states of america. [ applause ] >> the alliance between israel and the united states is unshakable. [ applause ]

>> president obama and i agree on the need to keep arms out of the hands of iran terror proxies. we agree on the need to stop iran from destabilizing countries throughout the middle east. israel deeply appreciates president obama's willingness to bolster our security, help israel maintain its qualitative military edge, and help israel confront the enormous challenges we face. israel is grateful that this sentiment is widely shared by the american people and its representative in congress, by both those who supported the deal, and by those who oppose it. [ applause ] >> president obama and i have both said that our differences over the nuclear deal are a

disagreement within the family, but we have no disagreement about the need to work together to secure our common future. and what a great future it could be. israel -- israel is uniquely poised to seize the promise of the 21st century. israel is a world leader in science and technology, in cyber, software, water, agriculture, medicine, biotechnology, and so many other fields that are being revolutionized by israeli ingenuity and innovation. israel is the innovation nation. [ applause ] >> israeli no how is everywhere. it's in your computer's micro processors, and flash drives.

it's in your smartphones when you send instant messages, and navigate your cars. it's on your farms when you drip irrigate your crops, and keep your grains and produce fresh. it's in your universities when you discover noble prize winning discoveries. it's in your medicine cabinets when you use drugs to treat parkinsonson's disease. it's even on your plate when you eat the delicious cherry tomato, that too was perfected in israel, in case you didn't know. we are so proud in israel. of the long strides our country has made in such a short time. we're so proud that our small country is making such a huge contribution to the entire world.

yet the dreams of our people enshined for eternity by the great profits of the bible those dreams will be fully realized only when there is peace. as the middle east desends into chaos, israel's peace agreements with egypt and jordan are two cornerstones of stability. israel remains committed to achieving peace with the palestinians as well. [ applause ] >> israelis know the price of war. i know the price of war. i was nearly killed in battle. i lost many friends.

i lost my beloved brother. those who know the price of war, can best appreciate what the blessings of peace would mean for ourselves, our children, our grandchildren. i am prepared to immediately, immediately resume direct peace negotiations with the palestinian authority, without any preconditions whatsoever. [ applause ] >> unfortunately president abbas said yesterday that he is not prepared to do this. well, i hope he changes his mind. because i remain committed to a vision of two states for two

peoples, in which a demilitarized palestinian state recognizes the jewish state. the peace process began over two decades ago. yet despite the best efforts of six israeli prime ministers, the palestinians have consistently refused to end the conflict and make a final peace with israel. and unfortunately, you heard that rejectionism yet again, only yesterday from president abbas. how can israel make peace with a palestinian partner who refuses to even sit at the negotiating table? israel expects the palestinian authority to abide by its

commitments. the palestinians should not walk away from peace. president abbas, i know it's not easy, i know it's hard, but we owe it to our peoples to try, to continue to try. because together if we actually negotiate, and stop negotiating about the negotiations, if we actually sit down and try to resolve this conflict between us, recognize each other, not use a palestinian state as a stepping-stone for another islamistic dictatorship in the middle east, but something that will live at peace next to the jewish state. if we actually do that, we can do remarkable things for our

peoples. [ applause ] >> the u.n. can help advance peace by supporting direct, unconditional negotiations between the parties. the u.n. won't help peace, certainly won't help advance peace, by trying to impose solutions or by encouraging palestinian rejectionism, and the u.n. -- the u.n., distinguished delegates, should do one more thing, the u.n. should finally rid itself of the obsessive bashing of israel. here is just one absurd example of this obsession.

in four years of horrific violence in syria, more than a quarter of a million people have lost their lives. that's more than 10 times, more than 10 times, the number of israelis and palestinians combined who have lost their lives in a century of conflict between us. yet last year, this assembly adopted 20 resolutions against israel, and just one resolution about the savage slaughter in syria. talk about injustice. talk about disproportionality. twenty. count them. one against syria. well frankly, i'm not surprised.

to borrow a line from yogi berra, the late, great, baseball player and part-time philosopher, when it comes to the annual bashing of israel at the u.n., it's déjà vu all over again. [ applause ] >> enough. 31 years after i stood here for the first time, i'm still asking. when will the u.n. finally check its anti-israel fanaticism at the door. when it will start slandering israel as a threat to peace, and start helping israel advance peace. and the same question would should be posed to pal tinnian

leaders, when will you start working with israel to advance peace and stabilization, and stop inciting hatred and violence? president abbas, here is a good place to begin, stop spreading lies about israel's alleged intentions on the temple mounts. israel is fully committed to maintaining the status quo there. what president abbas should be speaking out against are the actions of militant islamists, who are smuggling explosives into the al aqsa mosque, and trying to prevent jews and christians from visiting the holy site. that's the real threat to these sacred sites. [ applause ] >> a thousand years before the birth of christianity, more than

1500 years before the birth of islam, king david made jerusalem our capitol, and king salomon built the temple on that mount. yet, israel, israel will always respect the sacred shrines of all in a region plagued by violence and by unimaginable intolerance, in which islamic fanatics are destroying the ancient treasures of civilization, israeli standings out as a towering beacon of tolerance and non-violence. it is israel that ensures the safety of these sites! [ applause ] >> because unlike the powers who have ruled jerusalem in the past, israel respects the holy sites and freedom of worship of

all, jews, muslims, christians, everyone. [ applause ] >> and that -- that ladies and gentlemen will never change, because israel will always stay true to its values. these values are on display each and every day, when israel's feisty parliament vigorously debates every issue under the sun. when israel's chief justice sits in her chair in our fiercely independent supreme court, when our christian community continues to grow and thrive from year to year as christian communities are decimated elsewhere in the middle east, when a brilliant young israeli muslim student gives her valedictorian address at one of our finest universities, and when israeli doctors and nurses, doctors and nurses from the

israeli military treat thousands of wounded from the killing fields of syria, and thousands more in the wake of natural disasters from haiti to nepal, this -- this is the true face of israel. these are the values of israel. and in the middle east, these values are under savage assault by militant islamists who are forcing millions of terrified people to flee to distant shores. 10 miles from isis, a few hundred yards from iran's murderous proxies, israel standings in the breach proudly defending freedom and progress. israel is civilization's front line in the battle against barbarism. so here is a novel idea for the united nations, instead of

continuing the shameful routine of bashing israel, stand with israel, stand with israel as we check the fanaticism at our door. stand with israel as we prevent that fanaticism from reaching your door. ladies and gentlemen, stand with israel because israel is not just defending itself, more than ever, israel is defending you. [ applause ] >> so we have just heard from israeli prime minister benjamin netenyahu who is talking about his primary concern for the state of israel, that being the iran nuclear deal, and the threat that he says it poses to

israel and always that iran is feeding terrorism throughout the region. let's go to john terrett. john, we thought he would respond to abbas, but he percent most of his address talking about iran. >> reporter: it's interesting, because we had been lead to believe that he was not going to spending as much time on iran as in the previous years, and the reason is we were told he wished to move on from that. but in the end, the iran issue really dominated his speech, and i would like to just say something else that i think is very important for our viewers to understand. at times, prime minister netenyahu was very hostile towards the united nations, and hostile to the general assembly in particular, and israel is in

many ways not welcome in the general assembly, many of the 193 members of the assembly support the palestinians, the palestinians can get almost anything they want from the general assembly. but israel is often not welcome, and that's why you saw that rather aggressive tone with prime minister netenyahu, fighting back, and fighting israel's corner in the chamber of the general assembly. he opened his address today by referring back to the first time that he spoke there, and he said that at that time, it was still a hostile time against the israelis in that chamber, and he asked to -- people there to check that fanaticism at the door, and he went on to say in the course of this speech, that regarding the iran deal, he is calling on the people in the chamber who he has listened to, praising over the last three

days, to check their enthusiasm at the door. and he went on to say that iran is in the process of building up organizations and governments in the world, like president assad, the houthis in yemen, hezbollah, of course, operating in yemen. and terrorist cells all over the world, he said iran is on the prowl. he said if you think you can tame a tiger and turn it into a kitten, it's time to think again. and prime minister netenyahu said, look, the world community has stood by and watched as iran has entered the nuclear age, and world leaders and cities said absolutely nothing. they stayed silent, and then he pauses for a very, very long time. i would say at least 30 seconds and he stared at the delegates in the chamber, and he said now

maybe you understand why i'm not celebrating this deal. let's listen to what he said in the build up of that moment, randall. you can see there that he is staring out in the audience and they are wondering what is going on. and it went on for an incredibly long time, and it was a stunning moment that people in this chamber will not, i suspect, forget. >> in fact, john, what the prime minister was referring to was also the fact that threats had been made against the state of israel by iranian leaders, saying that in 20 years or so, iran -- that israel would no longer be around if it was left up to iran, and then he compared that threat to the loss of 6 million jews during world war ii during the era of hitler and naziism, and said that while the world stood silent when that event occurred back in the 30s

and 40s, now the world in the person of the u.n. body remains silent as the threat is being made against israel's -- it's survival. john terrett we're going to have to pause for a moment and take a break, but we'll have more from you and others reacting to the speech by israeli prime minister bibi netenyahu. stay with us on al jazeera america.

>> israeli prime minister benjamin netenyahu just wrapped up a searing address to the united nations again general assembly. >> unfortunately, president abbas said yesterday, that he is not prepared to do this.

well, i hope he changes his mind. because i remain committed to a vision of two states for two peoples, in which a demilitarized palestinian state recognizes the jewish state. >> we go now to human rights lawyer who is joining us from washington, d.c. she is assist important professor at george mason university. let me read another quote from netenyahu. he said, quote, i am prepared to immediately resume direct negotiations with palestinians without any preconditions. and he went on to say yesterday abbas said he wasn't willing to negotiate. and what are you making of netenyahu's response to abbas's decision to declare the oslo accord null and void? >> i think we should call it out for what it is.

it's a repeat of two decades and some of the same talking points of not having partner for peace, and willing to sit down without preconditions, and simultaneously torpedoing the jurisdiction across the west bank and continuous removal of palestinians. so that is basically saying we're willing to continue talking about eating doughnuts, and drinking tea with each other, so long as we do not have to stop our settlements. approximately 62% of the west bank is what israeli parliament tearians are proposing to annex into israel. and the reason that israel can do this and netenyahu can get up and pretend to be the victim is because of absolute impunity

provided by the united states. >> so tell me this, when abbas says the oslo accord is null and void, that he wants israel to take responsibility for security and other services. is israel likely to do that? what can abbas do to make israel recognize abbas's decision. >> the palestinian authority is not going to dissolve. right now the palestinian authority is engaging in security coordination with israeli police security forces. the international community is footing the bill for the policing of palestinians without any obligations of israel as an occupying power which remains in effective control of the territory, so what abbas should do is actually annul oslo according which have lead to the status quo.

what he won't do is exablgsly that. the speech was intended as a symbolic gesture that if the u.s. does not pressure israel to return to the negotiating table based on u.n. security council resolutions 242, and other international law that that is the effective status quo, we're going to have to see it to believe it. >> let me ask you this. we heard it earlier today, one of our analysts suggested that giving all of the authority over to israel might force netenyahu to come to the table because then he'll have all of the responsibility. is there not an argument to made that since netenyahu won't abide by the agreement that he should be responsible for taking care of things on the west bank, which he is not now? >> i'm saying exactly that. i wish that abbas would actually

make a meaningful gesture to annul oslo and return full control of the west bank to the occupying power so they can abide by their duties and obligations and not have this wiggle room to pretent their involved in a peace process, and over 6% of the occupied territories tantamount to having a government and being responsible for all of the security therein. we need to remove the fers call nature of this conflict and return it at least for those who don't have to endure the structural violence of colonialism, return it to what it is, which is a condition that continues to expand without accountability and results in daily violence against palestinian bodies and people. >> but wouldn't that require the dissolution of the palestinian authority if they were to legally happen? >> and that is what should have happened a long time ago. the palestinian authority at this point is a approximatety authority for israel's

occupation at the expense of the international community. this should be israel east responsibility. they should pay for it and bare responsibility for it, and when it becomes too much responsibility maybe it will end its occupation rather than p perpetuate it. we are insent vising israeli occupation and violence because we are paying for it. we are making it easier by giving palestinians the authority to police themselves, and we're giving them the pr dream that they always wanted to say that they are willing to negotiate and have to do nothing. >> thank you very much, the palestinian human rights attorney joining us. we'll be back with more on al

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al jazeera america presents only on al jazeera america we'll be back with more on al as russian air strikes continue in syria, moscow denies civilians are being caught in the cross fire. >> coming up in this program, dozens of civilians are held as the afghan army battles to take back control of kundus from the taliban. a major win for government forces in yemen and the mali government saying the government