The Israeli prime minister digs deeper into his bag of UN shtick. (Updated below with even better versions.)
Israeli Prime Minister is known for his antics and shtick at the United Nations. In the past he has flaunted cartoon drawings of bombs, waved blueprints of Auschwitz and now he used a new prop — deafening silence.
Deriding the entire world for ignoring threats to Israel by Iran, Netanyahu accused the representatives present in the UNGA chamber: “the response from every one of you here, utter silence. Deafening silence.”
And then he went silent. With the most terrifying evil stare, or perhaps an attempt at inducing shame . For 45 seconds. It was scary.
Here’s the video with an extra two minutes of terrifying silence added for dramatic effect
Netanyahu also pulled out another of his favorite tricks during this year’s speech: animal comparisons. In years past we’ve been graced with nuclear ducks, insatiable crocodiles, and now — we have “rapacious tigers.”
The rapacious tiger, played by Iran, won’t be turned into a kitten by the Iran deal and unchaining it from international sanctions, Netanyahu said.
Then there’s the side note that it took the Israeli prime minister over 30 minutes to mention the Palestinians or the peace process.
Responding to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ declaration the night before that there is no point in peace talks just for the sake of peace talks, Netanyahu demanded a new round of peace talks for the sake of peace talks.
Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man was the editor-in-chief of +972 Magazine until 2019. He continues to be a contributor of both reporting and analysis.
Follow him on Twitter: @MikeOmerMan
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