Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the General Assembly of the United Nations only minutes after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called for Recognition of a Palestinian state within the June 4, 1967 borders. Abbas' speech received thunderous applause.

Netanyahu took the floor, and quickly made one thing clear. "I didn't come here to win applause. I came here to speak the truth."

Netanyahu began by saying that, "Israel has extended its hand in peace from the moment it was established 63 years ago." The Prime Minister went on to offer a hand in peace to Turkey, "with respect," to Egypt and Jordan with "hope of renewed friendship", and even mentioned the people of North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, Libya, Tunisia and Iran. Netanyahu then paused before saying, "But most especially I extend my hand to the Palestinian people, with whom we seek a just and lasting peace."

Netanyahu spoke a moment about Israel and the great contributions made by the people of Israel to the international community in science, medicine and art. He then said,
"I know this is not exactly the image of Israel that is often portrayed in this hall."

He added, "It is here, year after year that Israel is unjustly singled out for condemnation, more often than all the nations of the world combined! Twenty-one out of the twenty-seven General Assembly resolutions condemn Israel, the one true democracy in the Middle East. This is unfortunate... it is the theater of the absurd. It doesn't only cast Israel as the villain, but it often casts villains in leading roles.... Hizbullah controlled Lebanon now presides over the UN Security Council. This means, in effect, that a terror organization presides over a body entrusted to guard world security. You couldn't make these things up!"

He spoke candidly saying, "So here in the UN's automatic majority, you can decide anything... that the sun rises in the west. It can be decided that Jerusalem, Israel's holiest place is occupied Palestinian territory. But even here the truth can break through sometimes."

Netanyahu then told a story of words imparted to him by the Lubavitch Rebbe in 1984 upon Netanyahu's appointment as delegate to the United Nations. "The Rebbe said to me... you will be serving in a house of many lies. but remember that even in the darkest place, the light of one single candle can be seen far and wide. So I hope this light will be seen even for two minutes in a hall that for too long as been a dark one for my people."

Netanyahu told the Assembly: "The truth is Israel wants peace. The truth is I want peace... the truth is, we cannot achieve peace through resolutions. The truth is Israel wants peace with a Palestinian state, but the truth is the Palestinians want a state without peace."

The Prime Minister spoke in length regarding the threat of militant Islam and the tragic consequences it has imposed on Western Society. He spoke of 9/11, reminding the Assembly what the President of Iran had said only hours before from the same podium, accusing the Americans for conspiring 9/11. Netanyahu looked at the audience and said: "Some of you walked out. All of you should have."

He reminded those present of the attacks carried out in the name of militant Islam, the bombings in Madrid, Mumbai, London, and the constant terror imposed on the Israeli people. He spoke on the dangers of these powers should they acquire nuclear abilities, as Iran is attempting to do." If Iran is not stopped, the Arab spring will soon be an Iranian winter."

"To many people, the solution sounds simple... leave the territories and there will be peace. There's only one problem... we've tried it and it hasn't worked."

"In 2000 we made the Palestinians a peace offer meeting virtually all of their demands. They rejected it. They then launched an initiative of terror claiming 1000 Israeli lives... We did more than make offers. We left territories. We left Lebanon in 2000, we left every square inch of Gaza in 2005... and this did not calm the militant Islamic storm that threatens us. It only brought it closer and made it stronger. Hizbullah and Hamas sent thousands of rockets from the territories we vacated... see, when we left Gaza, the moderates didn't defeat the radicals, they were devoured by the radicals.

... we left Gaza hoping for peace. We didn't freeze the settlements in Gaza, we uprooted them. We did exactly what the theory says, we got out.

I don't think people remember how far we went to achieve this. We pulled thousands of people from their homes. We pulled children out of their kindergartens, we bulldozed synagogues, we even moved loved ones from their graves... and then having done all that we gave the keys of Gaza to president Abbas.

The theory says it should all work out... and President Abbas and the Palestinian Authority now could build a peaceful state in Gaza. You can remember that the entire world applauded our withdrawal as an act of great statesmanship, a bold act of peace.

But we did not get peace, we got war. We got Iran. Which through its proxy Hamas, promptly kicked put the Palestinian Authority which collapsed in ONE day, in a day.
President Abbas just said Palestinians are armed only with their hopes and dreams, yes, hopes and dreams and ten thousand missiles and grad rockets supplied by Iran. Not to mention the river of lethal weapons flowing into Gaza from Libya and Syria through the Sinai.

Thousands of missiles have already rained down on our cities. So you might understand that given all this, Israelis ask, what's to prevent this happening again in the West Bank? See, most of our cities in the south of Israel are within 2 kilometers from Gaza, but in the center of the country, our cities are a few hundred meters away from the edge of the West Bank.

So i want to ask you, would any of you bring danger so close to your cities, your families? Would you act so recklessly with the lives of your citizens? Israel is prepared to have a Palestinian state in the West Bank, but we're not prepped to have another Gaza there. Which is why we need to have real security..."

Hitting back at the critics of Israel, Netanyahu said: "There are those who want to cast the insatiable crocodile of militant Islam as bold statesmen. They cast as enemies of peace those of us who insist we erect a barrier to keep the crocodile out.. or at the very least jam an iron bar between its jaws."

He added, "But better a bad press than a good eulogy."

After contrasting the size of Israel with the size of Manhattan, Netanyahu asked the Assembly members what they would do in his situation.

In response to the critics who claim that Israel is "judaizing Jerusalem," he stated, "That's like saying that in the US you are Americanizing Washington of Anglo-izing London. You know why we're called Jews? Because we come from Judea!"

After explaining why Israel cannot make peace without the Palestinians recognition of a Jewish state, he called upon President Abbas to meet with him to discuss peace today in New York.

"In two and a half years we met in Jerusalem only once though my door has been open to you. If you want, I will go to Ramallah, or better yet, we both flew thousands of miles to come here, to New York. We're in the same city. We're in the same building!

Let's meet here today, in the United Nations. What's to stop us? Let's listen to one another... let's talk "dogri." [straight up.]

I'll tell you my needs, you'll tell me yours, and with God's help, we'll find the common ground of peace... I cannot make peace alone. I cannot make peace without you.

President Abbas, I extend my hand, the hand of Israel in peace. I hope you will grasp that hand... we are both sons of Abraham, we share the same patriarch, we share the same land, and our histories are intertwined."