What to know from the UN: Netanyahu says no cease-fire, but other countries keep asking

UNITED NATIONS — After a day filled with hopes of a cease-fire between Lebanon and Israel, the U.N. General Assembly meeting Friday was a harsh reality check.

Israeli Prime Minister BENJAMIN NETANYAHU shut down the idea in a morning speech that he said he didn't initially intend to make. He said he had not planned to come to the meeting this year, because his country is at war, but “after I heard the lies and slanders leveled at my country by many of the speakers at this podium, I decided to come here and set the record straight.”

The week has been full of speakers calling for a cease-fire in both Lebanon and Gaza, continuing into Friday. But Netanyahu wasn't swayed. He said his nation will “continue degrading Hezbollah” until achieving its goals along the Lebanon border, and would no longer tolerate daily rocket fire from the area. Shortly after Netanyahu wrapped up his speech, the Israeli military said it carried out a strike on Hezbollah’s headquarters in Beirut, which caused huge blasts in the city.

Here’s your daily guide to what’s going on at the United Nations this week:

From the podium

MORE ANTI-WAR: Calls for Israel to stop its war in Gaza and back off from a growing conflict in Lebanon continued. The two speakers who preceded Netanyahu each made a point of calling out Israel for its actions. “Mr. Netanyahu, stop this war now,” Slovenian Prime Minister ROBERT GOLOB said as he closed his remarks, pounding the podium. And Pakistani Prime Minister SHEHBAZ SHARIF, speaking just before the Israeli leader, declared of Gaza: “This is not just a conflict. This is systematic slaughter of innocent people of Palestine.” He thumped the rostrum to audible applause.

PROMISE FOR DEMOCRACY: Tanzania Prime Minister KASSIM MAJALIWA pledged that his country will uphold democracy and human rights ahead of next year’s presidential election. An opposition party official was killed in early September and two main opposition leaders were arrested among a dozen other opposition politicians while planning a youth rally and during protests against recent killing and arrest of opposition officials and members. President SAMIA SULUHU has condemned the killing of the opposition official Ali Kibao and promised justice. She’s serving out the term of the late President JOHN MAGUFULI, whose autocratic rule saw the ban on political rallies and detention of opposition leaders.

POETRY IN POLICY: As Pakistan tries to climb out of an economic crisis, Sharif turned Friday to poetry to convey his country’s resolve. Addressing world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly, he read aloud part of “Keep Going,” a 1921 piece by American poet Edgar A. Guest. It begins “When things go wrong, as they sometimes will” — when, for example, “the funds are low and the debts are high.” (Sharif substituted “credits” for “funds.”) Pakistan’s debts are indeed substantial. The International Monetary Fund this week approved a $7 billion loan for the nation, which plunged into one of the worst economic crises in its history after flooding in 2022. Sharif's government raised electricity prices, saying the hike was necessary to meet conditions of the new loan. The increase spurred protests and a merchants’ strike. Sharif told the assembly that his government has “taken some very difficult but necessary decisions that have rescued our economy from collapse.” Then he brought up the poem, saying it had bucked him up. He went through a stanza that ends: “When care is pressing you down a bit, / Rest if you must, but don’t you quit.” “This,” Sharif told the assembly, “is how we have learned to face our challenges and negotiate the most daunting challenges that we have faced.”

CUBA COMMENTS: For decades Cuba’s primary foreign-policy priority has been ending the U.S. trade embargo on the island. The country dedicates much of its General Assembly diplomacy to getting leaders to decry the embargo. According to Cuba’s U.N. mission, by 3:41 p.m. on Friday 25 countries had addressed the embargo at this year’s UNGA and 11 leaders had critiqued the U.S. inclusion of Cuba on the list of countries that sponsor terrorism, another sanction limiting international trade. Many of the countries that spoke have benefitted from another of Cuba’s trademark programs, sending its well-trained and highly educated doctors to developing countries across the world. Right after mentioning Ukraine and Gaza, Prime Minister ALLAH MAYE HALINA of Chad told the world that “we can’t ignore the embargo on Cuba, which hurts its people and hinders its development.”

On the sidelines

Norwegian Foreign Minister ESPEN BARTH EIDE, who was in the General Assembly hall listening to Netanyahu, called his address “a rather dark speech” that was “very defiant." Norway recognized the State of Palestine in May. Eide said there are many countries that would like to support Israel and normalize relations, including Saudi Arabia and others in region, “but they are not able to do that as long as the Palestinian question remains unanswered.”

FUNDRAISERS, ADVOCATES: As the meeting of world leaders unfolds at the United Nations, a crush of events unfold on the sidelines of the official high-level meetings, where nonprofits, advocates and fundraisers mingle and lobby world leaders, billionaires and funders — and plan their next steps with each other. A few examples: On Sunday, throngs of people streamed through a “climate science fair ” showcasing work on nature, food and the energy transition, held across Manhattan on an elevated park that runs along old rail lines. On Monday, the BILL & MELINDA GATES Foundation held a ceremony featuring Grammy-winning musician JON BATISTE performing in a gold sequin suit, and honoring Brazilian PRESIDENT LUIZ INÁCIO LULA DA SILVA for his work lifting millions out of poverty and significantly reducing malnutrition among children.

Climate moment

Papua New Guinea's prime minister, JAMES MARAPE, told the General Assembly that accessing money to fight climate change has been a challenge. “It is for this reason I speak in solidarity with all forest nations, especially those in the Congo Basin and Amazon Basin, for adequate compensation if we are to preserve our forests which, in fact, are the lungs of Earth,” Marape said.

Voices you might have missed

“It is regrettable that the Republic of China, Taiwan, continues to be excluded from the United Nations system.”

—FELETI PENITALA TEO, prime minister of Tuvalu

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Ugandan Prime Minister NABBANJA ROBINAH asked the assembly why the U.N. has failed to forge stronger international cooperation in response to collective global challenges. “Urgent action is required to address global inequalities with regard to poverty, hunger and disease which continue to affect disproportionally the poorest and most vulnerable,” she said.

Some

thing you might not know

If you're following along and confused by all the strange words, take a look at our brief vocabulary of U.N. terms.

One notable number

The largest number of police and troops sent by a country to U.N. peacekeeping missions this year, from Nepal: 6,119

Quotable

“Even the strongest swimmer drowns if left alone in a raging sea. ”

— Bahamas Prime Minister PHILIP DAVIS

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“We believe the ‘monsoon revolution’ that the world witnessed in Bangladesh in the span of few weeks may inspire many across communities and countries to stand for freedom and justice. I would call upon the international community to engage with ‘new Bangladesh’ anew that aims to realize freedom and democracy, beyond letters, for everyone.”

— MUHAMMAD YUNUS, chief adviser in Bangladesh and Nobel Prize laureate

Up next

The assembly is scheduled to hear from China, Mexico, Saudi Arabi, and Egypt, among others, on Saturday.