Bennett was Mr. Congeniality at the UN - analysis

• Author: LAHAV HARKOV
• Published date: 29 September 2021

But that begs the question: Is smoothness what an Israeli prime minister should be seeking?

The fact that Bennett charmed Jewish organization leaders hours later – speaking extemporaneously about serious issues, but also telling relatable anecdotes about himself and his California-born parents – is great. That is where he wants things to be completely frictionless, where he wants the audience to feel like they're all working towards the same goal, where he expects chuckles at his jokes about the differences between Israelis and US Jewish communities - in which he lived for about seven years of his life.

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The UN, however, is an entirely different story. The friction is built-in. The confrontation was already set up, between the Durban IV conference, praising and validating an antisemitic and anti-Israel event, and the combative speech by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas last week.

Bennett didn't totally avoid conflict in his speech. A decent chunk of it was dedicated to the Iranian threat, and he said that Israel is taking and will continue to take initiative against the mullahs' regime - but he didn't say how. And he didn't speak out against a return to the Iran Deal, which the Biden administration has not yet abandoned, though its chances seem slim. Bennett also called out the farcical Durban Conference that claims to be about racism. He ignored Abbas, which was intentional, to send a message.

But the speech was overwhelmingly one of trying to get the world to like Israel. The message was that the Jewish state is a beacon of light in a region marked with conflict; a democracy where people want to raise their families in peace, but occasionally have no choice but to fight to defend themselves. "They shouldn't be judged for it," he lamented.

Bennett dispensed advice about COVID-19 and overcoming political polarization. That was ironic, since Israel hasn't done such a world-leading job at overcoming either – regardless of what a diplomatic source told reporters on Bennett's delegation to NY: that the prime minister truly feels otherwise.

It was unsurprising to see press releases and...