The UN speeches were disappointing, once again - opinion

• Author: GERSHON BASKIN
• Published date: 06 October 2021
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

It is not that the UN speeches of these leaders are so important, they are not. The UN General Assembly meeting of every year where leaders from all around the world gather to make their speeches is an occasion for most of them to exhibit their own self-importance to their own audience back at home. Rarely is a speech made in this forum earth-shattering or even particularly noteworthy.

Sometimes the speeches are entertaining and are echoed around the world in political cartoons, or memes, or some form of copy-paste on social media. Many remember the speeches of Muammar Gaddafi, which although seemed to be unending, were nevertheless amusing.

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And of course, many remember the speeches of Benjamin Netanyahu with his props and accessories, which always brought about waves of entertaining responses all around the world on social media. I did not expect Bennett nor Abbas to be entertaining this year. They did not disappoint in that regard.

But I always hope that they might say something that will pierce through the closed minds of the people back at home, and here I would emphasize that the potential power of change through words needs to be leveraged toward the people on the other side of the conflict and not their own audience back home.

Rarely do leaders in a conflict zone take the opportunity to try to speak to the people with whom they are in a conflict. That is a great pity. I recall vividly when on November 9, 1977, Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, speaking to the Egyptian Parliament, said he was willing to go to Israel, to Jerusalem, even to the Knesset to speak about peace.

He was speaking in his own parliament to the people of Israel and to the Israeli leaders, not to his own people at home. On November 15, 1977, in a letter to Sadat, prime minister Menachem Begin seized the moment and extended an invitation to Sadat to come to Israel.

Begin wrote: "Your Excellency's readiness to undertake such a visit, as expressed to the People's Council of Egypt, has been noted here with deep and positive interest, as has your statement that you wish to address the members of our parliament, the Knesset, and to meet with me."

Sadat quickly accepted the invitation, and the rest is history.

Couldn't history be made if Bennett, or any Israeli leader, speaking in the UN would reach out to the Palestinian people and their leaders and...