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Israel’s Likud: Bennett UN Speech ‘Delivered to Empty Hall’

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett delivers his speech at the United Nations General Assembly on Monday, September 28, 2021. Reuters
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett delivers his speech at the United Nations General Assembly on Monday, September 28, 2021. Reuters
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Israel’s Likud: Bennett UN Speech ‘Delivered to Empty Hall’

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett delivers his speech at the United Nations General Assembly on Monday, September 28, 2021. Reuters
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett delivers his speech at the United Nations General Assembly on Monday, September 28, 2021. Reuters

Former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud slammed on Monday Premier Naftali Bennett’s speech to the United Nations General Assembly.

“Bennett gave an empty speech in front of an empty hall and wasted empty words instead of making use of a major international platform,” Likud said in a lengthy statement that expressed strong disapproval with all parts of Bennett’s address.

The opposition party mocked Bennett’s decision to speak on the last day of the Assembly’s 76th session.

It described the premier’s words on Iran “empty,” noting that he has already “promised not to wage a global struggle against the nuclear agreement and subjugated our operational activity to prior coordination with the Americans.”

“Bennett showed himself to the world as an inexperienced Israeli politician who only has six Knesset seats — like a tree that falls in the woods and nobody sees, hears or cares about,” the statement read.

Lawmakers in the Likud and the far-right Religious Zionism party slammed Bennett as well over the clashes in the West Bank on Sunday.

The Israeli army killed five Palestinians and arrested 20 others, it claimed were planning to carry out armed operations in Israel. However, the deputies considered the army’s response “weak compared to the Palestinian violence.”

Bennett’s policy “convinces Palestinians that the Israeli government is weak, gives Hamas the green light to carry out attacks, and opens the door for other enemies to attack Israel.”

Lawyer Michal Woldiger criticized Bennet’s government, stressing that many soldiers died after surrendering to Hamas.

On the other hand, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid hailed Bennett’s address, saying it made every Israeli “proud.”

Most of the Israeli media said that Bennett has passed the test successfully.

“He did not resort to childish games as did his predecessor (Netanyahu), but rather proved that there is a different prime minister in Israel who is more friendly and positive.”

The left-wing Meretz party also issued a statement denouncing Bennett for ignoring the Palestinian cause and the permanent peaceful solution.

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UN Warns US Aid Cuts Threaten Millions of Afghans with Famine

(FILES) Afghan men stand in a queue as they wait to receive food being distributed as an aid by the World Food Program (WFP) organization at Nawabad Kako Sahib area in Baraki Barak district of Logar Province on January 7, 2024. (Photo by Wakil KOHSAR / AFP)
(FILES) Afghan men stand in a queue as they wait to receive food being distributed as an aid by the World Food Program (WFP) organization at Nawabad Kako Sahib area in Baraki Barak district of Logar Province on January 7, 2024. (Photo by Wakil KOHSAR / AFP)
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UN Warns US Aid Cuts Threaten Millions of Afghans with Famine

(FILES) Afghan men stand in a queue as they wait to receive food being distributed as an aid by the World Food Program (WFP) organization at Nawabad Kako Sahib area in Baraki Barak district of Logar Province on January 7, 2024. (Photo by Wakil KOHSAR / AFP)
(FILES) Afghan men stand in a queue as they wait to receive food being distributed as an aid by the World Food Program (WFP) organization at Nawabad Kako Sahib area in Baraki Barak district of Logar Province on January 7, 2024. (Photo by Wakil KOHSAR / AFP)

Fresh US cuts to food assistance risk worsening already widespread hunger in Afghanistan, according to the World Food Program, which warned it can support just half the people in need -- and only with half rations.
In an interview with AFP, WFP's acting country director Mutinta Chimuka urged donors to step up to support Afghanistan, which faces the world's second-largest humanitarian crisis, AFP said.

A third of the population of around 45 million people needs food assistance, with 3.1 million people on the brink of famine, the UN says.

"With what resources we have now barely eight million people will get assistance across the year and that's only if we get everything else that we are expecting from other donors," Chimuka said.

The agency already has been "giving a half ration to stretch the resources that we have", she added.

In the coming months, WFP usually would be assisting two million people "to prevent famine, so that's already a huge number that we're really worried about", Chimuka said.

Already grappling with a 40 percent drop in funding for this year globally, and seeing a decline in funding for Afghanistan in recent years, WFP has had to split the standard ration -- designed to meet the daily minimum recommended 2,100 kilocalories per person.

"It's a basic package, but it's really life-saving," said Chimuka. "And we should, as a global community, be able to provide that."
WFP, like other aid agencies, has been caught in the crosshairs of funding cuts by US President Donald Trump, who signed an executive order freezing all foreign aid for three months shortly after his inauguration in January.

Emergency food aid was meant to be exempt, but this week WFP said the United States had announced it was cutting emergency food aid for 14 countries, including Afghanistan, amounting to "a death sentence for millions of people" if implemented.

Washington quickly backtracked on the cuts for six countries, but Afghanistan -- run by Taliban authorities who fought US-led troops for decades -- was not one of them.

If additional funding doesn't come through, "Then there's the possibility that we may have to go to communities and tell them we're not able to support them. And how do they survive?"

She highlighted the high levels of unemployment and poverty in the country, one of the world's poorest where thousands of Afghans are currently being repatriated from Pakistan, many without most of their belongings or homes to go to.

'Vicious cycle'
The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, UNAMA, this week urged international donors to keep supporting Afghanistan, saying 22.9 million needed assistance this year.

"If we want to help the Afghan people escape the vicious cycle of poverty and suffering, we must continue to have the means to address urgent needs while simultaneously laying the groundwork for long-term resilience and stability," said Indrika Ratwatte, the UN's resident and humanitarian coordinator in Afghanistan, in a statement.

The statement warned that lack of international aid in Afghanistan could lead to increased migration and strain on the broader region.

The call for funding comes as other countries including Germany and Britain have also made large cuts to overseas aid.

But the Trump administration cut has been the deepest. The United States was traditionally the world's largest donor, with the biggest portion in Afghanistan -- $280 million -- going to WFP last fiscal year, according to US State Department figures.

But other UN agencies, as well as local and international NGOs are being squeezed or having to shut down completely, straining the network of organisations providing aid in Afghanistan.

The Trump administration also ended two programs -- one in Afghanistan -- with the UN Population Fund, an agency dedicated to promoting sexual and reproductive health, the agency said Monday.

And other organisations working on agriculture -- on which some 80 percent of Afghans depend to survive -- and malnutrition are impacted.

"We all need to work together," said Chimuka. "And if all of us are cut at the knees... it doesn't work."