Netanyahu says UN speech broadcast on cell phones, loudspeakers in Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday said his address to a nearly empty auditorium at the United Nations General Assembly was meant for an audience inside the Gaza Strip, saying he tapped into Palestinians cellphones and set up loudspeakers to project his speech into the territory.

The social media account of the Israeli leader posted photos of loudspeakers seen near the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip, with Netanyahu saying he was trying to deliver a message to 20 living hostages held by Hamas.

“Our brave heroes. This is Prime Minister Netanyahu, speaking to you live from the United Nations,” Netanyahu said in his speech.

“We have not forgotten you, not even for a second. The people of Israel are with you. We will not falter and we will not rest until we bring all of you home.”

Netanyahu said that a special Israeli intelligence operation had also tapped into Palestinian cell phones to stream live his remarks into Gaza. It was not immediately clear if such an operation was successful, but the Israeli military has in the past sent mass text messages to Gazan cell phones or called individuals, for example, to tell them to evacuate buildings targeted for destruction.

“Thanks to special efforts by Israeli intelligence, my words are now also being carried, they’re streamed live in the cell phones of Gazans,” Netanyahu said.

“So to the remaining Hamas leaders and to the jailers of our hostages, I now say: ‘Lay down your arms! Let my people go! Free the hostages, all of them, the whole 48, free the hostages now!,’ ” he exclaimed.

“If you do, you will live. If you don’t, Israel will hunt you down.”

Netanyahu said if Hamas agrees to surrender, the war could end immediately. Netanyahu said his plan for a post-Hamas Gaza Strip is one in which Israel maintains full security control and a “peaceful civilian authority would be established by Gazans and others committed to peace with Israel.”

Netanyahu has rejected that Gaza would be part of an independent Palestinian state, and rejected in his speech the establishment of any Palestinian state, a position that puts him at odds with the majority of members of the body.

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