Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dedicated the bulk of his United Nations General Assembly speech on Thursday to talking about the threat Iran poses to Israel. He berated the U.N. for supporting the nuclear deal, which he said "makes war more likely," and at one point, Netanyahu completely stopped talking for 45 seconds as he glared angrily at the assembled delegates, reported The Hill.
"After three days of listening to world leaders praising the deal with Iran, I begin my speech by saying, ladies and gentlemen, check your enthusiasm at the door," Netanyahu said in his speech, according to The Wall Street Journal. "This deal doesn't make peace more likely. By fueling Iran's aggressions by billions of dollars in sanctions relief, it makes war more likely."
"I know that preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons remains the official policy of the international community. But no one should question Israel's determination to defend itself against those who seek our destruction," he added.
The Iranian nuclear agreement – signed between Tehran and the U.S., U.K., China, Russia, France and Germany – will gradually lift U.S. and U.N. sanctions on Iran in return for temporary but strict limits on its nuclear program meant to prevent it from developing an atomic weapon.
The nuclear deal and the U.S. Congress' failure to prevent its implementation is one of the greatest stains on Netanyahu's record, according to Business Insider. Israeli interest groups reportedly spent between $20 million and $40 million to defeat the agreement, but it appears as if the deal will go into effect in early 2016.
Netanyahu continued on Thursday: "Seventy years after the murder of six million Jews, Iran's rulers promise to destroy my country, murder my people. And the response from this body – the response from nearly every one of the governments represented here – has been absolutely nothing. Utter silence. Deafening silence."
He then proceeded to stare silently at attendees for 45 seconds without saying a word.
"As someone who knows that history, I refuse to be silent," Netanyahu concluded. "The days when the Jewish people remain passive in the face of genocidal enemies – those days are over."
It was Netanyahu's first major address since the Iran deal survived Congress, according to the Jerusalem Post.
Watch it below:
