World leaders lined up at the United Nations on Tuesday, September 24, to call on Israel to refrain from a full-scale war in Lebanon, with the organization's chief warning the situation was on the "brink."
The UN General Assembly, the high point of the international diplomatic calendar, comes after Lebanese authorities said Israeli strikes had killed 558 people – 50 of them children.
"Full-scale war is not in anyone's interest. Even though the situation has escalated, a diplomatic solution is still possible," US President Joe Biden said in his farewell address to the global body. "In fact, it remains the only path to lasting security to allow the residents from both countries to return to their homes on the border safely," Biden said.
Israel's ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said his country was "not eager" for a ground invasion of Lebanon. "We don't want to send our boys to fight in a foreign country," he said. The United States, Israel's closest ally, has opposed a ground invasion into Lebanon.
It is unclear what progress can be made to defuse the situation there, while efforts to broker a ceasefire in Gaza – which Israel has relentlessly pounded since October 2023 – have come to nothing.
Biden pushed once again for an elusive ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, telling the global body it was time to "end this war."
Mediator Qatar accused Israel of obstructing Gaza ceasefire talks, with Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani saying "there is no Israeli partner for peace" under the government of Benjamin Netanyahu. However, he added: "We will continue our efforts of mediation to resolve the disputes through peaceful means."
France called for an emergency Security Council meeting on the crisis, and the EU's top diplomat Josep Borrell warned "we are almost in a full-fledged war."
"We should all be alarmed by the escalation. Lebanon is at the brink," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said when he opened the gathering.
President Masoud Pezeshkian of Iran – which backs Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza – condemned "senseless and incomprehensible" inaction by the UN against Israel.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Israel of dragging the entire region "into war." "Not only children but also the UN system is dying in Gaza," Erdogan said in a scathing speech.
Guterres cautioned against "the possibility of transforming Lebanon (into) another Gaza," calling the situation in the Palestinian territory a "non-stop nightmare."
Danon hit back at the UN chief, calling the General Assembly debate an "annual charade of hypocrisy." "When the UN Secretary-General speaks about the release of our hostages, the UN assembly is silent, but when he speaks about the suffering in Gaza, he receives thunderous applause," Danon said.
At another moment, at the rostrum, Jordan's King Abdullah II on Tuesday ruled out the forced displacement by Israel of Palestinians to his country, which he said would be a "war crime." "The idea of Jordan as an alternative homeland (for Palestinians)... will never happen," he said.
Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas took his seat alongside the Palestinian delegation, placed in alphabetical order in the General Assembly for the first time after the delegation received upgraded privileges in May.
Since last year's annual gathering, when Sudan's civil war and Russia's Ukraine invasion dominated, the world has faced an explosion of crises. Violence has raged across multiple fronts in the Middle East since the crisis erupted, with the conflict exposing deep divisions at the UN. Despite lofty speeches, it was uncertain what the grand diplomatic gathering could achieve for the millions mired in conflict, poverty and climate crises globally.
Indeed, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva denounced the makeup of the UN Security Council as a legacy of colonialism, although he acknowledged the challenges in achieving long-sought reform. "The exclusion of Latin America and Africa from permanent seats on the Security Council is an unacceptable echo of the practices of domination of the colonial past," Lula told the UN General Assembly.
He called for a "comprehensive review" of the United Nations Charter, both to reform institutions and to address priorities including the fight against climate change. However he added: "I am under no illusions about the complexity of such reform, which would go against ingrained interests that maintain the status quo."
Ukraine will also be on the agenda on Tuesday, when President Volodymyr Zelensky addresses a UN Security Council meeting on the Russian invasion.
Biden said that Russian President Vladimir "Putin's war has failed at its core aim. He set out to destroy Ukraine, but Ukraine is still free."