Joe Biden at the UN in New York on Tuesday.
Getty Images via AFP
US President Joe Biden said Tuesday at the UN podium in New York that “the people” were more important than “staying in power”, as he withdrew his candidacy for a second term in favour of his vice-president Kamala Harris.
“I have decided that after 50 years of public service, it is time for a new generation of public leaders to move my country forward. My fellow leaders, let us never forget that some things are more important than staying in power. It is your people,” he said to applause. “Never forget that we are here to serve the people, not the other way around,” added the American president, whose speech was his last to world leaders.
A “generalized war” in Lebanon is in no one’s interest, he further argued at the UN podium, while Israel continued its strikes on the country, now “on the brink of the abyss” according to the UN chief.
“A diplomatic solution is still possible”
“Even if there is an escalation of the situation, a diplomatic solution is still possible,” insisted the American president. After two days of “Summit of the Future” devoted to the great challenges of humanity for the generations to come, more than 100 heads of state and government will take turns at the podium throughout the week while conflicts rage across the planet, particularly in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.
A ceasefire agreement in Gaza must be “finalized now,” Joe Biden insisted. The United States is leading negotiations with Qatar and Egypt with Israel and Hamas for an agreement to silence the weapons and release the hostages.
“Gaza is a permanent nightmare that threatens to drag the entire region into chaos,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also said, under the eyes of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who for the first time sat in alphabetical order among the other leaders thanks to new rights granted to the “observer state” of Palestine.
“Starting with Lebanon. The Lebanese people, the Israeli people and the people of the world cannot afford for Lebanon to become another Gaza,” he added. “We should all be alarmed by this escalation. Lebanon is on the brink.”
Denouncing the assembly’s “applause” for the Palestinians but “silence” on the Israeli hostages, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon castigated “an annual charade of hypocrisy.”
“We will continue to strike Hezbollah”
Israeli strikes against Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah, an ally of Palestinian Hamas, killed more than 500 people Monday in Lebanon, which experienced its deadliest day in nearly a year of exchanges of fire between the two sides on the sidelines of the Gaza war. “We will continue to strike Hezbollah,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised Tuesday.
The Israeli army also announced on Tuesday a new wave of “massive” strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. It also claimed on Tuesday to have “eliminated” a senior member of the movement in the strike in Beirut that it had announced earlier in the day.
“Air force fighter jets eliminated on Tuesday in Beirut Ibrahim Mohammed Kobeissi, the commander of the missile and rocket system of the terrorist organization Hezbollah,” the Israeli army said in a statement.
Iran’s new President Massoud Pezeshkian, whose country supports Hezbollah and Hamas and who will make his first speech at the UN, accused Israel on Monday of seeking to “expand” the conflict in the Middle East. He also called on Tuesday as “insane and incomprehensible” the UN’s “inaction” towards Israel in reference to Gaza and the strikes on Lebanon.
(afp)
