Quoting Bible, Netanyahu tells world leaders, ‘You have a choice between a blessing or a curse’ – peace with Saudis, or war with Iran

Quoting Bible, Netanyahu tells world leaders, ‘You have a choice between a blessing or a curse’ – peace with Saudis, or war with Iran

Joel C. Rosenberg

In his first in-person address to the United Nations General Assembly in five years, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu painted two dramatic visions of the future and urged the leaders of the world to choose.

It was one of the finest speeches I have ever heard him deliver.

And I believe it will be well received in the two capitals that Netanyahu cares about most right now.

Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, where Bibi was speaking directly to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman al-Saud.

One vision, Netanyahu said, is a world in which: 

• Israel and Saudi Arabia make an historic and transformational peace treaty and many Arab and Muslim states follow suit

• Iran and the Palestinians choose peace instead of terrorism and nuclear war

• The world cooperates to insure that Artificial Intelligence (AI) brings dramatic new blessings of peace and prosperity to all of mankind

The other vision, Netanyahu argued, is a world in which: 

• Iran and the Palestinians choose war instead of peace

• The world does nothing to stop the Iranian regime from acquiring nuclear weapons and a terrible war erupts in the Middle East

• Artificial Intelligence replaces humanity with machines, jobs are decimated, tyranny reigns, and AI leads the world into an unimaginable and catastrophic war

Quoting the Bible both at the beginning and end of his speech – specifically passages from Deuteronomy, chapters 27 and 28 – Netanyahu set the stage for his remarks citing the story of Moses telling the Israelites on the east side of the Jordan River that when they cross to the west side, they must divide themselves and stand on two different mountains and there they should reflect on the truth that the God of Israel was offering them; two starkly different paths.

“Ladies and gentlemen, over three millennia ago, as they were about to enter the Promised Land, Moses spoke to the people of Israel,” Netanyahu began his address. “He said they would find there two mountains facing one another – Mount Gerizim, the site on which a great blessing would be proclaimed, and Mount Ebal, the site of a great curse.”

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