^{Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to United Nations ambassadors at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem on Feb. 24, 2026. Credit: Prime Minister’s Media Adviser’s Office.}

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a delegation of United Nations ambassadors on Tuesday that Israel is “a very small but very powerful country,” citing technology, science and “the spirit of the people” as its sources of strength.

Meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem alongside Israel’s ambassador to the U.N., Danny Danon, Netanyahu said antisemitism had resurged after a “brief respite” following the Holocaust and emphasized Israel’s ability to defend itself.

“We’ve just emerged from a seven-front war,” he said, naming Hamas, Hezbollah, the Assad regime, the Houthis, Iran and affiliated militias as adversaries. “They would have slaughtered all of us if they could, but they couldn’t, because we rolled them back.”

Netanyahu said Israel’s resilience stems from its national spirit and a determination to “protect our future” and pursue regional “prosperity, security and peace.”

Herzog meets envoys in Jerusalem

Danon and a delegation of U.N. envoys met in Jerusalem earlier on Tuesday with Israeli President Isaac Herzog to review recent developments at the world body and broader diplomatic challenges.

“We will continue to strengthen ties with the representatives of the countries and promote substantive and direct dialogue on the issues on the international agenda,” Danon wrote in an X post along with pictures from the meeting at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem.

“All nations at the U.N. should show moral clarity in the fight against terror. Instead, international bodies too often justify it and blame those—such as Israel—who are combating this evil,” Herzog wrote on X after the meeting about his message to the U.N. ambassadors.

Dozens of envoys to the U.N. came to Israel this week as part of a fact-finding mission organized by Danon, including visits to Jerusalem and the southern border with the Gaza Strip.

On Sunday, the delegation visited the Gaza Envelope region, where they were “exposed to the horrors of the October 7 [attacks] and the stories of heroism of our people,” Danon wrote in a post on X.

The ambassadors visited the site of the Nova festival, the Israel Defense Forces’ Nahal Oz base and Kibbutz Kfar Aza, where a combined total of 493 people were killed by Hamas during the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks.

“Whoever hears these testimonies and looks the victims’ families in the eyes cannot return to the diplomatic comfort zone,” Danon said, adding that the visit was “worth more than a thousand discussions” at the United Nations.

The envoys also toured the nearby Kerem Shalom Crossing to witness “the aid trucks that enter … every day,” Danon stated.

“Israel has been accused of preventing … the inflow of humanitarian aid,” the senior Israeli diplomat continued. “I made it clear that as long as Hamas is in power, there will be no future of reconstruction in Gaza.”

“The international effort must focus on one thing: removing the terrorist organization Hamas from the equation,” Danon concluded.

Last week, the delegation toured Jerusalem, where they visited the ancient City of David, the Old City and the Western Wall, among other Jewish heritage sites, Danon said in a separate post.

“Moving to be visiting the Pilgrimage Road in the City of David with a delegation of ambassadors from around the world, at the place where the history of the Jewish people is etched in stone,” Danon tweeted.

The delegation, which includes U.N. envoys from Italy, Australia, Romania, Bulgaria, Cyprus and Albania, as well as six African nations, three Latin American ones, five Pacific Island countries and Papua New Guinea, touched down in Israel after Danon led them on a tour of Auschwitz-Birkenau and Holocaust-related sites in Poland earlier last week.

Most of the participating ambassadors had never been in Israel, and had also visited Poland for the first time as part of the fact-finding mission, Danon told JNS last week, saying that their attendance represented a “shift into a phase” in Jerusalem’s diplomatic relationships at the United Nations following the Oct. 10 implementation of the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel in Gaza.

The Jewish state has been under fierce criticism and attempts to isolate it at the United Nations during the war that broke out after Hamas attacked Israel.

Source: JNS