What you should know – NBC New York

More than 50 people were arrested at a pro-Palestinian protest in midtown Manhattan on Thursday, and authorities are bracing for another possible riot after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's address to the United Nations General Assembly the following day.

A breakdown of Thursday's arrests was not immediately available. Netanyahu arrived in New York City earlier in the day. Nearly three dozen people were arrested at a similar protest earlier this week. Find out the latest news on the gridlock warning.

“Enough is enough”

His leadership is burdened by conflicts on two fronts. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the United Nations on Friday that his country would “continue to degrade Hezbollah” until it achieved its objectives along the Lebanese border, further dampening hopes for an internationally backed cease-fire to end the fire To stop the spiral into all-out regional war. He said his government would no longer tolerate daily rocket fire from the region.

“Israel has every right to eliminate this threat and return our citizens safely to their homeland. And that is exactly what we are doing…we will continue to degrade Hezbollah until all of our objectives are achieved,” Netanyahu said.

“Imagine if terrorists turned El Paso and San Diego into ghost towns… How long would the American government tolerate that?” he said, shaking his fist emphatically. “Yet Israel tolerated this intolerable situation for almost a year. Well, I came here today to say: enough is enough.”

Netanyahu, armed with visual aids as in the past, defended his country's response to Hamas' attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, which triggered an Israeli military operation that devastated the Gaza Strip. He said he traveled to the United Nations to refute the falsehoods he heard from other leaders at the same podium earlier in the week.

“I wasn't planning on coming here this year. “My country is at war and fighting for its survival,” Netanyahu said. “But after hearing the lies and slander spread about my country by many of the speakers on this podium, I decided to come here and set the record straight.”

He insisted that Israel wanted peace but said of Iran: “If you beat us, we will beat you.” He again blamed Iran for being behind many of the region's problems.

“For too long the world has appeased Iran,” Netanyahu said. “This appeasement must end.”

Israel's campaign in Gaza has killed more than 41,500 Palestinians and injured more than 96,000 others, according to the latest figures released by the Health Ministry on Thursday. The ministry, which is part of the Hamas government in Gaza, makes no distinction between civilians and combatants, but more than half of the dead were women and children, including about 1,300 children under the age of two.

Israel has maintained that its military operations are justified and necessary to defend itself.

“This war can end now. “All that needs to happen is for Hamas to surrender, lay down its weapons and release all the hostages,” Netanyahu said. “But if they don't – if they don't – we will fight until we achieve complete victory.” Total victory. There is no substitute for it. “

He said Israeli forces had destroyed “90%” of Hamas rockets and killed or captured half of its forces.

In recent days, Israel has turned its attention to the border with Lebanon, where it has targeted Hezbollah militants and also caused civilian casualties. Hezbollah began attacking Israel almost immediately after the Hamas invasion, and ongoing fighting between Israel and the Lebanese militant group has forced tens of thousands of people from their homes on both sides of the border. Israel vows to step up its attacks on Hezbollah until its citizens can safely return to their homes.

Late Wednesday, the United States, France and other allies jointly called for an “immediate” 21-day ceasefire to allow negotiations as fears grow that the violent escalation of recent days – after 11 months of cross-border shootings – could turn into a develop all-out war.

According to the United Nations, five days of Israeli attacks on Lebanon have displaced over 90,000 people. This means a total of 200,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon since Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel in support of Hamas after its invasion of Israel in the Israel-Hamas war.

When Netanyahu took the stage, there was so much commotion in the audience that the presiding diplomat had to shout: “Please order.”

The two speakers who preceded Netanyahu on Friday each made a point of denouncing Israel for its actions. “Mr. “Netanyahu, end this war now,” said Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob as he ended his speech and tapped the podium. And Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in his speech directly to the Israeli leader, stated about Gaza: ” This is not just a conflict. This is a systematic slaughter of innocent people in Palestine.” He tapped the podium to audible applause.