Trump: Peace deal can only be reached by recognizing 'obvious facts'
At UN General Assembly, US president reiterates commitment to brokering a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, says his administration will not be 'held hostage to old dogmas, discredited ideologies and so-called experts,' adding Iran cannot be allowed to possess nuclear weapons as it chants death to America and ‘threatens Israel with annihilation.’
“This year we also took another significant step forward in the Middle East in recognition of every sovereign state to determine its own capital. I moved the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem," Trump said in his 35-minute speech.
"The United States is committed to a future of peace and stability in the region, including peace between the Israelis and Palestinians,” Trump told the state representatives in the chamber.
“That aim is advanced, not harmed, by acknowledging the obvious facts,” he added.
“America’s policy of principled realism means we will not be held hostage to old dogmas, discredited ideologies and so-called experts who have been proven wrong over the years time and time again.”
Trump announced last December that the United States was officially recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and stated his intention to move its embassy there. In May he followed through on his promise.
Addressing the UN General Assembly, Trump also praised US allies, including Israel, noting that the country was “celebrating its 70th anniversary as a thriving democracy in the Holy Land.”
Dedicating a significant chunk of his speech to the aggression demonstrated by the regime in Tehran, Trump said that it could not be allowed to pursue a nuclear weapons program, especially in light of the incendiary rhetoric against the US and Israel.
“We cannot allow the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism to possess the planet’s most dangerous weapons. We cannot allow a regime that chants death to American and that threatens Israel with annihilation to possess the means to deliver a nuclear warhead to any city on earth … Just can't do it,” Trump said.
Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said that Trump’s speech to the UN General Assembly proved that he “stands on the right side of history.”
“With its strong stance by Israel’s side and its battle for stability in the Middle East, the US is leading the UN to a new era that disintegrates the obsession with Israel and which is stopping the Iranian regime,” Danon said.
And Trump prompted some murmuring from the crowd of world leaders and diplomats when he declared that he had accomplished more as president than almost any other administration in history.
"I didn't expect that reaction, but that's okay," he said.
But Trump's main message was aimed at Iran and attempting to drive a wedge between its leadership and its people, days after an attack in southwestern Iran on a military parade killed 25 people and unsettled the country.
Speaking after Trump, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told the UN General Assembly that “those who remain silent in the face of repression against the Palestinians only embolden their oppressors.”
“Even if the world turns its back, we will continue to be by the side of the oppressed Palestinians and we will defend the legal status of Jerusalem,” Erdoğan said.
French President Emmanuel Macron also delivered an implicit rejection of Trump's initiative, telling the General Assembly that the “unilateral initiatives or trampling on the legitimate rights of the Palestinians will not solve the Israel-Palestinian conflict.”
“There is no credible alternative to the two-state solution,” Macron said.
He also called for “open, constructive and multi-faceted dialogue" to solve the crisis that has developed with Iran following the US’s withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear accord.
