Netanyahu Reveals ‘New Middle East’ Map at UN, Excludes Palestine!

During his address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stirred controversy among Palestinians and their advocates by revealing a map of “The New Middle East” that omitted Palestine.

Netanyahu, leading what is regarded as Israel’s most right-wing government to date, displayed several maps to a nearly empty room. One of these maps failed to include the West Bank, East Jerusalem, or Gaza—areas that have been under contentious Israeli occupation since 1967, except for Gaza. Israeli forces pulled out of Gaza in 2005 but have continued to impose severe economic restrictions on the densely populated area.

According to Middle East Eye, Netanyahu also presented a map titled “Israel in 1948″—the year Israel was officially founded following the displacement of over 750,000 Arabs—that incorrectly portrayed Palestinian territories as part of Israel.

On social media, Palestinian Ambassador to Germany Laith Arafeh expressed his dismay, stating, “There is no greater insult to every foundational principle of the United Nations than seeing Netanyahu display before the UNGA a ‘map of Israel’ that encompasses the entire land from the river to the sea, erasing Palestine and its people, then attempting to mislead the audience with talks of ‘peace’ in the region, all while deepening the most prolonged hostile occupation in modern times.”

Middle East Eye highlighted:

The practice of including Palestinian territories—and occasionally areas of Syria and Lebanon—in Israeli maps is common among proponents of the notion of Eretz Yisrael—Greater Israel. This key facet of ultra-nationalist Zionism advocates for Israeli sovereignty over these lands.

Earlier this year, Netanyahu’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, spoke at a podium featuring a map that also included Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria as part of Greater Israel. At this event, he controversially remarked that “there is no such thing as Palestinians.”

This mapping practice coincides with actions taken by Netanyahu’s ultra-nationalist government, which experts believe amount to the “de jure annexation” of the occupied West Bank.

Netanyahu employed these maps to depict the growing number of Arab nations that are normalizing relations with Israel as a result of the Abraham Accords, initiated by former U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration.

“The Abraham Accords marked the beginning of a new era of peace,” Netanyahu asserted. “However, I believe we are on the brink of an even more significant breakthrough, a historic peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Such a peace would indeed forge a new Middle East.”

However, critics argue that the peace established between what they describe as apartheid Israel and Arab dictatorships has been achieved at the expense of Palestinian rights. For instance, as part of its agreement with Israel, the United States acknowledged Morocco’s contentious annexation and harsh control over Western Sahara.

Netanyahu’s use of visual aids during his UN speech reminded many of his 2012 General Assembly appearance, where he used a cartoon bomb to demonstrate Iran’s alleged nuclear advancements—a program both U.S. and Israeli intelligence claimed did not exist.