The human being should be more at the center of our concerns, illustrated with conferences that dealt with major issues such as child protection, the protection of women, population and development, human rights.

Advocacy for women and girls cannot be left out. We cannot ignore the deplorable conditions in which many women live in the world, not to mention violence in all its forms, perpetrated in the name of gender. Girls and women remain the centrality of the future of humanity.

As the fourth woman to be elected as the head of this Assembly, it is one more step towards a better representation of women in our institution and, I am convinced that your solid experience will be beneficial for the progress of this work and will provide the necessary energy to improve progress towards our goals.

I am all the more delighted that my government has made the advancement of women one of its priorities.

“We will never lose sight of the responsibility to promote and protect the interests of the vulnerable. We are especially keen to ensure that our women, children, persons living with disabilities, elderly and young people can make meaningful contributions, and reap, the benefits of a safe and prosperous society.” 

In keeping with our commitments, we will focus our mandate from the Security Council on the protection of the most vulnerable in armed conflict. The protection of civilians, especially children, dignity and respect for women, the safety of schools and hospitals, the humanitarian corridors are, in our view, absolute and essential priorities.

“And Israel will do whatever it must do to defend itself against Iran’s aggression. We will continue to act against you in Syria. We will act against you in Lebanon. We will act against you in Iraq. We will act against you whenever and wherever we must act to defend our state and defend our people.”

“This law discriminates against the Palestinian-Arab citizens in Israel, granting the right to selfdetermination exclusively to Jews in Israel and legislating discrimination against those Arab citizens, who constitute 20% of the population of Israel, in addition to other non-Jews who have immigrated to Israel. This law strips them of their rights as citizens.” 

“At the domestic level, my Government has established priority areas including job creation; access to quality education; youth empowerment, empowerment of women and the disabled; combating graft and corruption and fostering a culture of accountability and transparency.”

“We must concern ourselves with creating a life and an international community built on the base of principles and values: protection of human dignity, full respect for human rights, gender equality, measures to combat climate change and to deal with new threats such as those concerning cybersecurity.”

While it is fitting to congratulate ourselves on the easing of tensions in some hot spots of the world, it is clear that we are far from the era of generalized deterrence. On the contrary, new hotbeds of crisis are emerging and testifying to an alarming resurgence of the logic of war as a way of settling conflicts.