Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the 78th Session of the UN General Assembly in New York City, US, Sept. 22, 2023. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday touted the possibility of “a new Middle East” should Israel and Saudi Arabia come to terms on a peace deal.

Speaking at the UN General Assembly, Netanyahu took out a map of Israel at its founding in 1948, surrounded by enemies, and compared it with a new map of Israel at peace with its neighbors — and as a hub linking Asia and Europe. Calling back to his 2012 UN address in which he drew a “red line” on Iran’s nuclear program, Netanyahu on Friday took out a red marker to diagram what the new Middle East might look like.

“Now look at what happens when we make peace between Saudi Arabia and Israel,” Netanyahu said. “The whole Middle East changes. We tear down the walls of enmity. We bring the possibility of prosperity and peace to this entire region. But we do something else … We will not only bring down barriers between Israel and our neighbors, we will build a new corridor of peace and prosperity that connects Asia through the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel, to Europe. This is an extraordinary change, a monumental change — another pivot of history.”

A new India-to-Europe trade corridor via Israel was first announced at the G20 economic summit in India earlier this month.

Netanyahu also said that he had discussed the potential Saudi deal at his meeting with US President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the General Assembly debate on Wednesday, their first meeting since Netanyahu retook office in January.

“We share the same optimism for what can be achieved, and I deeply appreciate his commitment to seize this historic opportunity,” Netanyahu said of Biden. “The United States of America is indispensable in this effort. And just as we achieved the Abraham Accords with the leadership of President [Donald] Trump, I believe we can achieve peace with Saudi Arabia with the leadership of President Biden.”

Netanyahu’s speech is the latest example of Israeli, Saudi, and US leaders openly promoting the possibility of an imminent diplomatic breakthrough to normalize relations between the Jewish state and the birthplace of Islam.

In an interview with Fox News on Wednesday, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, said that “every day we get closer” to a deal, but that concessions for the Palestinians remained a sticking point in the negotiations.

“For us, the Palestinian issue is very important,” Bin Salman said. “We need to solve that path. And we have good negotiations [that] continue till now. We’re going to see where it will go.”

In his UN speech, Netanyahu said that while he seeks peace with the Palestinians, they should not be given a “veto” over peace treaties between Israel and other Arab states.

“The Palestinians could greatly benefit from a broader peace,” Netanyahu said. “They should be part of that process, but they should not have a veto over the process. And I also believe that making peace with more Arab states would actually increase the prospects of making peace between Israel and the Palestinians.”

Netanyahu also cited Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ claim in a recent speech that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler did not hate the Jews as a people as an example of the Palestinians’ “endless vilification” of the Jewish people that would need to stop for peace between Israelis and Palestinians to be possible.

Netanyahu’s UN speech caps off a week of diplomatic victories that included his long sought after meeting with Biden on Wednesday, his first in-person meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday, and the announcement that the Democratic Republic of Congo intended to move its embassy to Israel’s capital, Jerusalem.

Meanwhile, in a meeting with Pacific island states on Thursday, Netanyahu also thanked Fiji and Nauru for their plans to open embassies in Israel, though it was not clear if those embassies would be in Jerusalem.

The typically staid gathering of world leaders in New York also featured a dramatic confrontation between Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erddan and the UN’s police service on Tuesday after Erdan protested Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi with a sign calling for women’s rights in Iran.

Netanyahu on Friday said that despite its nuclear ambitions, Iran’s aggression and violations of the 2015 agreement to contain its nuclear program have been met with indifference by the international community.

“Eight years ago, the Western powers promised that if Iran violated the nuclear deal, the sanctions would be snapped back,” Netanyahu said. “Well, Iran is violating the deal. But the sanctions have not been snapped back. To stop Iran’s nuclear ambitions, this policy must change. Sanctions must be snapped back. And above all, Iran must face a credible nuclear threat. As long as I’m Prime Minister of Israel, I will do everything in my power to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons.”

The Prime Minister’s Office later clarified to reporters that Netanyahu had said “credible nuclear threat” in error, and that he had intended to say Iran must face a credible “military” threat.