(JTA) — Hezbollah is keeping a secret arms depot in a residential neighborhood in Beirut, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday.
Netanyahu also said he would be willing to negotiate with the Palestinians on the basis of the Trump peace plan.
In a videotaped message to the meeting, the Israeli leader used slides to show the missile factory on a map and in a photo on the ground. The slide with a photo of what he said was the entrance to the factory in the Lebanese capital’s Janah neighborhood included its coordinates.
Netanyahu showed on the map that the weapons factory is located next to a gas company, yards from a gas station, and embedded in a civilian neighborhood, as well as next to the international airport.
“I say to the people of Janah, you’ve got to act now. You’ve got to protest this. Because if this thing explodes, it’s another tragedy,” he said, citing the explosion last month at the Beirut port that killed more than 200. “Iran and Hezbollah have deliberately put you and your families in grave danger.”
Netanyahu praised President Donald Trump for withdrawing from the “flawed” nuclear deal with Iran, saying that he “opposed it because the deal’s restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program were only temporary and were no way tied to Iran’s change of behavior.”
He also asserted that Iran will have enough enriched uranium in a few months for two nuclear bombs.
Netanyahu offered what he called “good news from the Middle East,” referring to the signing of peace treaties with two Arab countries, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
“I also have no doubt that more Arab and Muslim countries will be joining the circle of peace, soon, very soon,” he said, adding that the agreements make peace between Israel and the Palestinians “more likely.”
“I will be ready and I’d be willing to negotiate on the basis of the Trump plan to end our conflict with the Palestinians once and for all,” Netanyahu said.
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