calling up more. i've had a lot of governors that reached out about offering help and we'll certainly take them up on that if we need it. >> lawrence: your people trust you. you answer the phone. thank you for giving us time this morning. >> god bless. >> ainsley: god bless you and the folks in georgia. it enables to red cross to respond to disasters such as hurricane helene and helping resources to aid in recovery. >> steve: visit red cross.org/fox forward. you saw it on the screen. also a qr code. >> brian: watch melania. >> bill: it is 9:00 on the east coast described as catastrophic

and unsurvivable about helene making landfall last night in florida. cat 4 hurricane. big storm and really moving like a clipper, too. i'm bill hemmer, welcome to our program. >> dana: i'm dana perino. this is "america's newsroom." another fast week. it was good that it moved fast but still means there is a lot of damage. ron desantis was right on time yesterday and we expect to see him any moment. let's get to steve harrigan outside of tampa. >> this is the scene a lot of people in florida and even georgia are waking up to today. two feet of water on the ground. gets deeper the closer you get to the water. many houses under water. the challenge now for people is getting out of their homes. getting to their cars trying to make sure they're safe. we've seen a number of air boats and water rescues, 80 in this county just overnight. we see people really just

stumbling around. more than a million people in florida without electric power right now. more than 800,000 in georgia. so it will be a tough day ahead for these people down here. dana, back to you. >> dana: thank you so much. ron desantis right on time. >> major general john haase, florida national guard. as you know, hurricane helene made landfall last night as a category 4 hurricane in taylor county. maximum sustained winds were 140 miles-per-hour. it made landfall moving 23 miles-per-hour. we saw storm surges in many parts of the west coast of florida that exceeded what we saw in hurricane idalia, which took a similar path and strength. maybe a little weaker but you're seeing significantly more storm

surge in places like tampa bay. we also saw major storm surge, of course, in the big bend region. we did report there was a traffic fatality last night. we can also report there is another fatality in dixie county due to a tree falling on the home during the storm. overnight, as soon as it was safe to do and even in many cases probably wasn't perfectly safe to do, search and rescue operations were conducted to help people that were in distress and transport them to safety. these missions continue but we've had thousands of missions successfully completed in the overnight hours throughout the state. this is our local first responders, this is local in conjunction with state assets and state assets directly going in and getting rescues. that's the national guard. florida fish and wildlife.

all the assets we had available to help support these rescue efforts. and all the calls that any state officials responded to last night, we were able to find the person or people or pets and bring them to safety. so that's a contrast from some of the things that we saw, for exa example, in hurricane ian. they will be doing broader search and rescue in the areas that got hit with significant storm surge and see if there is any other problems or if there are any folks still left behind. as of now, we don't have reports of that. so those missions were successful and those missions saved a lot of lives. i want to thank all the first responders, our folks working for the sheriffs departments, fire rescue, all our state

assets. everyone was ready to go and it made a big difference for what was an historic storm surge in different parts of the state. we have currently, as of 6:00 a.m., 1.24 million accounts without power throughout the state of florida. since the storm has begun, there are 1.6 million accounts already restored. as of 6:00 a.m., we have 382,000 accounts for duke, 284,000 for the co-ops, 253,000 for the munis. 77,000 for tiko and 11,000 for fpu. those restoration efforts are underway and going on the entire time people have lost power. you'll see progress on that throughout today. as of now, we have a number of

severely impacted counties with over 30% of the power out. baker 86%, bradford 65% out. citrus 34% out. clay 33% out. columbia 99% out, dixie, 92%, gill crest 87%. hamilton 93%. laugh yacht 81%. leon 44%. leavey 83%, liberty, 33%. madison 99%, nasa 57%, poke 33%, swany 99%. taylor 99%, union 86%. you notice those 99% counties are generally the counties that were in the immediate path of the storm. we had rescue operations going on southwest florida where the

storm was 100, 200 miles off the coast and generated major storm surge. it was the story up the whole florida peninsula. as you got into landfall with the category 4 winds no question it would disrupt power operations and that's what you've seen. probably not simply power lines down in the immediate path of the storm. probably looking at damage to sub stations. there are folks on the ground assessing and taking action to remedy that as soon as possible. overnight the cut and toss operations began at 3:00 a.m. with the florida department of transportation and they have been able to clear a lot of miles of roadway. over 2,000 miles just since the we hours of the morning. i-ten is open and passable but please drive with caution. i-75 north to georgia is clear and passable.

cut and toss crews are pushing southward on i-75 currently. in tampa bay the sunshine bridges are closed at the moment. at first light bridge inspections began. there are reports of mapping applications not marking those bridges as closed but as of right now, please choose alternative routes. those bridges are going to be inspected and open in due time. i know jared and his team are working hard to do. that skyway is open to emergency personnel. listen to local law enforcement directive on that. southwest florida sanibel cause way had a wash-out being repaired and we expect that to be okay relatively soon. 470 crews are active in the field and as i mentioned have cleared over 2,000 miles of roadway. this was starting at 3:00 a.m. they were ready to go and it has made a difference. 129 bridge inspectors dispatched

at first light and they are currently inspecting the bridges in the impacted areas. airports. following airports have suspended service but anticipated to resume operations at some point today. tallahassee, tampa international, st. pete clear water international. lackland lindeer, gainesville regional. flight cancellations and delays are being reported. check with your airlines directly on specific flight updates. florida fish and wildlife has boat teams in dixie and taylor counties actively conducting search and rescue. these are basically the ground 0 of the storm. additional team of 72 staff are in route to taylor, dixie, leavey with shallow water boats and a boat team of 15 going to other counties to assess storm damage. fwc has local officers

responding, 15-man air boat team coming over to the west coast of florida from titusville. they will also have a 16-man florida state guard team with them. they are headed currently -- law enforcement positioned aircraft and responding for reconnaissance and damage assessments and communication systems and portable towers are staged for emergency communications. stage telecommunications emergency response task force for responses to insure continuity of service for the 911 system. we have florida highway patrol assisting local officials throughout the whole time and they are deployed and working as necessary. they are also assisting with cut and toss operations clearing down trees and debris from not just the interstate and state roads but also assisting with clearing local roads. >> bill: the headlines in

florida. 140 miles-an-hour at landfall last night. wow. mentioned two fatalities in florida. thousands of overnight rescue missions. historic storm surge in the words of governor there and you have at least 1.2 million this morning in florida alone without power. >> dana: steve harrigan is still in crystal river, florida. he might be there for a while right outside of tampa. let's get back to him for an update on the ground. the water on the ground there. hi, steve. >> let's show you what things look like around here. an air boat. try to show that air boat making all that noise. a lot of the people here are stuck in their houses. we have three or four feet of water in much of the area. some people have taken to a hotel on the second floor because the first floor is washed out. so we have from florida fish and wildlife a lot of first responders coming out to rescue but also seeing a lot of volunteers as well. people who have air boats going house to house to try to save

people. we have often seen in the storm. tom, spin around this way you can see a lot of people taking what they have already home. you see this young man with his canoe pulling stuff out of his house. basically the close to the water streets got hit the hardest. this 7th street water is about waist deep here. all across this territory it's really only high water vehicles at this point. we see a lot of people stuck trying to get to their cars. trying to get to their houses, dana, back to you. >> dana: thank you so much. >> bill: let's move from crystal river to atlanta. crews are conducting high water rescues there. the tropical storm unleashed a lot of rain overnight and wind. we're live with the sun up and the georgia clay behind you in that water. good morning. >> good morning to you, bill. this is the peach tree creek.

we've seen a multiple amount of water rescues up this lane right here. this is a road that is supposed to be dry. you talking about the peach tree creek here overspreading its bank. 23 1/2 foot crest. that's third all time. the biggest all-time crest on this creek is 25 feet. we're a foot and a half below that. that prompted all the high water rescues a mile down from here. peach tree park apartments is what we're looking at down there. 60 people rescued from that apartment complex alone just down this road about a mile. plus 12 pets. what are we expecting in things switched around. we were thinking it would be a huge wind event. the sheer magnitude and force of the storm across the big bend as category 4 it was a sprawling storm system. it went straight into the middle part of georgia. it took the wind field away from

atlanta but put the big rain shield over us instead. we picked up nine to 9 1/2 inches of rain in four days. that's the rainiest stretch we've seen in the last 104 years. river levels are coming up now and looks like we're peaking. it is a mist. breezy. it is -- the rain, the damage has been done. not a wind or power outage event, it is flood. >> bill: folks don't realize how many creeks and rivers there are in so many different places of atlanta. roll the video, bob. this was you overnight last night saving a young girl stranded and she was screaming to you while you are on the air. she is okay and did you have to do anything else after that, bob? >> yeah, i'll show you that car. it was right before i was going on with "fox & friends" this morning, bill. we hear somebody screaming. i called up 911. they are swamped. there are so many rescues that

were going around the town screaming. panicking. the water is coming up more. she came in from the other side. we didn't see her come in. she has her window down this much. i can't wait for 911. i threw the microphone down. i took my wallet out of my pants and i waded in there and she had this much of her window open. i couldn't get the door open. rolled down the window, pressure equalized. pride it open. stuck in her seat belt. she has her phone and bags in the air. she hands that to me holding them in the water out of the water. get her on my back and dragged her through the water. she is fine. just cold. i gave her my extra shirt. now i'm freezing myself. the water was up to here. she is fine now. she was in shock. her husband picked her up. fire department came and she is great. that's just one story. there are plenty of stories like that that will happen. >> thousands of mission. that was on camera and shared

with our viewers, talk to you throughout the day. thank you in peach tree creek in atlanta. >> dana: senior meteorologist janice dean is here as well. you were warning us all week and you knew it would be bad. >> this is part two, right, if flooding issue in we had a system in advance of helene across the southeast that saturated the grounds and waters are rising in the river and tropical moisture surging northward and we have 13 flash flood emergencies happenings. catastrophic flooding for the atlanta area as well as the greenville area, asheville, charlotte. this is a huge concern especially for the southern appalachian and some language coming out from the national weather service is catastrophic, historic, never happened before. please take precautions to protect your life and property. this is going to be a big deal. so atlanta close to a foot of

rain in 24 hours. some of the same areas getting hit with over a foot of rain in just 24 hours but that's on top of days of rain. so this is going to be part two and this might be the legacy of the storm because it is affecting such a widespread area. certainly category 4 worst hurricane to hit the area of the big bend. this is going to be a huge issue as we go throughout the day into the weekend and unfortunately we won't be able to get in and see the damage until the weekend or next week. we won't know the scope of this storm until days from now. >> bill: trying to find a silver lining in all this, janice. >> it was a fast-moving storm. however, as we get into the weekend, it stalls. the remnants of it, over kentucky and tennessee. >> bill: you don't want that, never. j.d., thanks. fox corporation has made a donation to the red cross hurricane helene relief efforts and continues to be an annual

disaster giving program partners to enable the red cross to respond to disasters around the world. it provides safe shelter, hot meals, emotional support, resources to help aid in recovery. you can help as well. visit red cross.org/fox forward. we're on that today and waiting a big moment minutes away at the united nations. benjamin netanyahu coming to new york last night. will address world leaders in about 20 minutes now. what's his message? what does he say with the current battle with hezbollah? his country is ramping up the fight against terror. confusing words now whether or not he is willing to do a cease-fire for 21 days. we'll watch that speech carefully and bring it to you live. >> dana: also this morning ukrainian president zelenskyy set to visit former president trump at trump tower.

>> bill: a big meeting. a moment that will happen later tonight. the border czar, kamala harris, goes to arizona for the first time at the border in three years. polling shows that voters are more trusting of donald trump to fix the problem on the border and fix the problem on immigration. can she close the gap on those numbers? we will preview that trip and more as we continue on a busy friday morning. 15 or more headache days a month each lasting 4 hours or more. botox® prevents headaches in adults with chronic migraine before they start. and treatment is 4 times a year. in a survey, 91% of users wish they'd started sooner. so why wait? talk to your doctor. effects of botox® may spread hours to weeks after injection causing serious symptoms. alert your doctor right away as difficulty swallowing speaking, breathing, eye problems, or muscle weakness can be signs of a life-threatening condition. side effects may include allergic reactions, neck

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>> dana: the storm tropical storm storm helene ended up weakening a little bit as it got to land but it went fast through there. janice dean warned us there is a possibility this storm stalls over kentucky and tennessee and that's your neck of the woods. not a good thing. >> moving at 30 miles-per-hour.

it doubled its speed yesterday afternoon. a good thing for a lot of folks but a lot of damage to talk about. we're back on that in moments. there is this from yesterday on the border. check it out. >> she keeps talking about how she supposedly wants to fix the border. we would merely ask why didn't she do it four years ago? kamala harris willfully threw open our border virtually destroying our country. our country has never been under siege by this. >> bill: not only is there a problem on the border and harris and biden have a lot to explain. she goes to the border tonight. georgia came out with it late yesterday. margin of error 3 1/2 points. still a very close race in georgia. harris at 51, trump at 48 in

georgia. also out west in the southwest. this is part of the reason she is going there now. arizona, okay? biden won it by 10,400 votes. margin of error still there but trump leads at 51-48. what is happening for trump on arizona on the issues? this is why he has this lead. immigration plus 15, economy plus eight. watch that on the issues in all the battleground states as we move through them. karl rove, good morning to you. what do you see in the numbers in the fox polling and what's significant right now? >> well, you had a good number that you popped up but put it in context that explains why president trump went out yesterday. yes, in arizona he is leading by 15 on who is better to hand null immigration and plus eight on the economy. down five from the last time we polled -- fox polled in arizona in august. down five.

he was ahead by 20 on that issue. down seven on the economy. he was up by 15. he wisely seized on the idea that she is going to the border. she will be talking about it. set the table for the media and the voters. go heavy after her on immigration. make the case. i wouldn't be surprised if two things didn't happen. one is he says something after she goes to the border and second of all, we see a wave of advertising in arizona that deals with the border and knocks her on her record. >> dana: her event is at 7:45 p.m. arizona time on a friday night. to me that doesn't scream i want everybody to watch this. david plouffe was quoted yesterday saying the kamala team has the advantage in the race overall in the presidential race. do you think he is right? >> well, first of all let's talk about where she is going. she is going to douglas,

arizona. 39%, that's what joe biden got in the county. on the other hand, not the part of arizona where are there these scenes of mobs of illegal aliens crossing the border throwing themselves through fences and over walls. it is a relatively placid part of the border. she is going to a place where she can be on the border but not the place where they will be able to say she was there today but look at what happened two weeks ago or look what happened last month. the second issue, though, is plouffe is right in one respect. this is a battle over two sort of arenas. the issues where trump leads on three out of four of the top issues, economy, inflation, border. depending on whether you include healthcare and a couple of other things. abortion is either fourth, fifth or sixth. she leads on that issue. on character, she has erased some of the advantage that trump had compared to joe biden like who has got the mental acuity

and physical stamina to be a more effective president. she is winning on the margin on who cares about people like me. an important index. president trump carried that issue in 2016. people thought he cared more about people like me than hillary clinton. we'll see a battle. trump will push the issues. she will push the character and try to diminish his advantage on the issues. see how it all plays out in 39 days. >> bill: how biden keeps helping trump. the president plans to annoy voters by touring the nation to tout his record. give us your 30 second chatgpt summary on that, karl. >> president biden will say look what a great job i've done? he is under water. people don't think he did a great job. he will suck up air time that would otherwise go to kamala harris and give trump a big juicy target to hit it and remind the american people why they are grateful he is no longer running. this is a stupid maneuver by the white house. i'm sure mar-a-lago is cheering.

>> dana: absolutely. his numbers would go up if he just sat home or on the beach where he is going this weekend. karl, thanks. it is one of the most highly-anticipated speeches this week at the u.n. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu arrived moments ago set to address the world body minutes from now. we'll bring it to you. each day is a unique blend of people to see and things to do. that's why you choose glucerna to help manage blood sugar response. uniquely designed with carbsteady. glucerna. bring on the day. veteran homeowners, car payments are getting out of control. get a newday 100 va cash out loan at lower mortgage rates to pay off those high rate car loans. using these type of cleansers could be damaging and stripping your skin. i use new olay cleansing melts every day. just soak, activate and wash.

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ahead of prime minister netanyahu's speech at the u.n. israel is mobileizing two additional reserve bridge -- brigades. netanyahu says israel will not stop until it's save for israel as northern residents to return home. there was a hezbollah commander killed who headed the drone unit and walking back comments he didn't respond to an american-led effort for a three-week pause in the fighting. our teams met to discuss the u.s. initiative and how to advance the shared goal of returning people safely to their homes. we will continue those discussions in the coming days. meanwhile, israel's northern city of haifa is under attack with hezbollah rockets. tel aviv was targeted with a ballistic missile for the second time in three days.

this time it was fired by the houthi rebels in yemen. look at this. [sirens] >> israel's missile defense system shot the incoming missile down after midnight. no major injuries reported from this. israeli air strikes continue this morning. lebanon's health ministry says at least 25 people have been killed so far today. we are about to learn what prime minister netanyahu will say at the u.n. just one day after israel received an additional 8.7 billion in military funding from the united states. send it back to you. >> bill: nice to see you nate foye in tel aviv. >> dana: let's bring in david freeman. former u.s. ambassador to israel. the first time the israeli leader has been able to address the u.n. since the horrible attacks of october 7th. it's a grave moment and an important one. how do you think he approaches the audience in the room, many of whom are hostile?

>> maybe all of them are hostile. i think first of all you have to admire his courage. he is walking into a room where he is being treated like a pariah now. the absurdity at the u.n. i've been to these general assembly sessions when i was ambassador. iran, china, russia, you know, they are walking around like they own the place. turkey walking around like this is their hall. netanyahu, who runs the only democracy in the middle east, america's most important ally in the region, he is not going to be well received there. a lot of people will boycott his speech and a lot of people will be hostile to him. i don't think he cares. he will lay out a combatic position by israel saying my job is to protect the citizens of israel. hezbollah has been shooting rockets at them since october 8th. since even before we responded to the october 7th assault by

hamas. i have 60,000 people that can't go home. they are refugees in their own land and i've given the united states and others 11 months to try to come up with a diplomatic resolution. i don't have any territorial ambitions on lebanon. he wants to get 60,000 people back home again and given biden, blinken, the whole team 11 months to try to work something out. they failed. they refused to put any pressure on iran where all the issues derive. i think he will say look, i'm one of 190 countries but my job is to protect my own citizens and you guys haven't helped me at all. i will do that and do it until i can bring my citizens home again back to the north. i would expect a fairly strident speech from netanyahu. >> bill: you brought up iran. so did the former president just yesterday. play this clip from trump. >> we're very close to world war

iii, whether it's the middle east or that. october 7th would have never happened. iran had no money. that's probably why you hear the stories about iran. only a consequential president would have this happen. but iran would have made a deal with us. it would have been a great deal for them. >> bill: one thing we've been watching beginning with the pagers and the walkie-talkies the next day and pinpoint strikes on behalf of israel taking out leading hezbollah leaders in different neighborhoods in beirut. extraordinary to watch and still the leader of hezbollah. i don't know what your view is on that. the israelis and idf know where these people are and how does hezbollah respond to that? >> hezbollah has a lot of rockets. they don't have any quality but

they have a lot of quantity. they still have 100,000 rockets of various shapes and sizes. he will have a hard time with command and control. most of the people he relies on are dead. they can still reek havoc. israel will win this war. no question about it. it is interesting. the response when attacked by hamas by surprise was far less precise, elegant and carefully targeted. now that they have had the opportunity over several months to plan out a response to lebanon, you see what israel's intelligence sources are capable of doing. i think netanyahu's view is i'll keep punching hezbollah until they give up or until somebody forces them to create an environment where my citizens can go home. that's my only choice. i have no other option for my citizens. look, about what president trump said. the numbers speak for

themselves. iran's gdp was about $180 billion when we left office. now it's $450 billion. they made billions of dollars primarily selling oil to china and russia. on the one hand we're trying to help ukraine beat russia. on the other hand we're doing nothing to stop iran from fueling russia, which is insane and doesn't make any sense. the president is right on a very important point. had it not been for the appeasement of iran over the last 3 1/2 years, all these rogue actors would have had the ability to create this havoc around the world. >> dana: we have bibi netanyahu now taking the lectern. >> ladies and gentlemen, order.

order, please. [yelling] >> mr. president, ladies and gent gentlemen, i didn't intend to come here this year. my country is at war fighting for its life. but after i heard the lies and slanders leveled at my country by many speakers at this podium

i decided to come here and set the record straight. [cheers and applause] i decided to come here to speak for my people, to speak for my country, to speak for the truth. [cheers and applause] and here is the truth. israel seeks peace. israel yearns for peace. israel has made peace and will make peace again. [cheers and applause] yet we face savage enemies who seek our annihilation and we must defend ourselves against these savage murderers. our enemies seek not only to destroy us, they seek to destroy our common civilization and return all of us to a dark age

of tyranny and terror. when i spoke here last year, i said we faced the same timeless choice that moses put before the people of israel thousands of years ago. as we were about to enter the promised land moses told us our actions will determine whether we bequeath to future generations a blessing or a curse. that is the choice we face today. the curse of iran's unremitting aggression or the blessing of a historic reconciliation between arab and jew. in the days that followed that speech, the blessing i spoke of came into sharper focus. a normalization deal between saudi arabia and israel seemed closer than ever. but then came the curse of

october 7th. thousands of iranian-backed hamas terrorists from gaza burst into israel in pickup trucks, motorcycles, and they committed unimaginable atrocities. they savagely murdered 1200 people. they raped and mutilated women. they beheaded men. they burned babies alive. they burnt entire families alive. babies, children, parents, grand parents in scenes reminiscent of the nazi holocaust. hamas kidnapped 251 people from dozens of different countries dragging them into the dungeons of gaza. israel has brought home 154 of these hostages including 117 returned alive. i want to assure you, we will not rest until the remaining hostages are brought home, too. and some of their family members are here with us today.

i ask you to stand up. [applause] with us is a mother whose son was abducted from the music festival. that was his crime a. music festival. these murderous monsters took him. a man's son was murdered and his corpse was taken into the dungeons of gaza, salim, whose brother mohammed, a proverb soldier, was murdered. his body, too, was taken to gaza and so was the body of a man's daughter who was brutally murdered at that same music festival. with us is sharon, whose brother

was murdered and who prays for his older brother, eli, still held hostage in gaza. and with us, too, is izar, the town that was wiped out by the terrorists. we had the release of his mother but his father is still lon gishing in the underground terrorist hell of hamas. i promise you, we will return your loved ones home and not spare that effort until this holy mission is accomplished. [applause] . [cheers and applause] ladies and gentlemen, the curse of october 7th began when hamas invaded israel from gaza. but it didn't end there. israel was soon forced to defend

itself on six more war fronts organized by iran. on october 8th, hezbollah attacked us from lebanon. since then, they fired over 8,000 rockets at our towns and cities, at our civilians, at our children. two weeks later, the iran-backed houthis in yemen launched drones and missiles at israel. the first of 250 such attacks, including one yesterday aimed at tel aviv. iran's shiite militias in syria and iraq have targeted israel dozens of times over the past year as well. fueled by they perpetrated scores of attacks there and throughout israel. last april, for the first time ever, iran directly attacked israel from its own territory firing 300 drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles

at us. i have a message for the tyrants of tehran. if you strike us, we will strike you. there is no place -- [cheers and applause] there is no place in iran that the long arm of israel cannot reach. and that's true of the entire middle east. far from being lambs led to the slaughter, israel's soldiers have fought back with courage and sacrifice and i have another message for this assembly and for the world outside this hall. we are winning. [cheers and applause] ladies and gentlemen, as israel defends itself against iran and

the seven-front war, the lines separating the blessing and the curse could not be more clear. this is the map i presented here last year. it is a map of a blessing. it shows israel and its arab partners forming the land bridge connecting asia and europe between the indian ocean and the mediterranean sea. across this bridge we will lay energy pipelines, fiber-optic cables and this will serve the betterment of 2 billion people. now look at this second map. it's a map -- look at the second map. it is a map of a curse. it is a map of an arc of terror that iran has created and imposed from the indian ocean to the mediterranean.

iran's malignant arc has shut down international waterways, cuts off trade, destroys millions, destroys nations from within and inflicts misery on millions. on the one hand, a bright blessing, a future of hope. on the other hand, a dark future of despair. and if you think this dark map is only a curse for israel, if you think that, then you should think again. because iran's aggression, if it's not checked, will endanger every single country in the middle east and many, many countries in the rest of the world because iran seeks to impose its radicalism well beyond the middle east. that's why it funds terror networks on five continents. that's why it builds ballistic missiles for nuclear war heads

to threaten the entire world. for too long, the world has appeased iran. turns a blind eye to internal and external aggression. that appeasement must end and it must end now. [cheers and applause] nations of the world should support the brave people of iran who want to rid themselves of this evil regime. responsible governments should not only support israel in rolling back iran's aggression. they should join israel in stopping iran's nuclear weapons program. [cheers and applause] in this body and the security council, we're going to have a deliberation in a few months and i call on the security council to snap back u.n. security

council sanctions against iran. we must all do everything in our power to insure that iran never gets nuclear weapons. [cheers and applause] for decades i've been warning the world against iran's nuclear program. our actions delayed this program by perhaps a decade. but haven't stopped it. for the sake of the peace and security of all your countries, for the sake of the peace and security of the entire world, we must not let that happen. and i assure you, israel will do everything in its power to make sure it doesn't happen. [cheers and applause]

so ladies and gentlemen, the question before us is simple. which of these two maps that i showed you will shape our future? will it be the blessings of peace and prosperity for israel, arab partners and the rest of the world or the curse in which iran and its proxies spread carnage and chaos everywhere? israel has already made its choice. we've decided to advance the blessing. we are building a partnership for peace with our arab neighbors while fighting the forces of terror that threaten that peace. for nearly a year, the brave men and women of the idf have been systematically crushing hamas's terror army that once ruled gaza. on october 7th, the day of that invasion into israel, that terror army numbered nearly 40,000 terrorists.

it was armed with more than 15,000 rockets. it had 350 miles of terror tunnels and underground network bigger than the new york subway system, which they used to wreak havoc above and below ground. a year later the idf has killed or captured more than half of these terrorists. destroyed over 90% of their rocket arsenal and eliminated the key segments of their terror tunnel network. in major military operations -- in major military operations, we destroyed nearly half of hamas's -- nearly all of hamas's terror battalions, 23 out of 24 battalions. now to complete our victory we're focused on mopping up hamas's remaining fighting capabilities and taking out senior terrorist commanders and destroying remaining terrorist infrastructure. but all the while, all the while

-- i will say this one more time -- we remain focused on our sacred mission, bringing our hostages home and we will not stop until that [cheers and applause] now ladies and gentlemen, even with hamas's greatly diminished military capability, the terrorists still exercise some governing power in gaza by stealing the food that we enable aide agencies to bring into gaza. hamas steals the food and then they hike the prices. they feed their bellies and then they fill their coffers with money that they extort from their own people. they sell the stolen food at exorbitant prices and that's how they stay in power. well, this, too, has to end and we're working to bring it to an end. [cheers and applause]

the reason is simple, because if hamas stays in power, it will regroup, rearm, and attack israel again and again and again as it has vowed to do. so hamas has got to go. [cheers and applause] just imagine for those who say well, hamas has to stay, it has to be part of a post war gaza, imagine in a post war situation in world war ii, imagine allowing the defeated nazis in 1945 to rebuild germany. it is inconceivable, ridiculous. it didn't happen then and it is not going to happen now. [cheers and applause] this is why israel will reject any rule for hamas in a post war

gaza. we don't seek to resettle gaza. what we seek is a demilitarized and deradicalized gaza. only then -- only then can we insure that this round of fighting will be the last round of fighting. we are ready to work with regional and other partners to support a local civilian administration in gaza committed to peaceful co-existence. as for the hostages, i have a message for the hamas captors. let them go. let them go. all of them. those alive today must be returned alive. and the remains of those whom you brutally killed must be returned to their families. those families here with us today and others in israel deserve to have a resting place for their loved ones, a place where they can grieve and remember them. this war -- ladies and

gentlemen, this war can come to an end now. all that has to happen is for hamas to surrender, lay down its arms, and release all the hostages. but if they don't -- but if they don't, we will fight until we achieve victory, total victory. there is no substitute for it. [cheers and applause] israel must also defeat hezbollah in lebanon. hezbollah is the quintessential terror organization in the world today. it has tentacles that span in all continents. it has murdered more americans and more frenchmen than any group except bin laden. it has murdered the citizens of many countries