Israel’s Prime Minister Bini Netanyahu came to New York City to address the United Nations Session 79 (2024) amidst the ongoing war in Gaza and escalation with Hezbollah in Lebanon. In his speech he held up two illustrative cards, one titled “The Blessing” the other titled “The Curse”.
You can see Netanyahu’s Speech to the UN 2024 here.
The Blessing has a picture of the Middle Eastern states which have worked towards diplomatic and economic ties with Israel in the Abrahamic Accords and the prosperity and promise it offers. The Curse card has a picture of Iran and its dark proxies sowing terror and discord and enmity and instability throughout the region.
(And then soon after the speech is when Israel pulled off that incredible strike of taking out Hassan Nasrallah, the chief of Hezbolla, who has been threatening and attacking Israel for decades and making the destruction of Israel his priority — he and his senior command were eliminated in that dramatic bunker strike near Beirut!)
I first thought he was referencing the famous biblical verse in the opener of Parsha Re’eh, a few Torah portions back in the book of Deuteronomy. But when reading the double-portion of Nitzavim-Vayelech I realized that he may have been quoting/referencing verses from Vayelech, this week’s Torah reading!!
But once I heard that he ended his speech with the Hebrew verse (among other verses he quoted) from Vayelech: “Be strong and courageous! Neither fear, nor be dismayed of them, for the L-rd, your G-d He is the One Who goes with you. He will neither fail you, nor forsake you.”
So this is very much Vayelech-relevant. This speech was inspired by the Torah portion of the week!