Israel’s UN envoy: ‘We acted to stop an existential threat before it became irreversible’

By AFP 1 March 2026, 1:24 am

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Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon points toward the Iranian delegation during a United Nations Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East at UN headquarters in New York on February 28, 2026. (CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP)

Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon tells an emergency meeting of the Security Council that Iranian chants of “Death to Israel, Death to America” and the burning of both countries’ flags are acts of “state-sanctioned hatred” and preparation for action.

“But today, alongside our ally the United States, we acted to stop… an existential threat before it became irreversible,” he says, stressing that Israel didn’t act on impulse or for aggression.

“We acted out of necessity,” he says.

Danon says, “Diplomacy was exhausted.”

Addressing the Iranian people, he says the operation is directed “at a regime that has silenced you,” and Israel stands “with you.”