The core socio-cultural building blocks underlying israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu's speeches to the united nations general assembly

Over the past decade, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the General Debate (GD) of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) ten times. During these 30-40 min speeches he took the opportunity to pronounce what he viewed as the most important components of what Israel stands for. Jewish history, heritage and religion, the feeling of being an isolated minority, but also the ability to overcome all obstacles and prevail against all odds-these are the fundamental socio-cultural building blocks upon which his speeches are based. They are presented here according to their main themes with pertinent quotes from each category. By connecting the past to the present, by seeing Israel as one of the countries of the world while also being an extraordinary case, the prime minister's self-reflection presents a country that sees itself in constant danger and suspicious of all others; a country that tells itself a story in which it wants peace but is exposed to "the same old antisemitism with a brand new face"; a country that has a history of overcoming huge obstacles and therefore believes it can make "the impossible possible"; and even when the whole world thinks differently, Israel "will stand alone" and bring "salvation to the ends of the earth.