President Donald Trump on Sept. 23 addressed the U.N. General Assembly amid the backdrop of conflict in Gaza and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as world leaders still question the extent to which the U.S. will be involved in global affairs as the Trump administration implements its “America First” foreign policy.
During his comments, Trump said he wants a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, but said Hamas, a Palestinian militant group that the United States and other entities consider a terrorist organization, “has repeatedly rejected reasonable offers to make peace.”
“We can’t forget October 7, can we now?” Trump said in reference to Hamas’ 2023 attack on Israel.
As some member countries have recognized a Palestinian state, Trump argued doing so would “encourage continued conflict.”
“The rewards would be too great for Hamas terrorists for their atrocities,” Trump said, adding, “those who want peace should be united with one message: Release the hostages now. Just release the hostages now.”
During his pontificate, Pope Leo XIV has appealed for both a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of the hostages. In his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square Sept. 17, Pope Leo expressed his “profound closeness to the Palestinian people in Gaza,” and lamented they “continue to live in fear and survive in unacceptable conditions, forced once again to leave their lands.”
Elsewhere in his comments, Trump said United Nations countries were “being destroyed” by what he argued were their lax immigration policies, and touting his own hardline policies.
“Europe is in serious trouble. They’ve been invaded by a force of illegal aliens like nobody’s ever seen before,” he said. “Illegal aliens are pouring into Europe.”
“Your countries are going to hell,” he added.
Trump claimed member nations are “supporting people that are illegally coming into the U.S.” “And then we have to get them out,” he said.
“The U.N. is supposed to stop invasions, not create them and not finance them,” Trump said.
Catholic social teaching on immigration balances three interrelated principles — the right of persons to migrate in order to sustain their lives and those of their families, the right of a country to regulate its borders and control immigration, and a nation’s duty to regulate its borders with justice and mercy.
But Trump also questioned the organization itself, suggesting it should have supported him more in some of his attempts at conflict resolution.
“What is the purpose of the United Nations?” he said. “The U.N. has such tremendous potential. I’ve always said it, it has such tremendous, tremendous potential, but it’s not even coming close to living up to that potential for the most part.”
Despite his harsh criticism of the United Nations, Trump struck a more conciliatory tone as he ended his remarks.
“Let us all work together to build a bright, beautiful planet,” he said. “A planet that we all share, a planet of peace in a world that is richer, better, and more beautiful than ever before. That can happen. It will happen.”
Earlier this month, the United Nations Annual Prayer Service, held at the Church of the Holy Family in Manhattan — just across First Avenue from U.N. headquarters and considered the U.N. parish — preceded the opening of the 80th U.N. General Assembly.
