By calling the United Nations “useless” and saying many countries were “going to hell” by pursuing liberal governance, President Donald Trump was his usual provocative, impolitic self in his Tuesday speech at the United Nations General Assembly. Where other nations and the U.N. itself have promoted a vision of greater global cooperation in an interconnected world, Trump doubled down on a call for national sovereignty and closed borders. Where nearly all U.N. member states have pledged to make tackling climate change a priority, Trump took issue with the very concept of sustainable energy.

“Immigration and the high cost of so-called green renewable energy is destroying a large part of the free world and a large part of our planet,” Trump said at the close of his address. “Countries that cherish freedom are fading fast because of their policies on these two subjects.” 

But it was Trump’s continued support of Israel, even in the face of growing hostility from European countries and other Western allies to the Jewish state, that may have stood out the most. Trump, in his General Assembly speech, blasted the European nations that this week formally recognized a Palestinian state.

“Now, as if to encourage continued conflict, some of this body is seeking to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state,” he said. “This would be a reward for these horrible atrocities, including October 7th, even while they [Hamas] refuse to release the hostages or accept a ceasefire.” 

The U.S. also joined Israel in boycotting the two-state solution conference on Monday, which was hosted by France and Saudi Arabia, and was joined by several major nations, including the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada.

But even while Trump used his nearly hourlong address to place himself firmly on Israel’s side in its nearly two-year-long war with Hamas, reports indicate that he is privately advocating for restraint. . During a meeting Tuesday with Arab and Muslim leaders where U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff proposed a 21-point plan to end the war in Gaza, Trump promised the world leaders in attendance that he would not allow Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to annex the West Bank, Politico and The Times of Israel reported. 

Trump also touted the Abraham Accords in his keynote speech, which he described as a “very big thing.” The landmark 2020 agreement that normalized ties between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and several other Arab nations was predicated on Netanyahu not annexing the West Bank — and Saudi Arabia warned this week that annexation would be a “red line” to its own improved relations with Israel. 

That warning comes as Trump eyes an expansion of the Accords, with Saudi Arabia widely considered the next target for a White House set on furthering its dealmaking prowess in the Middle East. 

Netanyahu and Trump will hold their fourth Oval Office meeting of the year next week, offering the two leaders a chance to present a unified front on defeating Hamas — or, depending on what happens in New York this week, an opening for Trump to make the case against annexation, a demand that he and other administration figures have so far refrained from uttering in public.