Netanyahu’s speech to a joint session of Congress back in May was also widely applauded by a friendly audience. But this address — before a body that welcomes Iranian President Ahmadinejad for the so-called Durban III conference against racism, an inversion of human rights not even Orwell could have imagined — was in the least collegial of atmospheres.

And yet his talk was extremely eloquent and well-delivered. In an atmosphere former NY Mayor Koch describes as a “cesspool,” Netanyahu was the only man, the only statesman, genuinely to stand up for the principles of guilt-ridden Western civilization.

Noteworthy too is that the Israeli PM speaks (and no doubt writes) the English language far better than any of our presidential candidates, not to mention our cliche-ridden liberalist incumbent who is even loath to appear before children without a teleprompter.

Bibi Netanyahu has grown up and grown into the kind of statesman the world and, alas, this country needs. (Can you imagine how he would rout the field in one of the Republican debates?) In Israel he is accused of being “too American,” and indeed he is very American. He represents the best of our tradition –a true liberal in the classical sense, not the false kind currently dominating our culture. Everyone should read his speech — or, better yet, watch it.

Even more important, however, is the question of what to do about that former repository of our hopes and dreams known as the UN. I am writing this on the plane back from NY where I was supervising PJTV coverage of The Perils of Global Intolerance: The United Nations and Durban III. That was a counter-conference to the UN’s Durban III and featured a number of magnificent speakers from Jon Voight to the Sudan’s Simon Deng. (You can watch them all at the link.) And when I say “magnificent” I am not in this instance being hyperbolic. I am not one who normally enjoys speeches at conferences. I guess I have too much of my own kind of ADD. But these speeches were riveting. Have a look.