Despite the overwhelmingly anti-Israel sentiment that pervaded the U.N. General Assembly today, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended Israel when he chose to preface his address with the advice of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson.

“You will be serving in a house of lies,” Netanyahu said, quoting the Rebbe's words to him in 1984, when Netanyahu met with Rebbe soon after he was appointed Israel’s ambassador to the U.N.

“Remember, that even in the darkest place, the light of a candle can be seen far and wide.”

Earlier today, the sustained applause and appreciative whistles of hundreds of diplomats broke up the speech of Mahmoud Abass as he outlined the Palestinian's request to be recognized by the U.N. as a member state.

But in a “hall that for too long has been place of darkness for my country,” Netanyahu challenged that he didn’t come here to win applause.

“I came here to speak the truth,” he said. “The truth is, the Palestinians want a state without peace, and you should not let that happen.”