Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered an inflammatory address to the United Nations on Thursday, using the platform to attack international critics and characterize Israel’s military campaign in Gaza as the "opposite of genocide." Facing domestic political pressure and international isolation, Netanyahu used the speech as a stump address to rally his right-wing base ahead of upcoming elections in Israel.
As Netanyahu took the stage, dozens of delegates staged a walkout in response to a Palestinian call to protest the military operations in Gaza. The scene grew chaotic as a speaker was forced to pound the gavel to restore order. Before beginning his prepared remarks, Netanyahu addressed the departing delegates, stating, "If there are any other moral cowards in the audience, I urge them to walk out."
The Prime Minister directed sharp criticism at several figures and entities, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, whom he labeled a "tyrant," and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, whom he called an "antisemitic mayor." He also dismissed international media coverage and left-wing commentators like Hasan Piker as part of a global anti-Jewish conspiracy. Regarding the war in Gaza, he asserted, "To all those spreading these lies about my country and about our brave soldiers, whether they sit in this hall or in the office of the antisemitic mayor of New York, I say this: shame on you!"
Netanyahu cited the February joint US-Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities as a necessary act of survival, claiming, "If we hadn't done it, we'd all be dead." He invoked the memory of his late brother, Yonatan Netanyahu, a commando killed during the 1976 Entebbe raid, to reiterate his resolve: "We are going to win. We have no other choice."
Hours earlier, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas delivered a video address from Ramallah after the Trump administration denied visas to his delegation for the second consecutive year. Abbas condemned the Israeli government for pursuing a "malicious colonial plan" aimed at establishing a "Greater Israel" and erasing the Palestinian presence. He urged the international community to prevent another Nakba and denounced the US visa denial as an "unlawful" punitive measure that violated its obligations as a host country.
Outside the United Nations headquarters in New York, hundreds of demonstrators gathered to protest the visit. By the conclusion of Netanyahu’s speech, police had arrested more than 100 protesters, including local elected officials. While Mayor Mamdani had previously suggested that Netanyahu was "not welcome" in the city and discussed the potential for an arrest warrant, he stated this week that he would not attend the protests while continuing to defend the right to demonstrate.
Netanyahu is not scheduled to meet with Donald Trump or other senior US officials during this trip, citing the need to return to Israel for the election campaign and the holiday of Sukkot.
“Do not allow another Nakba and further massacres like those of 1948 to continue taking place,” he added, referring to the expulsion of Palestinians upon the founding of Israel.
