Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted his nation’s right to wage war against Iran in a defiant speech to world leaders at the UN General Assembly – but it was not heard by dozens of delegates who walked out before he started speaking.
Delegates jeered and booed, while Netanyahu’s own team stood and applauded, and the speaker of the session shouted for order.
‘If there are any other moral cowards who haven’t left this hall, please do so now,’ Netanyahu said.
Allegations of Israeli genocide in Gaza are not only false but ‘the biggest lie of the century,’ Netanyahu told world leaders in a defiant speech that asserted his nation’s right to wage war against Iran.
Netanyahu, his voice rising in emphasis, said attacking Iran ‘was one of the easiest decisions I’ve ever had to make’.
‘In defending itself, Israel is also defending many of the countries whose delegates just left this hall,’ Netanyahu said. ‘In fact, I want you to know that many of their leaders even thank us privately for taking out Iran’s nukes.’
During the speech, Netanyahu attacked Britain and France for their past colonial empires: ‘They accuse Israel, tiny Israel, of colonialism – some colonialism.
‘And who’s accusing us? Among them are people in Britain and in France. For God’s sakes, they invented the term.’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted his nation’s right to wage war against Iran in a defiant speech to world leaders at the UN General Assembly
He went on to call the Israeli youths who target Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank ‘juvenile delinquents’.
‘What (the media) cover is a handful of young juvenile delinquents, about 150 in number, who go or throw stones, who chop down olive trees,’ Netanyahu said.
‘I can’t stand that. I won’t stand for vigilantism.’
He also claimed that ‘many Jews’ no longer feel safe in New York since leftist Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s election.
‘Since you were elected mayor of this city, many Jews no longer feel safe in New York,’ he said. ‘You falsely, repeatedly accuse Israel of genocide.’
His speech came after a week filled with speeches by world leaders accusing Israel of genocide and war crimes in Gaza.
The Palestinian Mission to the UN said in a message to many of the 193 member nations to bring as many staff as possible to the assembly hall and ‘collectively walk out of the assembly’ once the Israeli prime minister is announced.
‘This will send a clear message to Netanyahu and his government that no one is willing to aid, abet, or be complicit in its genocide and war crimes and illegal occupation, which all peace-loving states and peoples demand must come to an end,’ the message said.
In past years, Netanyahu has used his General Assembly speech to both denounce the United Nations as biased and make Israel’s case to world leaders.
His address – scheduled for prime time in Israel – is the cornerstone of an abbreviated trip to the United States unfolding under the shadow of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani calling him a ‘war criminal’ and pushing for his arrest.
Mamdani has acknowledged that New York does not have the authority to execute an International Criminal Court warrant but urged federal authorities to do so.
Israel has grown increasingly isolated throughout the war in Gaza. The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants attacked Israel, killing around 1,200 people and kidnapping 251.
At least 73,922 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s subsequent offensive, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, part of the Hamas-run government whose numbers are generally considered reliable by the international community.
A ceasefire agreed to by Israel and Hamas last October halted the heaviest of the fighting and led to the release of the remaining hostages yet further steps have since stalled.
Israel maintains control of most of Gaza and continues to carry out airstrikes on Palestinians near military-held zones.
Hamas has not disarmed or relinquished power and there has been no progress toward reconstruction in the mostly destroyed territory.
