Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strode to the podium of the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday and delivered a thunderous defense of Israel's conduct in Gaza — to a hall hemorrhaging delegates. Scores of UN envoys walked out before and during the address, according to reporting by Al Jazeera, The Guardian, and Time Magazine, in what amounted to one of the starkest diplomatic rebukes in recent UN memory.
Netanyahu's appearance came as Israel faces a pending genocide case before the International Court of Justice, brought by South Africa. The ICJ has issued provisional measures under the Genocide Convention but has not ruled on the underlying charge. A separate independent UN commission of inquiry concluded in September 2025 that Israel had committed genocide — a finding Israel has rejected. The ICC has also issued an arrest warrant against Netanyahu for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. More than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to Al Jazeera.
Netanyahu declared from the podium that Gaza genocide allegations constituted 'the biggest lie of the century,' calling the IDF 'the most moral army in the world' and asserting that 'Israel prevented genocide' rather than committed it, citing food aid and polio vaccination campaigns as evidence, per Time Magazine. He claimed, without presenting evidence, that leaders whose delegates walked out had privately thanked Israel for 'taking out Iran's nukes,' according to Al Jazeera. The prime minister also trained his fire on a sprawling roster of adversaries: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was branded a 'tyrant'; Qatar was accused of funding 'toxic media outlets like Al Jazeera' — a charge Qatar's embassy deputy chief of mission publicly rebutted, Al Jazeera reported. Al Jazeera noted that Israel attacked the Qatari capital Doha in September 2025 and was subsequently compelled by U.S. President Donald Trump to apologize. Netanyahu reserved particular venom for New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, calling him 'the antisemitic mayor of New York' and accusing him of making Jewish New Yorkers feel unsafe, per Time Magazine. Mamdani responded by accusing Netanyahu of using the speech to 'repeat baseless lies meant to sanitize his genocide of Palestinians' and noted that Netanyahu remains subject to an active ICC arrest warrant. Al Jazeera reported that Netanyahu appeared to be calibrating his address partly toward a domestic Israeli audience, with parliamentary elections roughly one month away that could force him from office.
The walkout underscored what Al Jazeera characterized as Israel's deepening isolation from the global community, even as Netanyahu dismissed that isolation as the product of manipulation and enemy propaganda rather than organic opposition to Israeli policy. Outside the UN building, the rupture between Netanyahu's government and broad swaths of international civil society was rendered in vivid terms: The Guardian reported more than 100 arrests near UN headquarters, including actor Susan Sarandon, whistleblower Chelsea Manning, and comedian Caleb Hearon. Hundreds of Jewish, Palestinian, Iranian, and Lebanese New Yorkers demonstrated outside the building, with thousands more marching from Bryant Park to the UN later in the day. Anti-Netanyahu protests had also erupted at John F. Kennedy International Airport the previous day, targeting commercial flights allegedly carrying weapons bound for the Israeli military, per The Guardian.
Netanyahu's address did not produce any announced diplomatic breakthrough, shift in UN posture, or new ceasefire framework. What it produced was a chamber of empty chairs, a city in protest, and a prime minister who showed no sign of changing course.