Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to the UN General Assembly was met with a mass walkout on Friday, as dozens of delegates left the chamber the moment he took the podium. His entrance was greeted with a mix of cheers and shouts of protest, while delegates began leaving their seats en masse. The incident laid bare Israel’s growing international isolation over its military campaign in Gaza.
Netanyahu spoke after several days of speeches by world leaders who condemned Israel’s military actions in Gaza from the same rostrum. He branded those who walked out as “moral cowards” and added: “If there are other moral cowards in the hall who haven’t left yet, please leave now.” The remarks drew sharp reactions in diplomatic circles.
The Israeli premier dismissed accusations of genocide in Gaza as “the biggest lie of the century.” He also claimed that joining the US war against Iran was “one of the easiest decisions” he had ever made. Netanyahu vowed to continue the fight: “We will win. We have no other choice.” He expressed gratitude to US President Donald Trump for his “strong leadership.”
According to the Associated Press, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas also addressed the UN the same day, but did so via video link — the US denied him a visa to attend in person for the second consecutive year. In his video address, Abbas told the UN that Israeli policy, particularly the illegal expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, threatens “the life and existence of Palestinians on their own land.” He said this jeopardizes the internationally backed “two-state” solution as a formula for Israeli-Palestinian peace. Abbas also stated that Palestinians in Gaza are subjected to “massacre, destruction, starvation and attempts at forced displacement, as well as a war of genocide” by Israeli forces.
In his speech, Netanyahu fiercely defended his country’s military campaigns in Iran, Gaza and other parts of the Middle East, BBC News reported. He accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of supporting the Palestinian group Hamas and called him a “tyrant.” Erdogan had earlier told the UN that the injustices faced by people in Gaza and the West Bank “deeply shake humanity’s conscience.” Netanyahu also criticized left-wing New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who had previously promised to arrest him but later said he lacked the authority. “Since you were elected mayor of this city, many Jews in New York no longer feel safe,” Netanyahu said. In response, Mamdani’s office stated that Netanyahu “used his speech to repeat baseless lies aimed at justifying genocide against Palestinians.”
Source: www.gazeta.uz