Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a fiery speech at the United Nations General Assembly, attacking recent moves by several Western nations to recognize a Palestinian state. He denounced the recognition as a “mark of shame,” claiming it sent the message that “murdering Jews pays off.” His remarks triggered a dramatic response, as dozens of diplomats walked out, leaving large parts of the assembly hall empty, while protesters against Israel’s war in Gaza rallied outside in New York’s Times Square.
Netanyahu opened his address by displaying a map titled “The Curse,” pointing to Iranian proxy groups across the Middle East. He highlighted Israeli operations over the past year against Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, Hamas in Gaza, and Iran itself. Thanking U.S. President Donald Trump for assisting in the bombing of Iran’s Fordo nuclear site in June, he drew parallels between Hamas’s 7 October 2023 assault on Israel and the 9/11 attacks in the United States, stressing that both countries were fighting the same enemies.
Declaring that Israel would never allow a Palestinian state to exist, Netanyahu insisted this view was backed by the majority of Israelis. He dismissed a UN commission’s finding that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza as “baseless” and rejected UN claims that Israel was deliberately blocking aid, despite international warnings of famine in the besieged enclave.
In a controversial move, Netanyahu’s office arranged for his speech to be broadcast into Gaza via loudspeakers mounted on military trucks while also claiming Israeli intelligence had hacked local smartphones to stream his message directly. He used this moment to address the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza, telling them they were not forgotten and pledging their eventual return. Critics inside Israel, however, ridiculed the stunt, with opposition leaders calling it “childish,” “insane,” and a “propaganda show.”
The speech also touched on regional issues, with Netanyahu suggesting Israel was close to a de-escalation deal with Syria and urging Lebanon to curb Hezbollah. Yet his tone and tactics drew sharp domestic criticism, with opposition leader Yair Lapid accusing him of weakening Israel’s global position and Democrats party chief Yair Golan branding the address “a performance of victimhood and blindness.”
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, speaking at the same forum a day earlier, had pledged to work with world leaders to implement a peace plan for Israel and Palestine. Meanwhile, Trump hinted separately that “a deal on Gaza” might be close, though no details were provided.
The Gaza war, now nearing its two-year mark, began after the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel in October 2023 that killed around 1,200 people and took 251 hostages. Since then, the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry reports more than 65,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli strikes, as international scrutiny of Israel’s military campaign continues to mount.