Dozens of delegates walk out of UN hall at start of Netanyahu speech

Dozens of delegates streamed out as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday mounted a forceful defence of Israel’s actions in the region at the United Nations, seeking to counter growing international isolation ahead of elections he could lose.

As Netanyahu took to the rostrum, officials walked out of the General Assembly meeting of world leaders in protest, prompting him to describe them as “moral cowards”.

Before Netanyahu’s speech, large crowds demonstrated near UN headquarters and elsewhere in New York, against his appearance and accusing him of committing “genocide” in Gaza.

The protests included anti-Zionist Orthodox Jews carrying signs describing Netanyahu as a “war criminal”, as well as American and Israeli Jewish opposition groups and Western and Palestinian organisations opposing the genocidal war.

Delegates walk out as Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the 81st United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York City, US, September 24, 2026. REUTERS

The Yedioth Ahronoth Israeli newspaper said that “large crowds” left the hall immediately after Netanyahu took the podium, before he began speaking.

Israel’s Channel 12 also published an image showing most of the hall’s seats empty.

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Netanyahu has been wanted by the ICC since 2024.

He used his UN address to berate New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani for calling him a war criminal, Western European leaders for what he called succumbing to the “antisemitic mobs”, and Qatar and Turkiye for allegedly spreading lies about his country.

“You tried to stop me from coming here. You tried. You tried to silence me. Well, you can’t silence me. You can’t silence the truth,” Netanyahu said of Mamdani.

Mamdani campaigned for office on a promise to have Netanyahu arrested for alleged war crimes should he visit the largest US city, but later said he had determined he lacked the legal authority to do so.

This week, Mamdani described Netanyahu as “the architect of a horrific genocide against Palestinians”.

Addressing the mayor directly after a feud in the run-up to his arrival in New York, Netanyahu falsely accused Mamdani of supporting Hamas.

“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, who rejected the war crimes allegations, was making his first visit to New York since Mamdani took office in January.

In a statement, Mamdani said: “As he has done time and again, Prime Minister Netanyahu used his speech to repeat baseless lies ​meant to sanitise his genocide of Palestinians. Yet no lie can change the fact that he remains the subject of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity.”

Demonstrators protest ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to the United Nations 81st General Assembly in New York City, US, September 24, 2026. REUTERS

With general elections less than five weeks away, Netanyahu spoke for about 40 minutes in what amounted to a campaign-style speech, broadcast live in evening prime time on all four of Israel’s main television channels.

Ahead of his speech, Netanyahu’s government paid to place 500 pro-Israel and anti-Iran billboards and dozens of trucks carrying messages in support of Israel across Manhattan, his office said in a statement.

Netanyahu, who is seen losing power in opinion polls, showcased what he said was Israel’s fight on seven fronts.

Israel’s longest-serving prime minister has in the past made a visual spectacle of his UN appearances, using charts, diagrams and props to warn of Iran’s nuclear programme, which Tehran says is for civilian purposes.

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On Thursday, he held up a pager in reference to an attack that crippled Iran-backed Hezbollah members in Lebanon and showed a Starlink satellite internet receiver, which he said he would leave for the Iranian delegation.

“So when they inevitably defect, they too will be able to freely tell their story on social media,” he said, adding that it was only a matter of time before the Iranian authorities would be toppled by the people.

Street protests in New York

Anti-Israel protesters took to New York City streets. Several hundred protesters gathered near the United Nations, with dozens blocking traffic and chanting, “Stop arming Israel, let Gaza live” and “Stop arming Israel, let Iran live.”

Police detained them.

The election campaign in Israel is unfolding amid mounting criticism of the country’s Gaza war.

Netanyahu was making a short visit to the United States for his UN address and, unusually, without a planned meeting with US President Donald Trump, whom he praised during his speech.

“We will continue to defend our state. We will continue to win because we have no other choice. In this battle against the barbarians, we’ve had no greater partner than President Trump. I thank him. I thank him for his bold leadership,” he said.

Deepening isolation

Israel has faced deepening diplomatic isolation since launching its war in Gaza ​in response to the Hamas-led ⁠attacks on Israel nearly three years ago.

Netanyahu is unable to travel to many countries because of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant, issued against him and his then-defence minister as well as the then-military commander of Hamas in 2024.

Earlier this month, once-steadfast allies Britain, France and Canada announced sanctions targeting Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, which drew a muted response from Washington.

“The leaders of these countries have chosen to succumb to the antisemitic ⁠mobs. They’ve chosen ​weakness. They’ve chosen appeasement,” Netanyahu said.

He played down worsening violence in the occupied West Bank by Israeli settlers, describing it as “a ​handful of young juvenile delinquents, about 150 in number, who throw stones, who chop down olive trees”.

“Occasionally … they lit some fires. I can’t stand that. I won’t stand for vigilantism. We’re a country of law.”