Benjamin Netanyahu faced a mass walkout during his address to the United Nations General Assembly, with scores of delegates leaving the chamber as the Israeli prime minister took the podium.
Cheers and boos broke out before the departures, leaving a majority of seats empty. General Assembly president Khalilur Rahman repeatedly called for order.
Netanyahu condemned those who left as “moral cowards”, telling the remaining delegates: “If there are any other moral cowards who have not yet left the hall, please do so now.”
He claimed Israel was defending countries whose representatives had walked out, saying: “In defending itself, Israel is also also defending many of the countries whose delegates just left this hall.”
“In fact, I want you to know that many of their leaders even thank us privately for taking out Iran’s nukes,” he added.
The Palestinian Mission to the UN had urged member countries to bring as many staff as possible to the assembly and collectively leave when Netanyahu was announced.
Its message said the walkout would show that no one was willing to “aid, abet or be complicit in its genocide and war crimes and illegal occupation”. Israel rejects allegations that it has committed genocide or war crimes and is illegally occupying Palestinian territory.
During the speech, Netanyahu held up a pager while recalling the September 17 2024 attack in which Israel remotely detonated thousands of devices distributed to Hezbollah in Lebanon. The attack wounded more than 3,000 people and killed 12, including two children.
He also referred to the October 7 2023 attack by Hamas militants, in which about 1,200 people were killed. Netanyahu compared the figure to 40,000 innocent Americans being killed in less than 24 hours and said it was 16 times the death toll of the September 11 attacks, which left nearly 3,000 people dead in New York.
Netanyahu thanked US President Donald Trump for taking decisive action against Iran and insisted Israel would prevail. “We will continue to win because we have no other choice,” he said.
