Benjamin Netanyahu used his UN speech to denounce critics, attack allies including Britain and France, and defend Israel’s military actions, as dozens of diplomats walked out of the chamber at the start of his address.
The Israeli prime minister also criticised New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani and Iran’s leadership during Thursday’s appearance at the UN General Assembly, in a speech analysts said was aimed as much at voters back home as at the international audience.
Some envoys jeered and booed before leaving the chamber, while members of Netanyahu’s team stood to applaud. The session’s presiding officer called for order.
“If there are any other moral cowards who haven’t left this hall, please do so now,” Netanyahu told those turning their backs on him.
Netanyahu described Israel as fighting a “seven-front war” involving Gaza, the occupied West Bank, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Yemen’s Houthi rebels and militias in Iraq.
“We are going to win. We have no other choice,” he declared, repeating words associated with his older brother Yonatan Netanyahu, who was killed in 1976 during Operation Entebbe in Uganda.
Netanyahu attacks Britain and France
The prime minister condemned Britain and France, historic partners of Israel that have become increasingly critical of its actions and have imposed limited sanctions on Israeli exports from the occupied West Bank.
“They accuse Israel, tiny Israel, of colonialism – some colonialism. And who’s accusing us? Among them are people in Britain and in France. For God’s sakes, they invented the term,” he said.
Netanyahu reserved praise for US President Donald Trump, thanking his “friend” and describing Washington as Israel’s strongest partner in its fight against what he called “barbarians”. He said Israeli and US pilots had flown joint missions over Iran and that the two countries had worked together to bring back remaining hostages from Gaza.
He also defended Israel against accusations of genocide in Gaza, telling those who spread what he called “lies about my country” to be ashamed.
Addressing Mamdani directly, Netanyahu said: “Mr Mamdani, you tried to stop me from coming here. You tried to silence me. Well, you can’t silence me.”
Mamdani called the accusations against him “baseless lies” intended to “sanitise his genocide of Palestinians”. He had previously said he would seek Netanyahu’s arrest during a visit to New York.
Israel has faced repeated accusations of genocide and systematic war crimes in Gaza and the occupied West Bank since October 7, 2023. Netanyahu denies the charges. The International Criminal Court said in 2024 that there were reasonable grounds to believe he was responsible for war crimes in Gaza, where more than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed.
Netanyahu attended the UN General Assembly despite an ICC arrest warrant. He was welcomed at the meeting, while the Trump administration denied a visa to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who addressed delegates earlier through a prerecorded statement from Ramallah.
Outside the UN, activists from Jewish Voice for Peace accused the organisation of “playing host to a war criminal”. Protesters gathered nearby with banners calling for an end to what they described as genocide, and several demonstrators, including actor Susan Sarandon, were detained.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian had used his own UN address a day earlier to accuse Israel of a “double standard” over nuclear weapons, saying: “The nuclear weapon is in Israel, but the inspectors are in Iran. Israel kills, but Iran is subject to sanctions.”
Netanyahu said the US-Israeli military operation against Iran in February had been difficult but one of the easiest decisions he had made as prime minister, arguing that without it “we’d all be dead”.
With Israel’s election campaign under way and Netanyahu facing a tight contest on October 27, Ariel Cohen of the Atlantic Council said the speech was better suited to an election rally than the UN. Netanyahu is due to make only a brief stop in New York before returning to Israel and is not scheduled to meet senior US leaders.
