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Dozens of U.N. Delegates Walk Out in Protest as Israel’s Netanyahu Addresses General Assembly
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a defiant speech to a half-empty chamber at the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, after dozens of delegations walked out in protest at the start of his address. Netanyahu assailed his critics as “antisemites” and lavished praise on President Trump for joining Israel’s strikes on Iran.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “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 boldly confronted an enormous danger to America, Israel and the world.”
Netanyahu’s remarks followed a speech by Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, who addressed the General Assembly by video stream, after the Trump administration denied visas to Palestinian delegates to attend the U.N. talks for the second year in a row. Abbas said Palestinians now face one of their most dangerous moments in history due to a “genocidal war that has created an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.”
Prime Minister Netanyahu rejected allegations of genocide in Gaza as “the biggest lie of the century,” and he lashed out at critics, including New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “So, 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!”
New York Mayor Mamdani responded in a statement, “As he has done time and again, Prime Minister Netanyahu used his speech to repeat baseless lies meant to sanitize his genocide of Palestinians.”
