Delegates at UN walk out ahead of Netanyahu's speech

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed a nearly empty auditorium Friday in the United Nations General Assembly, as delegates walked out to boycott his speech during the high-level gathering.

Israel is increasingly isolated internationally as Netanyahu pushes forward with the war against Hamas, the militant body governing the Gaza Strip and which triggered the ongoing conflict with its terrorist attack against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

Hamas massacred approximately 1,200 people in the initial assault and took more than 250 people hostage. There are 20 people still held hostage, and Hamas holds the bodies of 28 more.

The fallout from the war — with more than 60,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza, increasing violence between Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank, and Netanyahu’s rejection of the establishment of a Palestinian state — has turned international favor against Israel.

than 150 member states of the U.N. have voted or voiced their affirmation of recognizing the state of Palestine.

And the International Court of Justice, the main judicial body of the U.N., is considering a case brought forward by South Africa over whether Israel is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip. Further, the International Criminal Court, which tries cases against individuals, has issued an arrest warrant against Netanyahu for crimes against humanity.

The Israeli leader rejected such charges in his speech, albeit to a near-empty plenum.

“You know what message the leaders who recognize the Palestinian state this week sent to the Palestinians? It’s a very clear message: murdering Jews pays off,” Netanyahu said.

The prime minister further rejected claims of genocide, saying Israel takes measures to warn Palestinians to leave areas of conflict and has facilitated the delivery of food to the besieged strip.

“Would a country committing genocide plead with a civilian population it’s supposedly targeting to get out of harms way?” he asked. “We’re trying to get them out and Hamas is trying to keep them in.”

Israel’s supporters say that civilian deaths are regrettable casualties of urban warfare and against an enemy that hides among civilian infrastructure.

But Israel’s critics say that Israel carries out broad military strikes that maximizes civilian casualties rather than tries to minimize them. They also point to Israel’s decision to impose intermittent blockades of humanitarian aid as a policy aimed at hurting the population to increase pressure on Hamas.

{
“@context”: “https://schema.org”,
“@type”: “NewsArticle”,
“headline”: “[article_title]”,
“datePublished”: “2025-09-26 14:59:00”,
“dateModified”: “2025-09-26 14:59:00”,
“author”: {
“@type”: “Organization”,
“name”: “{source_domain}”
},
“publisher”: {
“@type”: “Organization”,
“name”: “UAE Today News”,
“logo”: {
“@type”: “ImageObject”,
“url”: “https://uaetodaynews.com/logo.png”
}
},
“mainEntityOfPage”: {
“@type”: “WebPage”,
“@id”: “https://thehill.com/policy/international/5523577-netanyahu-united-nations-speech-walkout-israel-gaza/”
},
“isBasedOn”: “https://thehill.com/policy/international/5523577-netanyahu-united-nations-speech-walkout-israel-gaza/”
}