Netanyahu Defends Gaza and Iran Campaigns at UN as Diplomats Walk Out

UNITED NATIONS — Benjamin Netanyahu defended Israel’s military campaigns in Gaza and Iran at the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, dismissing genocide allegations as “the biggest lie of the century” as dozens of diplomats walked out and thousands protested outside. The Israeli prime minister also accused New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani of antisemitism and called delegates who left the hall “moral cowards.”

Netanyahu spoke at the 81st UNGA session with a pivotal domestic election looming next month. He held up a Starlink satellite internet dish to illustrate technological resilience amid conflict, and accused international media outlets of misrepresenting the realities of the fighting.

The war in Iran, launched jointly by Israel and the United States in February 2026, was a central focus of his address. Now in its seventh month, the conflict has severely disrupted maritime shipping lanes in the Persian Gulf and Red Sea, destabilized global energy markets and defied multiple diplomatic initiatives aimed at securing a ceasefire.

“[Striking Iran] was one of the easiest decisions I’ve ever had to make,” Netanyahu said, arguing that pre-emptive military action was existential. “If we hadn’t done it, we’d all be dead,” he told the assembly, defending the operation despite international concern over its economic and humanitarian toll.

Yemen’s Vice President, Abdullah Abdulkader al Alimi-Bawzer, warned earlier on Thursday that advances by Iran-backed Houthi rebels near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait pose a catastrophic “international economic risk.” The chokepoint accounts for approximately 12 percent of global trade, Alimi-Bawzer said, speaking on behalf of Yemen’s internationally recognized government.

The Houthis, who have held the Yemeni capital of Sanaa since 2014, captured the strategic Red Sea port city of Mokha from Saudi-backed government troops earlier this month. They have since declared a maritime blockade on Saudi-bound shipping and launched targeted attacks on oil tankers, triggering massive displacement and worsening one of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises.

Israel’s operations in Gaza have continued despite a U.S.-mediated ceasefire that has technically been in place since October 2025. Israeli military strikes have killed more than 1,300 Palestinians over the last year, according to Gaza health authorities. The total death toll in Gaza since the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks, which killed approximately 1,200 people, has risen to nearly 74,000.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the 2023 Hamas attacks but described Israel’s subsequent campaign as an unrelenting “onslaught on Palestinians in Gaza.” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan compared the blockaded enclave to “the most inhumane, most shameful concentration camp of our time,” while Jordan’s King Abdullah II called Israel a “regional threat” operating with “terrifying levels” of impunity.

Diplomats began leaving the assembly as Netanyahu approached the rostrum. He condemned the coordinated walkout, calling the departing delegates “moral cowards.”

For the second consecutive year, the U.S. administration denied an entry visa to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, preventing him from attending in person. U.S. officials accused the Palestinian leadership of undermining peace efforts, despite Abbas’s historical position in favor of a negotiated settlement. He addressed the assembly in a pre-recorded video.

Abbas accused Israel of waging a “genocidal war” that had caused an “unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.” He called for a two-state solution and advocated “a democratic Palestinian state that respects the rule of law and human rights, a non-militarized state that lives in security and peace alongside the state of Israel.”

Thousands of protesters gathered outside UN headquarters to oppose Netanyahu’s visit. Among those detained by New York police were actors Susan Sarandon and Hannah Einbinder. Netanyahu dismissed the protesters as “phoney” and questioned why they had not held similar demonstrations against crackdowns by Iranian security forces.

The dispute with Mamdani, New York City’s first Muslim mayor, also reached the UN podium. Mamdani has repeatedly called Netanyahu a war criminal and publicly urged federal law enforcement to enforce the arrest warrant issued against the prime minister by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

“Mr. Mamdani, you tried to stop me from coming here. You tried to silence me,” Netanyahu said. “Well, you can’t silence me and you can’t silence the truth.” Mamdani responded with a statement calling Netanyahu’s accusations “baseless lies meant to sanitize his genocide against Palestinians.”

Netanyahu faces a critical domestic election next month that will determine his political survival, while his administration remains under intense pressure over its defense strategies and domestic policies. He described violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank as isolated incidents involving roughly 150 “juvenile delinquents.”

Major human rights organizations and news investigations have documented widespread, systemic settler violence and land seizures. The United Kingdom recently categorized the violence as amounting to “ethnic cleansing.”

Israel has barred foreign journalists from entering the Gaza Strip to report independently, a restriction that has remained in place for nearly three years.