Netanyahu Calls UN Delegates 'Moral Cowards' as Dozens Walk Out of His Speech

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu walked to the rostrum of the 81st UN General Assembly on Thursday 24 September 2026, and much of the room walked the other way. Dozens of delegates left as he began to speak, according to the wire services. Foreign Policy put the number above 100. Both figures are on the record, and they do not match.

Netanyahu Tells the UN 'Shame on You' as Delegates Walk Out Before He Speaks

United Nations, New York - The walkout came before the first word. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had not yet begun speaking to the 81st UN General Assembly when delegates started rising from their seats and heading for the doors.

The Hall Emptied Before He Spoke

The walkout did not happen by accident. The Palestinian Mission to the UN sent a message to many of the 193 member nations urging them to bring as many staff as possible to the assembly hall and to "collectively walk out of the assembly" once the Israeli prime minister was announced. The message said the walkout would "send a clear message to Netanyahu and his government that no one is willing to aid, abet, or be complicit in its genocide and war crimes and illegal occupation, which all peace-loving states and peoples demand must come to an end." Israel rejects allegations that it committed genocide and war crimes and that it is illegally occupying Palestinian territory.

When Netanyahu reached the podium, a mix of cheers, boos and walkouts erupted. Some envoys jeered. His own team stood and applauded. General Assembly president Khalilur Rahman said repeatedly: "Order in the hall, please." Supporters in the gallery chanted in Hebrew: "Am Yisrael Chai" - the people of Israel live. It was the second consecutive year Netanyahu faced a mass walkout at the UNGA.

"Moral Cowards"

Netanyahu did not let the moment pass. He called those leaving "moral cowards" and invited anyone who agreed with them to follow: "If there are any other moral cowards who have not yet left the hall, please do so now." He added: "In defending itself, Israel is 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."

A Pager, a Starlink Dish, and the Iran War

Netanyahu is known for using visual aids at the General Assembly, and this time he held up a pager, referencing the 17 September 2024 attack in which Israel remotely detonated thousands of pagers distributed to the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon. That attack wounded more than 3,000 people and killed 12, including two children, according to AP. He also held up a Starlink satellite internet receiver he said he would leave for the Iranian delegation: "So when they inevitably defect, they too will be able to freely tell their story on social media."

On the war with Iran, now close to seven months old, Netanyahu said Israeli and US forces had stopped Tehran from being able to develop nuclear weapons. The war began with joint US-Israeli strikes in late February 2026. He said: "Devastating Iran's nuclear facilities was hard, was very hard to do. But for me, it was one of the easiest decisions I've ever had to make as prime minister" - because, he said, "if I hadn't done it, we'd all be dead." He called Iran a "murderous dictatorship" and said the fall of Iran's leadership was not "far."

Iran maintains its nuclear programme is purely civilian, and its government has retained control, continuing to defy the United States by effectively blocking the Strait of Hormuz. Its delegation's seats were vacant during the speech, with a portrait of the slain Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani displayed on the empty desk. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian had addressed the assembly a day earlier, on Wednesday 23 September: "The nuclear weapon is in Israel, but the inspectors are in Iran. Israel kills, but Iran is subject to sanctions."

Israel Prevented Genocide, Netanyahu Says

Netanyahu said allegations of Israeli genocide in Gaza are not only false but "the biggest lie of the century." He said: "Here's a simple truth: Israel didn't commit genocide. Israel prevented genocide." He called the Hamas-led attack of 7 October 2023 the "darkest day in Israel's history" and said Hamas militants killed about 1,200 people and kidnapped 251. He compared it to the United States: "This is equal to 40,000 innocent Americans slaughtered in less than 24 hours" - which he called 16 times the death count on the 9/11 attacks that left nearly 3,000 people dead in New York.

At least 73,922 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's subsequent offensive, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, part of the Hamas-run government whose numbers are generally considered reliable by the international community. A ceasefire agreed by Israel and Hamas last October halted the heaviest of the fighting and led to the release of the remaining hostages, but further steps have since stalled. Israel maintains control of most of Gaza and continues to carry out air strikes near military-held zones.

The Mayor of New York

Netanyahu attacked New York's mayor, Zohran Mamdani, calling him "antisemitic" and claiming that "since you were elected mayor of this city, many Jews no longer feel safe." He said: "You tried to stop me from coming here. You tried. You tried to silence me. Well, you can't silence me. You can't silence the truth." And: "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!" Netanyahu accused Mamdani of supporting Hamas militants, something Mamdani has denied.

It was Netanyahu's first visit to New York since Mamdani took office in January. Mamdani campaigned partly on a promise to have Netanyahu arrested for alleged war crimes if he visited the city, but later said he had determined he lacked the legal authority and urged federal authorities to act instead. Earlier in the week he described Netanyahu as "the architect of a horrific genocide against Palestinians." Mamdani's response to the speech: "As he has done time and again, Prime Minister Netanyahu used his speech to repeat baseless lies meant to sanitize his genocide of Palestinians. Yet no lie can change the fact that he remains the subject of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity."

Britain, France and the Word Colonialism

Britain and France, historic partners of Israel, were in Netanyahu's firing line. Both have imposed limited sanctions on Israeli exports from the occupied West Bank. Netanyahu said: "The leaders of these countries have chosen to succumb to the antisemitic mobs. They've chosen weakness. They've chosen appeasement." And: "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."

French President Emmanuel Macron drew Israel's ire by claiming in his own UN speech that Hamas was not active in the West Bank. Earlier in September, once-steadfast allies Britain, France and Canada announced sanctions targeting Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, which drew a muted response from Washington. Netanyahu also accused Qatar and Turkey of spreading lies about Israel, accused Turkey of backing Hamas, and called President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a "tyrant."

Settler Violence and "a Handful of Juvenile Delinquents"

On West Bank settler violence, Netanyahu played it down, describing it as "a handful of young juvenile delinquents, about 150 in number, who throw stones, who chop down olive trees. Occasionally ... they lit some fires. I can't stand that. I won't stand for vigilantism. We're a country of law." He accused foreign leaders and the international press of distorting the scale of violence in the West Bank.

Netanyahu's government is dominated by settlers and their allies, including the Cabinet minister who oversees the police, and there have been few arrests of settlers involved in attacks on Palestinians, according to AP. European leaders recently sanctioned Israeli settlements after a sharp rise in settler violence in the West Bank.

Abbas, From Ramallah, on a Screen

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addressed the General Assembly earlier the same day by pre-recorded video from his office in Ramallah, after the Trump administration denied him and other top Palestinian officials visas to attend for the second year in a row. Abbas said: "We reject these unlawful punitive measures, and we reject the accusations and justifications on which they were based." He said: "The Palestinian people face one of the most dangerous periods in their history."

Abbas said: "We will not leave our homeland. We will not accept displacement. And we will not allow anyone to decide our future on our behalf." He asked: "How long will some countries continue to remain silent about Israel, or continue supplying it with weapons that it uses against our people?" As he spoke, the Israeli delegation's seats sat vacant. Abbas, 90, has led the Palestinian Authority since 2005, and he urged the international community to push for a two-state solution, saying Palestinians could live "alongside the state of Israel." Netanyahu has said no Palestinian state will be established while he is Israel's leader and has argued the Palestinian Authority is not a partner for peace.

An Election Speech Delivered Abroad

Israel's general election is on 27 October 2026, less than five weeks after the speech. Netanyahu is locked in a tight race to stay in power, and opinion polls show his bloc trailing its rivals. He spoke for about 40 minutes in what amounted to a campaign-style address, broadcast live in evening prime time on all four of the main Israeli television channels.

Ahead of it, his office said the government paid to place 500 pro-Israel and anti-Iran billboards and dozens of trucks carrying supportive messages across Manhattan. He used the speech to showcase what he described as a "seven-front war": Gaza, the occupied West Bank, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Yemen's Houthis and militias in Iraq. "We are going to win. We have no other choice," he said, repeating words he attributed to his older brother Yonatan, killed in 1976 during Operation Entebbe in Uganda. He praised Trump - "we've had no greater partner than President Trump" - and the US delegation joined the Israeli one in applauding. He was making a short visit with no planned meeting with Trump.

What Comes Next

Outside the United Nations, several hundred protesters gathered near the building. Dozens blocked traffic, chanting "Stop arming Israel, let Gaza live" and "Stop arming Israel, let Iran live," and police detained them. Dozens of demonstrators were detained, including Hollywood actor Susan Sarandon. Activists from the US-based organisation Jewish Voice for Peace accused the United Nations of "playing host to a war criminal." Its communications director, Sonya Meyerson-Knox, told Al Jazeera: "All across New York, Jews, Palestinians and people of conscience are rising up to demand an end to US support for the livestreamed horrors, rigged ceasefires and forever wars."

Ariel Cohen, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center, told Al Jazeera that Netanyahu delivered a "good speech" in the "wrong forum": "That speech should be given at an election rally in Israel; this is who he's communicating to. He is making points that should be made to the Israeli audience for his political survival."

The Hague-based International Criminal Court said in 2024 it had reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu was responsible for war crimes in the Gaza campaign. Warrants were issued against him, his then-defence minister and the then-military commander of Hamas. He denies the claims and is unable to travel to many countries because of the warrant. Nothing has been adjudicated.

For Netanyahu, the next verdict that counts is closer to home. Israel votes on 27 October, and the polls show his bloc behind.

By Jessica Ali, Staff Writer

This article was produced with AI-assisted research and editorial support. Sources: Reuters, Associated Press, Al Jazeera, Channel NewsAsia/AFP, The Independent, Foreign Policy, Times Now and The Indian Express.