NEW YORK (TNND) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended Israel’s wars in Iran and Gaza in a contentious address to world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Thursday.
As Netanyahu stepped to the podium, a mix of cheers and boos filled the chamber while a mass of delegates walked out, forcing General Assembly President Khalilur Rahman to repeatedly call for “order in the hall.”
“If there are any other moral cowards who have not yet left the hall, please do so now,” Netanyahu said before beginning his remarks.
Speaking amid the nearly seven-month U.S.-Israeli war with Iran and the nearly three-year Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, Netanyahu said destroying Iran’s nuclear facilities was among the easiest decisions of his time as prime minister.
“Because if we hadn’t done it, we’d all be dead,” he said, arguing Israel was also protecting countries whose delegates left the hall. Netanyahu said some foreign leaders had privately thanked Israel for taking out Iran’s nuclear program.
Netanyahu said Israel has been fighting a “seven-front war” since the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack, naming Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, Iran, Iran-backed militias in Iraq and Syria, and Palestinian militants in the West Bank. He said Israel and the United States had together destroyed Iran’s army, navy, air force and nuclear facilities, and praised President Donald Trump as Israel’s “greatest partner” in the fight.
Netanyahu also held up a pager, recalling Israel’s 2024 operation targeting Hezbollah members in Lebanon. The coordinated explosions killed 12 people, including two children, and wounded more than 3,000 others.
He predicted that Iran’s government would eventually be overthrown, criticizing delegates who walked out and protesters outside the U.N. for what he called their silence about Iranian repression.
“One day, and it may not be far away, the Iranian people will be free,” he said. “Their murderous regime will be toppled by its lies, by its corruption, by its cruelty.”
He also rejected accusations that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, calling them “the greatest lie of the century.” Netanyahu accused Hamas of using civilians as human shields and claimed Israel had sought to move Palestinians out of combat zones through text messages, phone calls and leaflets while facilitating humanitarian aid.
The visit gives Netanyahu a high-profile chance to defend Israel on the international stage as criticism mounts over its conduct in Gaza and ahead of Israel’s upcoming election. It was Netanyahu’s 15th address to the General Assembly.
Netanyahu also arrived after a public clash with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has called him a war criminal and encouraged protests over his visit.
In his speech, Netanyahu directly addressed Mamdani, accusing him of spreading antisemitic lies, falsely accusing Israel of genocide and making Jewish New Yorkers feel unsafe. “Mr. Mamdani, you tried to stop me from coming here,” Netanyahu said. “You tried to silence me. Well, you can’t silence me. You can’t silence the truth.”
Before Netanyahu’s remarks, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addressed the assembly in prerecorded remarks from his office in Ramallah after the United States denied visas to him and other senior Palestinian officials for a second straight year.
“We will not leave our homeland. We will not accept displacement. And we will not allow anyone to decide our future on our behalf,” Abbas said.
He pressed countries to take more concrete action against Israel, asking: “How long will some countries continue to remain silent about Israel, or continue supplying it with weapons that it uses against our people?”
“The world has witnessed the enormous cost in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank,” Abbas said. “What, then, is the international community waiting for before it acts to protect the Palestinian people?”
The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. At least 73,922 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s ensuing offensive, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government.
A ceasefire agreed to by Israel and Hamas last October halted the heaviest fighting and led to the release of the remaining hostages, but further steps have stalled. Israel maintains control of most of Gaza and continues airstrikes near military-held zones. Hamas has neither disarmed nor relinquished power, and there has been no progress toward rebuilding the largely destroyed territory.
Netanyahu has said no Palestinian state will be established while he is Israel’s leader and has argued that the Palestinian Authority is not a partner for peace.
Abbas has pushed for a two-state solution, saying, “Saving the solution begins with preserving the land on which the Palestinian state is to be established.” He added: “We do not want another process designed merely to manage the conflict while realities on the ground change every day.”
Netanyahu’s office said he was on a “tight schedule” and needed to return to Israel before the Jewish holiday of Sukkot begins at sundown Friday.
No meeting is planned with Trump, but Netanyahu is expected to speak with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Arab leaders. He is also scheduled to meet with the presidents of Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, Panama and Ethiopia; Colombia’s vice president; and the prime ministers of Greece, Slovenia and Papua New Guinea, according to his office.