Netanyahu rejects genocide allegations in Gaza after mass walkout at his UN speech

Netanyahu rejects genocide allegations in Gaza after mass walkout at his UN speech

Palestinian president earlier addressed world leaders in pre-recorded video after U.S. denied his visa

Allegations of Israeli genocide in Gaza are not only false but "the biggest lie of the century," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told world leaders Thursday in a defiant speech that asserted his nation's right to wage war against Iran — and was not heard by scores of delegates who trooped out before he started speaking.

Netanyahu, his voice rising in emphasis, said attacking Iran "was one of the easiest decisions [he's] ever had to make" and denounced as "moral cowards" a mass of delegates who walked out of the UN General Assembly when he took the podium to speak.

"In defending itself, Israel is also also defending many of the countries whose delegates just left this hall," Netanyahu said. "In fact, I want you to know that many of their leaders even thank us privately for taking out Iran's nukes."

When Netanyahu walked to the rostrum, a mix of cheers, boos and mass walkouts erupted. Scores of delegates marched out and most of the visible seats sat empty afterward.

"If there are any other moral cowards who have not yet left the hall, please do so now," Netanyahu said.

The Palestinian Mission to the UN had said in a message to many of the 193 UN member nations to bring as many staff as possible to the assembly hall and "collectively walk out of the assembly" once the Israeli prime minister is announced.

"This will 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," the message said.

His remarks — which at times sounded like a stump speech as Israel gears up for elections — came after a week filled with speeches by world leaders accusing Israel of genocide and war crimes in Gaza.'

Israel rejects allegations that it committed genocide and war crimes and that it is illegally occupying Palestinian territory. All Israeli settlements are illegal under international law, but the Israeli government insists they are legal.

Netanyahu, who is prone to using visual aids during his General Assembly speeches, at one point held up a pager while reminding the audience of Sept. 17, 2024, when Israel remotely detonated thousands of pagers that had been distributed to the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon. The pager attack wounded more than 3,000 people and killed 12, including two children.

He reminded the assembly of the scale of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack in which Hamas militants killed about 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies. "This is equal to 40,000 innocent Americans slaughtered in less than 24 hours," he said, or 16 times the death count on the 9/11 attacks that left nearly 3,000 people dead in New York.

Netanyahu thanked U.S. President Donald Trump for taking decisive action against Iran, and he insisted Israel would prevail: "We will continue to win because we have no other choice."

Earlier Thursday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addressed the world leaders in a pre-recorded video from his office in Ramallah after the U.S. denied him and other top Palestinian officials visas to attend the gathering for the second year in a row.

"The Palestinian people face one of the most dangerous times in its history," Abbas said, citing long-term military occupation in the West Bank and the war in Gaza. Israel, he said, "has targeted all of the basic necessities of life."

As Abbas spoke, the Israeli delegation's seats in the General Assembly hall sat vacant.

In his speech, Abbas once again implored the international community to take more vigorous action and speak out more loudly against Israel.

"How much longer will some states continue to remain silent against Israel or supply it with the weapons it uses against our people? The world has witnessed the tremendous cost in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank," Abbas said. "What is the international community waiting for in order to protect the Palestinian people?"

Though negotiations have not taken place for years, Abbas urged the international community to push for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 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.

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The international community has backed Trump's plan for a group of apolitical administrators to govern Gaza under the Board of Peace. But Abbas said the territory could not remain politically separate from the West Bank and East Jerusalem for the long term.

He said the Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem and the West Bank needed to be governed by "one state, one government, one law and one legitimate entity authorized to bear arms."

Abbas recorded the video on Wednesday.

Since 2005, the now-90-year-old Abbas has led the Palestinian Authority, which is the internationally recognized representative of the Palestinian people. But his support among Palestinians has withered during years of corruption and the sometimes-violent advance of Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.

Under Abbas, Palestine has been recognized as a country by a majority of UN member states. But on the ground in the West Bank, the mostly symbolic moves have not affected Israel's decades-long military occupation. Throughout the war in Gaza, Abbas and the authority have been largely sidelined from negotiations over its future in favour of a transition process shepherded by the U.S.-backed Board of Peace.

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The Palestinian Authority was created under a series of peace agreements with Israel in the 1990s and administers semi-autonomous areas of the West Bank, while relying heavily on foreign aid.

It was ousted from Gaza after Hamas won parliamentary elections in 2006 and violently seized control. Abbas was elected to what was supposed to be a four-year term in 2005. The authority has not held presidential or legislative elections since 2006.

Israel captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 war, and the Palestinians want both as part of their future state. The Palestinians and much of the international community view the settlements as illegal and as an obstacle to creating a viable, contiguous Palestinian state.