NEW YORK — Dozens of international diplomats and official state delegations staged a coordinated walkout from the United Nations General Assembly hall on Thursday, September 24, 2026, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the rostrum to deliver a defiant address.
The walkout, initiated following a memorandum circulated by the Palestinian delegation urging diplomatic missions to protest Israel’s ongoing military actions in Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran, left vast sections of the chamber noticeably empty as Netanyahu began speaking.
As delegates stood, jeered, and trooped toward the exits, supporters in the gallery cheered, prompting the presiding officer to repeatedly shout for order to restore decorum. Unfazed by the diplomatic rebuke, Netanyahu directed a sharp barb at the departing envoys.
“If there are any other moral cowards who haven’t left this hall, please do so now,” Netanyahu declared to the assembly.
Throughout his speech, the Israeli leader rejected claims of genocide in Gaza as “the lie of the century,” insisting that Israeli forces had worked to prevent genocide rather than execute one. He utilized a portion of his address to attack domestic and regional critics, training his sights on newly elected New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, accusing him of spreading anti-Semitic falsehoods and attempting to delegitimize Israel’s campaign. Netanyahu also labeled Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a “tyrant” and dismissed Israeli West Bank settlers involved in violent clashes as merely a “handful of juvenile delinquents”.
Holding up a physical pager during his presentation to symbolize Israel’s intelligence operations against Hezbollah, Netanyahu lauded military actions executed in coordination with key allies. “With our great American friends, we crushed Iran’s army, navy, air force, and nuclear facilities,” he claimed, drawing loud applause from supporters remaining in the gallery.
Outside the UN headquarters in Manhattan, the address was met with widespread civil unrest. Police made dozens of arrests as hundreds of protesters blocked traffic along major avenues, demanding an immediate end to foreign military aid to Israel.
The walkout highlights Netanyahu’s deepening international isolation as he faces ongoing political friction abroad alongside an upcoming general election campaign in Israel.
