Diplomats walked out of the UN General Assembly hall en masse as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stepped up to speak Thursday, and once he got going, he turned much of his speech into an attack on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Video
As Netanyahu walked to the podium, the room erupted in a mix of cheers, boos, and delegates heading for the exits. Scores of them filed out, and most of the seats sat empty afterward. General Assembly president Khalilur Rahman had to call for order in the hall several times before Netanyahu could begin. Supporters in the viewing gallery cheered him on and later chanted “Am Yisrael Chai,” Hebrew for “the people of Israel live.”Netanyahu addressed the walkout head-on. “If there are any other moral cowards who have not yet left the hall, please do so now,” he said, adding that in defending itself, Israel was also defending many of the countries whose delegates had just left.
Then he turned to Mamdani. “Shame on you for distorting the facts. Shame on you for inverting victim and aggressor,” Netanyahu said. He claimed that since Mamdani was elected, many Jews no longer feel safe in New York. “You tried to stop me from coming here. You tried to silence me. Well, you can’t silence me,” he said, before claiming that Israel did not commit genocide in Gaza but prevented one.
The feud between the two has been building for months. During his campaign, Mamdani promised to have Netanyahu arrested if he came to New York, citing the International Criminal Court’s warrant against him. The ICC is a global court that prosecutes war crimes, and it issued the warrant in 2024 over Israel’s conduct in Gaza. The United States does not recognize the court, and Mamdani has since acknowledged the city does not have the power to arrest Netanyahu, but he has urged federal authorities to act on it.
Earlier this week, Netanyahu posted a video saying he would use his UN speech to “tell the truth” about the mayor. Mamdani fired back Tuesday, calling Netanyahu the architect of a horrific genocide against Palestinians and pointing to the killing of an 11-year-old boy in what was considered a safe zone in Gaza. Ahead of the speech, Mamdani planted an olive tree with Palestinian families, Haaretz reported.
Netanyahu also defended Israel’s war with Iran on the UN General Assembly stage, saying attacking Iran was one of the easiest decisions he has ever made “because if we hadn’t done it, we’d all be dead.” He thanked Trump for his support and credited the United States with helping bring every Israeli hostage home.
The Gaza war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas led an attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 people and took 251 hostages. More than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s offensive since, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
The speech comes one month before a critical election in Israel. Netanyahu received a standing ovation from supporters in the gallery when he finished. It was not immediately clear whether Mamdani would respond.
