Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the UN General Assembly amid protests over Israel’s military campaigns.
The Israeli leader rejected genocide accusations over Gaza, while Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas warned that Israeli policies threaten Palestinian existence.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended his country’s military operations in Gaza, Iran and elsewhere in the Middle East at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, after dozens of delegates left the chamber in protest.
Netanyahu pledged to keep fighting and challenged other delegates opposed to his position to leave. He also rejected allegations that Israel’s military campaign in Gaza amounts to genocide.
The address drew criticism from Turkey and New York City’s mayor, while demonstrators protesting his visit were detained outside the diplomatic gathering.
Abbas warns over Palestinian future
Hours before Netanyahu spoke, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas delivered a recorded address warning that Israeli policies threatened Palestinians’ continued existence on their land.
Abbas singled out the illegal expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, saying it undermined the internationally supported two-state solution for peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
He accused Israel of subjecting Palestinians to killings, destruction, starvation and attempts to force them from their homes. He also described the military campaign in Gaza as genocidal.
Abbas addressed the gathering remotely after being denied a United States entry visa.
Netanyahu, who faces an International Criminal Court arrest warrant over alleged war crimes, criticised countries and leaders who have condemned Israel’s conduct. He dismissed accusations of colonialism from Britain and France by pointing to their own colonial histories.
Turkey and New York mayor respond
Netanyahu attacked Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and accused him of backing Hamas. Erdogan had earlier told the General Assembly that the treatment of people in Gaza and the West Bank was an affront to humanity’s conscience.
Responding to Netanyahu, Turkish presidency communications director Burhanettin Duran dismissed the accusations against Turkey and Erdogan as unfounded. He said using the UN platform for such attacks conflicted with the organisation’s principles of peace, law and dialogue.
Netanyahu also criticised New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, claiming that many Jewish residents had felt less safe since his election. Mamdani had previously pledged to arrest Netanyahu, before acknowledging that he lacked the authority.
The mayor’s office rejected Netanyahu’s remarks as false and accused him of using the speech to justify what it described as genocide against Palestinians.
Iran strikes and election pressure
Netanyahu praised US President Donald Trump’s leadership and defended the joint American-Israeli air strikes against Iran launched in February, presenting the operation as necessary for their security.
Israel and the United States began major strikes on Iran on 28 February over suspicions that Tehran was secretly developing a nuclear weapon. Iran denied that allegation and responded with missile and drone attacks against Israel and neighbouring Gulf Arab countries hosting US military bases.
The UN appearance came ahead of an Israeli election next month, with Netanyahu’s religious-right coalition trailing in opinion polls. The vote will be the first since the Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023.
Political opponents have questioned his fitness for office following reports that he failed to act on warnings of a possible Hamas attack. Netanyahu has firmly denied those claims.
Protesters detained as Gaza toll mounts
Those detained during protests in New York included actors Susan Sarandon and Hannah Einbinder, Democratic congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier and city council member Chi Osse.
A New York Police Department spokesperson said officers responded to reports of an unscheduled demonstration where protesters were obstructing a junction.
Israel launched its Gaza ground offensive after the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage. More than 73,920 people have been killed in Gaza during the Israeli campaign, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
The International Association of Genocide Scholars passed a resolution last year concluding that Israel’s conduct met the definition of genocide under the UN convention. Israel rejects that characterisation and maintains that its operations are an exercise of self-defence.
