Scores of delegates walk out as Netanyahu tells UN genocide claims are “the biggest lie of the century”

Scores of delegates filed out of the UN General Assembly hall Thursday as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stepped up to speak, leaving most of the visible seats empty, the Associated Press reported. AP described a mixed reception of cheers, boos and walkouts, and CNN (opens in new tab) reported that other attendees stood and applauded. As he opened, Netanyahu invited any remaining “moral cowards” to leave as well, according to AP and CNN (opens in new tab).

The protest answered an appeal from the Palestinian Mission to the UN, which asked member states to bring staff to the hall and leave together once Netanyahu was announced, AP reported. The mission cast the walkout as a refusal to be complicit in what it calls genocide and war crimes. Israel rejects those allegations.

In the speech itself, Netanyahu called the accusation that Israel committed genocide in Gaza “the biggest lie of the century,” in AP’s account; the New York Post (opens in new tab) quoted the line as “the greatest lie of the century” and reported that he paired it with a claim that Israel had delivered 2 million tons of food into Gaza. An independent UN inquiry and several human rights groups have accused Israel of genocide, CNN (opens in new tab) noted, and Israel denies the charge.

On Iran, Netanyahu said destroying its nuclear facilities was very hard to carry out but “one of the easiest decisions” he has made as prime minister, because without it “we’d all be dead,” according to CNN (opens in new tab); AP reported the same line. He predicted Iran’s government would eventually fall. Holding up a Starlink satellite device, he said Tehran’s rulers fear technology that lets people reach the truth and speak freely, and said he would leave it with the assembly’s president to hand to the Iranian delegation, which was not in the room, CNN (opens in new tab) reported.

Netanyahu also turned on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, accusing him of antisemitism and saying many Jews no longer feel safe in the city since his election, according to CNN (opens in new tab), The Guardian (opens in new tab) and the New York Post (opens in new tab). Mamdani, who has called Netanyahu a “war criminal” and urged federal authorities to act on the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant, has called Netanyahu’s earlier accusations against him untrue and describes him as the architect of a genocide against Palestinians, CNN (opens in new tab) and AP reported.

He called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a “tyrant” and said Turkey had become a “super-spreader” of antisemitic lies, accusing Erdogan of hosting Hamas leaders, jailing journalists and opposition leaders, and occupying northern Cyprus, CNN (opens in new tab) and the New York Post (opens in new tab) reported. He also accused Qatar of spending heavily to spread falsehoods about Israel.

Earlier Thursday, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas addressed the assembly in prerecorded remarks from Ramallah after the United States again denied him a visa, pressing for international action on Palestinian statehood, AP and CNN (opens in new tab) reported. The Event Log treats the walkout and the quoted remarks as confirmed and attributes each side’s characterization of the war.