The World Walked Out on Netanyahu
WANA (Sep 25) – The image may have spoken more loudly than anything Netanyahu said at the United Nations tonight: as the Israeli prime minister approached the podium, representatives from various countries walked out of the hall. Moments later, what was supposed to be a display of Israel’s diplomatic power had turned into a scene of empty seats, departing delegations, booing and protests.
Barak Ravid, an Axios reporter, posted a video of the chamber and wrote that dozens of representatives of UN member states had walked out in protest against Netanyahu’s speech. Reuters also reported that dozens of delegations left as his address began.
Even Netanyahu’s journey to the hall was unlike his usual trips to New York. Israel’s official aircraft, Wing of Zion, flew overnight from an air base in southern Israel and landed Thursday morning at Stewart International Airport in the Hudson Valley, about 100 kilometers north of Manhattan — an airport outside the usual route used by foreign leaders arriving in New York.
Israeli sources cited security considerations for the change in route. Netanyahu was also expected to remain in the United States for only a few hours before returning to Israel after his speech.
The trip had another notable difference: unlike some of Netanyahu’s previous visits to New York, no meeting with Donald Trump had been announced. The Israeli prime minister’s office released a list of meetings with several foreign leaders and officials, but the U.S. president was not among them.
The scene, however, was not confined to the UN chamber. Before Netanyahu took the podium, the streets around the United Nations headquarters in New York were also the scene of protests. Hundreds of demonstrators carrying pro-Palestinian signs called for an end to arms shipments to Israel and chanted slogans against Netanyahu, including, “Netanyahu, you can’t hide.” Jewish protesters supporting Palestine were also among the demonstrators. The protests spread through streets surrounding the UN complex, at one point affecting the movement of some official motorcades.
Perhaps the most notable part of the scene, however, was Netanyahu’s own reaction. He could have ignored the departing representatives and continued with his speech as planned. Instead, he addressed them directly, saying that if there were any other “moral cowards” remaining in the hall, they could leave as well. At the same time, some people in the chamber booed him, prompting the presiding officer to intervene to restore order. On the other side, members of the Israeli delegation stood and applauded Netanyahu.
The episode takes on greater significance when the reported list of departing delegations is considered alongside images of the chamber. A list published after the incident included the names of 77 countries from the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe, including Iran, Iraq, Syria, Türkiye, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman and Egypt, as well as Brazil, Spain, Ireland, South Africa, Pakistan, Indonesia and others. International reports confirmed the broad walkout, although different reports cited different numbers of departing delegations.
Another image also drew attention: as Netanyahu began speaking, a photograph of Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani was placed on the Iranian delegation’s table. Hebrew-language media also published the image. At a time when Netanyahu devoted a significant portion of his speech to Iran, the Iranian delegation delivered its own message through an image in the same chamber, without taking the podium.
Netanyahu was therefore not facing only a protesting chamber. Before entering the UN headquarters, he had already encountered a city where the streets around the organization’s headquarters were filled with protests against his presence. Street demonstrations, Jewish protesters supporting Palestine and anti-war chants turned the area surrounding the United Nations into another part of the political stage surrounding his speech.
That matters because New York has traditionally been more than a venue for Netanyahu’s address to the UN General Assembly. His visits have usually included a series of political meetings and side events. This year, however, the trip was reduced to a matter of hours; his aircraft traveled from a military base in southern Israel to an airport outside New York, and no meeting with Trump was included in his schedule.
This does not, by itself, indicate a change in the relationship between Washington and Tel Aviv. But taken together with other developments, it is difficult to regard the circumstances as entirely insignificant. Before the speech, Reuters reported on Netanyahu’s efforts to defend Israel’s actions amid growing international criticism and pressure. Israeli media also took note of the absence of a meeting with Trump, particularly with Israel’s election roughly a month away.
The Israeli election was another backdrop to the entire episode. Netanyahu was not speaking only to world leaders and representatives at the United Nations; there was another audience as well: Israeli voters.
Al Jazeera, citing Israeli analysts, reported that Netanyahu’s UN speeches have for years been an important political event in Israel and receive extensive coverage in the country’s media. Nimrod Goren, president of the Mitvim Institute, also said Netanyahu would use the speech, with the upcoming election in mind, to present himself as a close ally of the United States and as Israel’s defender against the threat posed by Iran.
Michael Oren, a former Israeli ambassador to the United States, had similarly said that Netanyahu’s speech was aimed not only at the international community but also at a domestic audience, and that it could have the atmosphere of an election campaign. Israel’s election is scheduled for October 27.
But the images emerging from the United Nations tonight told another story as well.
Media activist Mario Nawfal wrote in response to the walkout that Netanyahu had come to speak before the world, but part of the world decided not to listen even before he had begun.
Bret Erickson, a U.S. expert on financial crime and geopolitics, described the scene as a sign of Israel’s declining standing and credibility in the world, saying that if Israel wants to reverse the trend, it needs to change its conduct on the international stage.
Inside the chamber, Netanyahu sought to retain control of the narrative. He once again placed Iran at the center of a significant portion of his speech, defended Israel’s attack on Iranian nuclear facilities and said that destroying those facilities, despite the difficulty involved, had been one of the easiest decisions he had ever made.
He then turned to Western critics, targeting France and Britain over their colonial histories and arguing that countries accusing Israel of colonialism had themselves colonized the world.
At one point, in describing what he presented as the threat from Iran, Netanyahu invoked a scenario in which a one-ton ballistic missile struck the United Nations building and asked what the consequences of such an attack would be. He also said Israel was fighting not only for itself, but for countries whose representatives had left the chamber moments earlier.
In another part of his speech, Netanyahu again placed the October 7 attack at the center of his narrative, saying that the issue for Israel was not merely about territory but about the existence of a Jewish state. He also said Israel had “no choice but to win.”
Critics of Israel, meanwhile, point to the region’s longer history of conflict, including the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre in Beirut, in which hundreds to thousands of Palestinian and Lebanese refugees were killed. Israel’s Kahan Commission of Inquiry also examined and criticized the indirect responsibility of Israeli forces in connection with the events. References to the episode today form part of the broader dispute over the two sides’ competing historical narratives of the conflict and their respective responsibilities.
Netanyahu also addressed protesters outside the United Nations and critics of Israeli policy, verbally attacking them. His critics, in turn, placed his remarks in the context of the Gaza war and Israel’s military operations across the region, describing them as part of his effort to defend the policies of the Israeli government.
Ultimately, two images emerged simultaneously at the United Nations tonight.
In one, Netanyahu stood at the podium, speaking about Iran, October 7, Israel’s security and his Western critics, seeking to present his narrative to the world.
In the other, representatives stood up, walked out of the chamber, and cameras captured the empty seats.
These two images cannot be reduced to a simple diplomatic walkout, nor can they be used to draw a definitive conclusion about Israel’s future. But neither can the image itself be ignored — particularly when viewed alongside the street protests in New York, the presence of Jewish protesters supporting Palestine, Netanyahu’s aircraft landing at an airport outside New York, the shortened trip, the absence of a meeting with Trump and the political pressures surrounding Israel’s upcoming election.
Perhaps that is why Mario Nawfal’s reaction became one of the most striking descriptions of the evening: Netanyahu had come to speak before the world, but part of the world decided to leave the room before hearing him.
Tonight, the UN podium belonged to Netanyahu; but one of the most enduring images of his speech was the emptying of the seats.
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