For a second year in a row, diplomats have walked out during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's address at the United Nations General Assembly. With a domestic election just weeks away, Mr Netanyahu used his speech to counter Israel's growing isolation internationally.
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TRANSCRIPT
Cheers, jeers and boos over several minutes.
Delegates, exiting the main hall at the UN General Assembly just as Benjamin Netanyahu stepped up to podium.
It's the second year in a row that diplomats have walked out during the Israeli leader's UN speech.
Mr Netanyahu dismissed the incident.
"If there are any other moral cowards who haven't left this hall, please do so now. Thank you very much."
Professor of law, conflict and global development Rosa Freedman at the University of Reading in the UK, says walkouts have happened throughout the UN's history - and into the present day.
"What we've seen over recent years is the use of this symbolic peaceful protest, walking out of rooms, becoming more regular. And particularly being used against states that are perceived as either pariah or as powerful and therefore protected at the United Nations. We've seen this in relation to Russia and Ukraine, particularly after the full-scale invasion in 2022. We've seen this in relation to Israel."
In fact, Israel's delegation used the tactic of walking out during Turkiye's speech earlier this week.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had urged countries that have not recognised Palestine to reconsider.
Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, used his address to defend Israel's military actions in Gaza and Iran.
"Ladies and gentlemen, over the centuries, the tyrannies that tried to destroy us failed time and again. And, God willing, they'll continue to fail. If we muster our courage, if we steel our resolve, we will continue to win."
Israel has consistently denied genocide allegations, in response to findings from a UN commission [[Sept 2025]] and international human rights group that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
Facing a difficult re-election campaign in Israel with the ballot set for next month, Mr Netanyahu used the global platform of his UN speech to lash out at others - including New York's first Muslim mayor Zohran Mamdani, who had previously vowed to arrest Mr Netanyahu before saying he did not have the authority to do so.
"Mr Mamdani, you tried to stop me from coming here. You tried to silence me. Well, you can't silence me. You can't silence the truth. And here is the simple truth. Here is a simple truth. Israel didn't commit genocide. Israel prevented genocide."
He also defended the decision to launch an attack with the US against Iran, saying he has no regrets.
"Devastating Iran's nuclear facilities was hard. it was very hard to do. But for me, it was one of the easiest decisions I've ever had to make as prime minister. Because if we hadn't done it, we'd all be dead. Now, you want to hear the ultimate irony? In defending itself, Israel is also defending many of the countries whose delegates just left this hall."
Once allies of Israel, Britain and France, have since become increasingly outspoken in their criticism of Israel's actions.
The countries were also singled out in Mr Netanyahu's speech.
"They accuse Israel, tiny Israel, of colonialism - some colonialism. And who's accusing us? Among them are people in Britain and in France. For God's sakes, they invented the term."
It was at the UN General Assembly last year, that France led a push by Western nations to recognise a Palestinian state.
Ahead of Mr Netanyahu's speech, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addressed the assembly via video link after the Trump administration refused him a visa to enter the US.
"What is taking place in Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem are not isolated incidents but rather a malicious colonial scheme aimed at making the lives of Palestinians more difficult in their homeland and forcing them to leave it."
Outside the UN General Asssembly, dozens of protesters were arrested as they held a rally objecting to Mr Netanyahu's visit and Israel's war in Gaza.
Activist Chelsea Manning, film star Susan Sarandon, comedian Caleb Hearon and New York City Council member, Chi Ossé, were among those detained.
Jewish Voice for Peace co-organised the protest.
The group's executive director, Stefanie Fox, says the presence of more than 300 New Yorkers at the rally says a lot.
"This is what's real. To show up and to rise up and to say, 'Not in our name, not on our dime, stop arming Israel right now.'"
Rabbi Yitzchok Deutsch says he felt it was important to attend the rally.
"We as Jewish people are joining in the streets the masses of people crying for Palestine, saying he does not speak in my name, he does not speak in the name of our religion. Yes, he's using my religion to justify his crimes, but this is totally wrong."
