Delegates Walk Out Of Benjamin Netanyahu's UN Speech

World Leaders Gather For The 80th Session Of The United Nations General Assembly — Source: Taylor Hill / Getty

Welp, amazingly, it turns out President Donald Trump may not be the world leader to give the most upsetting speech at the U.N. General Assembly. In fact, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a speech so unappealing that much of his audience up and walked out on him.

Now, to be fair, according to CNN, scores of delegates had already begun walking out of the assembly in protest of the ongoing war in Gaza before Netanyahu began speaking, a war which has resulted in a Palestinian death toll that has reportedly surpassed 64,000 human beings. However, it probably didn’t help that the prime minister, who appears to equate the recognition of a Palestinian state with a message that “murdering Jews pays off,” vowed to “finish the job” against Hamas, which many across social media have clocked as a vow to “finish” the genocide in Gaza.

“This week, the leaders of France, Britain, Australia, Canada and other countries unconditionally recognized a Palestinian state,” Netanyahu said during his speech. “They did so after the horrors committed by Hamas on October 7 — horrors praised on that day by nearly 90% of the Palestinian population.

“You know what message the leaders who recognize the Palestinian state this week sent to the Palestinians?” he continued. “It’s a very clear message: murdering Jews pays off.”

It’s worth noting that Trump also condemned world leaders for recognizing the Palestinian state, and that’s not all Netanyahu has in common with our commander-in-MAGA-propaganda; he also apparently shares our president’s love for blindly denouncing the media, stoking Islamaphobia and claiming world leaders are essentially dropping to their knees and thanking him when they’re away from the public eye (where it would be impossible to prove it happened).

“Over time, many world leaders buckled. They buckled under the pressure of a biased media, radical Islamist constituencies and antisemitic mobs. There’s a familiar saying, when the going gets tough, the tough get going. Well, for many countries here, when the going got tough, you caved,” Netanyahu said. “Behind closed doors, many of the leaders who publicly condemn us privately thank us. They tell me how much they value Israel’s superb intelligence services that have prevented, time and again, terrorist attacks in their capitals.”

Of course, the core issue with Netanyahu’s speech is that he, like most of those in the pro-Israel camp, continues to equate support for Palestine with support for Hamas, and highlight the atrocity committed by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, while ignoring the ongoing violence committed by Israeli forces.

“The final elements, the final remnants of Hamas, are holed up in Gaza City. They vow to repeat the atrocities of October 7 again and again and again, no matter how diminished their forces,” the prime minister said. “That is why Israel must finish the job. That is why we want to do so as fast as possible.

“Much of the world no longer remembers October 7, but we remember. Israel remembers October 7 on that day,” he continued. “On October 7, Hamas carried out the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust. They slaughtered 1,200 innocent people, including over 40 Americans and foreign nationals from dozens of countries represented here.”

Well, that’s one side of the story. Here’s what the people of Gaza are saying and experiencing via CNN:

In videos a resident shared with CNN today, children can be heard playing in the street. The buzz of Israeli drones cuts through overhead.

“It feels as if the war has started all over again,” Ismail Zayda, 40, told CNN. “The occupation army does not distinguish between civilians and fighters. I see buildings being bombed.”

Several Palestinians recalled thunderous strikes and shelling pounding parts of Gaza City overnight, days after Israel launched a ground assault on the largest city in the enclave. Some say they are haunted by the cries of Palestinians nearby.

“We hear nothing but bombing, gunfire, ambulance sirens, and the voices of citizens crying and shouting out of despair,” said Asmaa Ziyad, a 35-year-old woman from Al-Sahaba, Gaza City.

“We no longer have the strength for anything. We wish for death,” added Ziyad, a mother of two. “I try to protect my children as much as I can, and I wonder every day: Will this war ever end?”

More than 250,000 people have been forced to flee Gaza City in the past month alone, the UN reported on September 19. But Nael Abu Rahma, who is displaced there with elderly loved ones and eight children, warned his family is trapped because they cannot afford to flee south.

“We have no money, no tent,” the 45-year-old Rahma said. “Our suffering is something the entire world can see.”