Hundreds of diplomats walked out of the United Nations General Assembly hall Thursday as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stepped to the lectern, protesting Israel's war in Gaza and its actions in the occupied West Bank.
Netanyahu told any "moral cowards" still seated to leave too, The Hill reported. American delegates stayed and applauded.
He spent much of the speech on Iran, defending the war the U.S. and Israel began in late February. Without it, "We'd all be dead," he said, CNN reported. He also accused New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani of antisemitism and of distorting facts about Israel.
Mamdani had called Netanyahu a war criminal earlier in the week. Netanyahu answered in a video, promising to respond from the U.N. podium, CBS News reported.
At one point he held up a pager similar to the ones Israel rigged with explosives and used against Hezbollah in 2024, NBC News reported. He then showed a Starlink satellite internet device to the Iranian delegation and said its members could use one to tell their story once they defect. The 2024 pager attack killed 12 people, two of them children, and wounded more than 3,000, according to PBS NewsHour.
General Assembly President Khalilur Rahman called for order several times. Before the speech, the Palestinian mission had asked member states to fill the hall with staff and leave together when Netanyahu was introduced.
Pro-Palestinian protesters marched toward U.N. headquarters during the address. The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu over alleged war crimes in Gaza.
Israel holds elections next month, and much of the address sounded aimed at voters at home. Netanyahu did not plan a White House stop this year. Trump spent Thursday with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington, and Netanyahu was set to fly home hours after the speech, ahead of Sukkot, which starts Friday evening.