“We’re going to win”
Rather than soften as the seats emptied, the Israeli leader leaned into the demonstration. “If there are any other moral cowards who haven’t left the hall, please do so now,” he said, before vowing: “We’re going to win. We have no other choice.”
Netanyahu, who is subject to an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for alleged war crimes, rejected accusations that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza — a charge recently endorsed by the International Association of Genocide Scholars, whose resolution stated Israel’s conduct meets the legal definition under the UN convention. Israel denies the charge and says its operations are self-defence.
Attacks on Britain, France, Turkey and New York’s mayor
He dismissed critics as historical illiterates — “They accuse Israel, tiny Israel, of colonialism… And who’s accusing us? Among them are people in Britain and in France. For God’s sake, they invented the term.”
He called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a “tyrant” allegedly sympathetic to Hamas. Erdogan had told the assembly earlier that the suffering in Gaza and the West Bank “deeply offends the conscience of humanity.” Ankara’s communications director Burhanettin Duran hit back, saying the “baseless accusations” were incompatible with the UN’s “ideals of peace, law and dialogue.”
Netanyahu also told New York mayor Zohran Mamdani that “many Jews no longer feel safe in New York” since his election. Mamdani’s office responded that Netanyahu “used his speech to repeat baseless lies meant to sanitize his genocide of Palestinians.”
Abbas, denied a US visa, speaks by video
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, barred from entering the United States, addressed the assembly by video link, warning that Israel’s settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank threatens “the very life and existence of the Palestinian people on their homeland” and jeopardises the two-state solution. Palestinians, he said, face “killing, destruction, starvation and attempts at displacement, as well as a genocidal war.”
Praise for Trump and the Iran strikes
Netanyahu thanked US President Donald Trump for “bold leadership,” citing the joint US–Israeli air strikes launched against Tehran on 28 February, which he framed as a mission “not only to protect ourselves, but to save civilisation.” Iran, which denies seeking nuclear weapons, retaliated with missile and drone attacks on Israel and Gulf states hosting US bases.
The audience at home
Much of the address was aimed at two audiences: Israeli voters, with a critical election next month and his religious-right coalition trailing in polls, and an American public where support for Israel is falling among Democrats and fracturing within the Maga base.
Protests on the streets
Outside, New York police detained demonstrators including Oscar-winner Susan Sarandon, Hacks star Hannah Einbinder, congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier, and city council member Chi Osse. The NYPD said officers responded to an “unscheduled demonstration” blocking a junction.
Key figures
1,200 killed and 251 taken hostage in the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel
More than 73,920 killed in Gaza, per the Hamas-run health ministry
Reconstruction in Gaza has not begun almost a year after a ceasefire
Discover more from LN247
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
